IIHF cancels remainder of 2022 world juniors due to COVID-19

The International Ice Hockey Federation has cancelled the remainder of the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship because of rising cases of COVID-19, the federation announced on Wednesday.

The tournament, being held in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., saw a recent increase in infections. That led to game forfeitures caused by positive test results on the Russia, Czechia and United States teams.

Official Announcement: The 2022 #WorldJuniors have been cancelled due to Covid-19.

Full statement at https://t.co/TNNT2FHecn pic.twitter.com/xnPs9nDWli

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 29, 2021

https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/1476286064184606721

“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,” said IIHF President Luc Tardif in a statement. “This included daily testing and the team quarantine requirement when positive cases were confirmed.

“We owed it to the participating teams to do our best to create the conditions necessary for this event to work. Unfortunately, this was not enough. We now have to take some time and focus on getting all players and team staff back home safely.”

After the Czechia-Finland game was forfeited, the IIHF announced that referees and linesmen would have to wear masks during games until further notice.

“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,” Hockey Canada President Scott Smith said in a statement.

The cancellation comes on the heels of the IIHF’s decision late last week to cancel all events that started in January, including the women’s under-18 world championship, a decision that was heavily criticized.

The U18 championship was scheduled to take place Jan. 8-15 in Linkoping and Mjolby, Sweden. It’s the second straight year the tournament has been cancelled after the 2021 event, also scheduled for Linkoping and Mjolby, was scrapped due to the pandemic.

The IIHF said the tournaments were cancelled because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.