CALGARY -- Eighteen members of the Mount Royal University Cougars men’s hockey team, including coaching staff have tested positive for COVID-19.

On Monday in an email sent out to all MRU students and employees, the university said that is supporting all members as they recover. Names of the individuals will not be released.

The team stopped training when the first individual started to experience symptoms and all team members are self-isolating at this time.

According to the email, Cougars teams were training under safety protocols beyond those required by the provincial government and with the new restrictions, no team training will take place until after the new year.

The university did contract tracing and notified anyone who might have been impacted.

An exhibition series against the Canadian World Juniors team scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6 was already cancelled by Hockey Canada.