Rest of world junior championship canceled over COVID-19

The remainder of the satellite inferior hockey title successful Canada has been canceled implicit fears of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Ice Hockey Federation made the announcement Wednesday connected the proposal of the organization’s aesculapian officials. Citing the dispersed of the coronavirus and the omicron variant, the IIHF canceled the remainder of the tourney “to guarantee the wellness and information of each participants.”

Two games had already been forfeited due to the fact that of affirmative coronavirus trial results among U.S. and Czech players and different was imminent with Russia. Two U.S. players and 1 Czech subordinate had returned affirmative tests, starring to squad quarantine mandates.

The IIHF assembly determined the integrity of the lawsuit had been compromised by the forfeits, starring to the cancellation.

“We owed it to the participating teams to bash our champion to make the conditions indispensable for this lawsuit to work,” IIHF President Luc Tardif said. “Unfortunately, this was not enough. We present person to instrumentality immoderate clip and absorption connected getting each players and squad unit backmost location safely.”

Tardif said astatine a quality league that the tourney could resume this summer.

Teams arrived successful Alberta connected Dec. 15. Players were quarantined and tested earlier being allowed to skate. The pre-tournament docket was reduced to 1 crippled per team, with the Czechs and Swiss incapable to play an accumulation due to the fact that of affirmative tests for the virus.

Protocols were established earlier a surge of the omicron variant caused the cancellation of six different tournaments successful January, Tardif said successful an interrogation posted connected the IIHF website earlier the cancellation announcement.

“To enactment this into context, determination were 8 NHL games postponed erstwhile the teams entered their accomplishment quarantine connected the 15th,” Tardif said. “By the clip we had accepted the proposal to cancel the January events connected the 23rd determination were 62 full NHL games postponed. That is however rapidly the concern has changed.”

The cancellation breaks a tally of 44 consecutive years for the IIHF’s under-20 men’s championship. The 2021 tourney successful Edmonton managed to transverse the decorativeness line, with the United States beating Canada successful the gold-medal crippled Jan. 5.

Tardif said the tourney adjusted protocols astir instantly upon players, coaches and unit arriving to debar imaginable microorganism spread. That included regular investigating and team-wide quarantine mandates erstwhile affirmative cases were confirmed.

Those steps, combined with participants not being contained afloat wrong a bubble, explicate however the tourney for the apical players successful the satellite nether property 20 was called disconnected aft 9 games and 4 confirmed cases.

“Our hearts spell retired to the players and unit of not conscionable our state but each nation, who person worked truthful hard and sacrificed truthful overmuch to get to this point,” U.S. nationalist inferior squad wide manager John Vanbiesbrouck said. “We’re arrogant of our squad for doing everything that’s been asked of them and volition enactment to guarantee their harmless instrumentality home.”

Hockey Canada president Tom Renney and CEO Scott Smith said the big enactment understands and supports the IIHF’s decision.

“Although we cognize this is the close decision, we sympathize with each participants who person earned the accidental to correspond their countries connected the satellite signifier and that volition not beryllium capable to recognize that imagination successful its entirety,” Renney and Smith said successful a statement.

The women’s under-18 satellite title was 1 of the January tournaments cancellations, with the IIHF citing wellness and information concerns. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada asked the IIHF to reconsider the cancelation of the women’s tourney and alternatively reschedule for the bully of the sport.

The Canadian Press contributed to this story.