Hockey Federation Managing Two Championships

(ATR) As sport leaders and international federations hope for some rest over the New Year's holiday, the International Ice Hockey Federation is busy on two fronts.

The IIHF is staging its World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Canada, while also trying to sort out uncertainties and a probable relocation from Belarus of its flagship event.

The 12-day, 10-nation, World Junior tournament is ongoing at Rogers Place Arena in Edmonton, Alberta, with players, coaches and staff confined in a "bubble" safety environment, with gold and bronze medals contests scheduled for Jan. 5.

Several players from Germany, Austria, and host Canada tested positive for Covid-19 prior to the tournament, but the event, which opened on Dec. 25, has moved forward safely thereafter without any further positive cases.

Nine German players tested positive upon arrival to Edmonton and as a result, the 2018 Olympic silver medalists are playing contests shorthanded with only 14 skaters. Despite the setback, Germany upset Slovakia 4-3 in overtime on Monday night for their first tournament victory.

Tournament host Canada, the defending champions, are off to a 3-0 start with victories over Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Concerning the troubled senior world championship, IIHF president René Fasel, and secretary general Horst Lichtner, who both recently recovered from Covid-19, are rescheduled to meet with Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko after Jan. 7., according to the Russian news agency TASS.

"Of course, I will go to Belarus," Fasel said. "I and the IIHF Secretary General have positive test results for coronavirus, airlines will not allow you on board without a certificate of a negative test result.

"Now we cannot travel, but after Orthodox Christmas we will meet with the president, with the leadership of the hockey federation."

Fasel faces the complexities of stripping Belarus from its co-host role with Riga, Latvia, as Belarusian athletes rights groups and others sporting leaders call for the tournament to be removed from the country due to human rights abuse against athletes and political discrimination by Lukashenko’s government.

Lukashenko, who is also the president of the Belarus NOC, is one of three senior NOC officials sanctioned and banned from attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.

Swiss-based Watson Media has reported that either Prague or Bratislava could step in as a potential replacement host city for Minsk. The Slovakian capital recently co-hosted the tournament in 2019, while the Czech capital most recently welcomed the tournament in 2015.

Fasel insists that the tournament will move forward, despite the current uncertainties.

"We will host the 2021 World Championship – we cannot afford two years without a world championship," Fasel recently affirmed. "If necessary, we will hold the World Championship without spectators."

It remains to be determined whether teams will compete in a "bubble", as is the case for the Junior Worlds as well as the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, which concluded in late September, both in Edmonton. Fasel is hopeful that by April it will be possible to vaccinate players, officials, and staff and avoid a costly "bubble" tournament.

The 2020 world championship, which was planned for Switzerland, had to be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The 2021 IIHF World Championship is scheduled for May 21 – June 6.

Fasel, 70, has served as IIHF president since 1994, but has declared that he will not run for re-election at rescheduled elections in 2021.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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