World juniors cancelled due to COVID cases

After three games were cancelled due to COVID-19, the International Ice Hockey Federation has decided to pull the plug on the 2022 world juniors championship.

The IIHF indicated the decision came after a positive case for a player on the Russian team, which led to a forfeit against Slovakia on Wednesday. The Switzerland-United States contest on Tuesday and the Finland-Czechia game on Wednesday were the other cancellations.

The IIHF said with the third game leading to forfeiture, the sportive integrity of the event was compromised.

“Together with the teams, we came into this event with full confidence in the COVID-19 protocols put in place by the IIHF, the (local organizing committee), Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada,” IIHF president Luc Tardif said in a news release.

“The ongoing spread of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant forced us to readjust our protocols almost immediately upon arrival to attempt to stay ahead of any potential spread. This included daily testing and the team quarantine requirement when positive cases were confirmed.”

The tournament was taking place in Edmonton and Red Deer. Canada had won its first two games and was set to take on Germany on Wednesday night.

“Hockey Canada has worked tirelessly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure it would be equipped to host world-class, international events in a safe and healthy environment. Despite our best efforts, and continually adapting and strengthening protocols, we have unfortunately fallen short of our goal of completing the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship and handing out medals on Jan. 5 due to the challenges of the current COVID-19 landscape,” Hockey Canada said in a statement.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have always made the health and safety of event participants and the community at large a priority, and given the news that we have encountered positive cases within the World Juniors environment, we understand and support the decision to cancel the remainder of the event. Although we know this is the right decision, we sympathize with all participants who have earned the opportunity to represent their countries on the world stage and that will not be able to realize that dream in its entirety.”

More to come.