US Women's Hockey Team Rides Out Irma in Tampa

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MIAMI (AP) - The U.S. women's national hockey team is taking a day off after riding out Hurricane Irma inside a ballroom of a resort in Tampa, Florida.

Captain Meghan Duggan told The Associated Press by phone Monday that the U.S. squad was safe and hopes that is the case for everyone in the path of the storm.

The team arrived in Tampa in August to start training for the 2018 Winter Games, and was going to officially start its residency program this weekend. Irma scrapped those plans.

Reagan Carey, USA Hockey's director of women's hockey and the national team's general manager, says they consulted with local officials and the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning in advance of the storm. Carey says they decided not to evacuate after learning the team was not in any of the anticipated flood or evacuation zones.