IIHF: MFM canceled due to the abundance of positive test results for players for coronavirus
Russian youth ice hockey team. Photo: Jonathan Hayward / Keystone Press Agency
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has confirmed the cancellation of the 2022 World Youth Hockey Championship. This was reported on the official website of the organization.
The reason for this decision was the abundance of positive test results for national teams for coronavirus. The championship was canceled to ensure the health and safety of all competitors. The organization also noted that due to the cancellation of matches, the sporting integrity of the event was jeopardized.
The matches were postponed, and the teams in which the infected were identified were credited with technical defeats
According to the championship regulations, if at least one of the players received a positive coronavirus test, the entire team had to quarantine. The US team was the first to face such a problem. The match between the Americans and the Swiss was canceled after two cases of coronavirus infection were identified in the US team. In accordance with the IIHF rules, the Americans were awarded a technical defeat. As a result of the game, the victory of Switzerland was fixed with a score of 1: 0.
On December 28, two matches were canceled at once. At first, the Czech Republic – Finland meeting did not take place, later the national teams of Russia and Slovakia did not take the ice. In the Russian team, two players became infected, including Matvey Michkov.
After the cancellation of three matches, a meeting was held on the feasibility of continuing the tournament. As a result, it was decided to cancel the championship.
Russia considered the right decision to cancel the World Youth Championship
The two-time Olympic ice hockey champion Vyacheslav Fetisov called the decision of the International Ice Hockey Federation difficult, but correct. He told about this “Championship.com”.
There are no guilty ones here. The world is not easy now. Perhaps tougher rules could have been made
Vyacheslav Fetisov
Fetisov added that the World Youth Championship has always been a New Year's feast, where there is enthusiasm and creativity. He expressed regret that the tournament in 2022 ended in this way.
The former head coach of the Russian national and youth hockey teams, Vladimir Plyushchev, agreed with Fetisov. He commented on the situation to RIA Novosti and called the rules of the competition a circus, according to which the entire team must go to quarantine because of one test.
Organizationally, this is truly a failure. In this situation, canceling the tournament is the right decision. You can imagine a situation that in the final one team will be removed due to the coronavirus. Then gold will be awarded automatically. This is nonsense!
Vladimir Plushev
The coach of the team, Oleg Znarok, told RIA Novosti that the whole team is offended that this happened.
We were preparing for the tournament, we were in perfect order, we were charged to win. But it turned out the way it turned out. The organizers decided to end the tournament ahead of schedule. I don’t know what we’ll do now. Nobody tells us anything yet
Oleg Znarok
The youth ice hockey world championship was to be held from December 26 to January 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Canada. At the tournament, the teams lived in a “bubble”, representatives of the national teams were forbidden to leave the territory of hotels, arenas, movement between which was carried out exclusively by buses. It was planned that in the group stage the Russians will play with the USA, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland.
