The upcoming World Junior Championship in Edmonton will be played in a bubble format similar to the NHL’s return-to-play post-season this summer, but IIHF president Rene Fasel acknowledged that plan couldn’t be replicated by a majority of the tournaments.
“During the last Council meeting 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,” said Fasel in a statement. “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.
After meeting with tournament organizers and member nations over the last few months, the IIHF Events Department had the following takeaways for why hosting tournaments in the near future would be difficult.• A mandatory quarantine before a tournament would put undue hardship on players with other jobs or commitments.• In U18 divisions, most parents were against the idea of sending their children to play in these tournaments.
• Member nations were not interested in playing if the opportunity for promotion or relegation was not available. The IIHF Council will meet again in January, after the world juniors, to re-evaluate whether the men’s world championship, the women’s world championship and the under-18 world championship can still be played.
Vaccine is here. Young healthy players are immune. Game on.
Let the kids play!! Controlled environment is not the issue!!