Lehigh University
Washington
Men's hoops game at Washington postponed
12/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Due to inclement weather in the Pacific Northwest as well as a shortage of de-icing fluid at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport, Lehigh’s men’s basketball game at the University of Washington, scheduled for Tuesday, December 23 has been postponed. The Mountain Hawks and Huskies are hoping to reschedule the game. Lehigh defeated Monmouth on Sunday, December 21 and is off to its best start since 1980 at 7-3.
Lehigh moved to 7-3 with an 80-71 victory over the Monmouth Hawks in West Long Branch, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks then loaded a bus at approximately 4:00 PM and headed to Newark Airport where they were forced to sit through several delays of their 7:00 scheduled flight to Seattle.
After finally boarding the plane around 9:00, Lehigh appeared on its way to the west coast for a showdown with the Pac-10 member Huskies. However, two hours into the flight, the passengers aboard were informed that the Seattle/Tacoma airport had run out of de-icing fluid and could no longer accept incoming flights, so Lehigh’s flight was forced to turn around mid-trip and return to Newark Airport.
Upon arrival in Newark, the team was told that all outbound flights to Seattle were full and many of them would be canceled in the morning. In addition, Lehigh officials spoke personally with a Continental agent and were told that all flights were full to the area (i.e., Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles). At that point, the only option was stand-by travel but that would have been nearly impossible with a travel party that large in size.
Following several hours of phone calls and discussion, with numerous officials from both Universities, the members of Lehigh’s team returned to South Bethlehem at approximately 6:30 AM.
Lehigh will now return to action on Sunday, December 28 when the Mountain Hawks play host to the Longwood Lancers at Stabler Arena. Game time is set for 1:00 and tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME, by visiting the Lehigh Athletics Ticket Office, located in Grace Hall, or by logging onto Lehighsports.com.
Here is a timeline of what Lehigh’s Sunday looked like:
8:00 AM – Team departs Taylor Gym for New Jersey to play Monmouth
3:03 PM – Lehigh defeats Monmouth, 80-71
4:00 PM – Team departs Boylan Gymnasium for Newark/Liberty Int’l Airport
5:00 PM – Team arrives at EWR
6:40 PM – Finish checking in for flight
7:15 PM – Scheduled departure of Continental Airlines Flight 1481 to Seattle/Tacoma
8:45 PM – Team boards 1481 at Gate C75
10:02 PM – Flight 1481 departs Newark/Liberty for Seattle
11:45 PM – Pilot informs passengers that SEA is no longer accepting inbound flights, and that Flight 1481 must return to EWR
1:41 AM – Team deplanes flight 1481 at Gate C74
2:25 AM – With all flights full to the Pacific Northwest, postponement of Tuesday’s game becomes inevitable
4:55 AM – Team begins return to Lehigh Valley
All times Eastern Standard
