World junior hockey championship cancelled due to COVID: Report
EDMONTON The Omicron variant of the coronavirus proved too much for the world junior hockey championship.
The annual holiday tournament featuring the world's best teenaged hockey players was cancelled Wednesday, rising COVID cases proving too much for the International Ice Hockey Federation to handle, according to TSN.
Canada won its first two games, but won't get a chance to reclaim the gold medal won by the Americans last year at the same venue - Rogers Place in Edmonton - when the highly contagious variant didn't exist, no fans were allowed in the building and the protocols seemed far tighter at keeping players isolated.
But in the two wins, Canadian fans were treated to a couple of outstanding performances: A hat trick by Owen Power - the first overall pick last summer. And a four-goal performance by Connor Bedard, the first 16-year-old to score that many in a single world junior game.
Wednesday started with the Czech Republic forfeiting Wednesday's game against Finland, while in Red Deer, followed by the Russians forfeiting a game against Slovakia.
Both those followed a forfeiture by the Americans on Tuesday to Switzerland, also in the Red Deer portion of the tournament.
Questions were being raised as to why friends, family and fans were allowed rooms in the same hotels as players. Various reports suggested a wedding was held in the hotel in Red Deer where the Americans and Swedes were staying.
The player, coaches and team staff were restricted to the hotel and rink. But guests in the hotel are free to come and go as they please, so long as everyone wears a mask indoors. And given how cold it is in Edmonton and Red Deer - the region has been under a cold weather advisory since the tournament began - most people are remaining indoors.
It was only one Czech player who tested positive, but that was enough for the entire team to enter quarantine.
Czech coach Karel Mlejnek said he was surprised at the positive test.
I would like to say that this was surprising news for me, because all our players and members of the implementation team follow the organizers' regulations and respect the tournament bubble," he said.
There were five positive COVID cases recorded before the tournament started - two of them on-ice officials - but none of those cases resulted in a forfeit.
The window to play the tournament is very short - it's scheduled to end Jan. 5. And rescheduling games is next to impossible since many play two games in two nights and playing on three consecutive days is not allowed.
The protocols were developed before the Omicron variant existed, created in consultation with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and the IIHF. A Hockey Canada spokesman said the protocols have been strengthened due to the Omicron variant.
Hockey Canada says mask-wearing and physical distancing are strictly enforced, and all participants are being tested for COVID-19 daily. Throughout the entire event, teams are limited to their hotel, team bus and the event venues, and all team members are not permitted to have public interactions.
Players who test positive and their roommates are placed in single rooms and the entire team enters quarantine.
The initial sample is retested. If that too is positive, it's basically up to the IIHF's medical committee, which has some latitude to take the facts of each case into consideration as well as the best interest of the player, team and championship.
More later
Kevin McGran is a Star sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @kevin_mcgran