The International Ice Hockey Federation cancelled 18 world championship tournaments slated for next spring but the 2021 women’s world championship in Nova Scotia remains on the schedule.
The IIHF announced on Wednesday that all 2020-21 tournaments in the lower division of men’s senior, women’s senior and men’s under-18 categories have been shelved amid the continued outbreak of COVID-19. All divisions of the women’s world under-18 championships were also cancelled.
But the women’s world championship, scheduled for April 7 to 17 in Halifax and Truro, remains on tap, along with the world junior championship (Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 in Edmonton), the men’s world championship (May 21 to June 6 in Belarus) and the men’s under-18 world championship, April 15-25 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
In all, 28 tournaments in the 2021 IIHF ice hockey world championship program have been cancelled.
The IIHF cited major concerns over “the ability of event hosts to operate a tournament in a safe environment and without risk of financial loss should the tournament be cancelled or a participant fall ill.”
“We agreed that to require each tournament host to operate a competition ‘bubble’ was not a practical request for most organizers outside of the top divisions,” IIHF president Rene Fasel said in a news release. “The capability of these organizers to hold a tournament has been reduced significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the IIHF does not have the resources necessary to properly supervise the safe operation of these tournaments.
“What we can do is to shield these tournament organizers and the participating teams from potentially devastating financial losses, by taking the unpleasant but necessary step to initiate these cancellations now before travel plans and arena preparations begin.”
The IIHF council and its COVID-19 expert group will reconvene in January, following the world junior championship, to review the status of the next two events on the calendar: the women’s worlds and the under-18 championship.
Halifax and Truro were set to host the 2020 women’s worlds from March 31 to April 10 but the tournament, like most international sporting events last spring, were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The IIHF announced in June that the Nova Scotia communities would again host the event in 2021, even though Russia was scheduled to do so.
The tournament will include host Canada, defending champion United States, Finland, Russia and Switzerland in Group A. Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Hungary comprise Group B.
IIHF TOURNAMENTS CANCELLED IN 2020-21:
Men's World Championships: Division I, Group A (May 9-15 in Slovenia), Division I, Group B (April 26 - May 2 in Poland), Division II, Group A (April 10-16 in Beijing), Division II, Group B (April 18-24 in Iceland), Division III, Group A (April 18-24 in Luxembourg), Division III, Group B (April 19-22 in Cape Town, South Africa), Division IV (March 8-14 in Kyrgyzstan).
Women's World Championships: Division I, Group A (April 18-24 in France), Division I, Group B (April 8-14 in Beijing), Division II, Group A (April 10-16 in Spain), Division II, Group B (March 7-13 in Croatia), Division III (March 15-21 in Lithuania).
Men's Under-20 Championships: Division I, Group A (Dec. 13-19 in Denmark), Division I, Group B (Feb. 10-17 in Estonia), Division II, Group A (Feb. 8-14 in Romania), Division II, Group B (Feb. 8-14 in Serbia), Division III (Jan. 11-16 in Mexico City).
Men's Under-18 Championships: Division I, Group A (April 5-11 in Slovakia), Division I, Group B (April 18-25 in Italy), Division II, Group A (April 4-10 in Estonia), Division II, Group B (March 21-27 in Bulgaria), Division III, Group A (March 29 - April 4 in Istanbul), Division III, Group B (March 28 - April 3 in Luxembourg).
Women's Under-18 Championships: World Championship (Jan. 5-12 in Sweden), Division I, Group A (Jan. 10-16 in Hungary), Division I, Group B (Jan. 10-16 in Austria), Division II, Group A (Jan. 19-22 in Great Britain), Division II, Group B (Jan. 28-31 in Turkey).
