Hockey
Why is there no Russian team at the 2022 Ice Hockey World Championship?
Hockey officials deliberately left the tournament without one of the strongest teams on the planet. What are the reasons?
The Ice Hockey World Championship this year is special. And it’s not that it starts on Friday the 13th. The reason is simple – there will be no Russian team at the tournament. And what then is the intrigue, what is the spark? Without the “Red Machine” any international tournament automatically becomes insipid, deprived of many bright confrontations and millions of spectators.
The full schedule of the 2022 Ice Hockey World Championship
The national teams of Russia and Belarus were suspended from the World Cup on February 28, instead of them, the “great” hockey powers France and Austria went to Finland. Also, the International Ice Hockey Federation deprived Russia of the rights to host the youth world championship, which was to be held in December 2022 – January 2023 in Novosibirsk and Omsk.
“We have an obligation to take care of all our members and participants and therefore must do everything possible to ensure that our events are held in a safe environment for all teams participating in the Ice Hockey World Championship,” commented IIHF President Luc Tardif on the suspension.
Naturally, the youth also got it. Russian teams will not take part in the 2022 Youth World Championship, the 2022 Under-18 Ice Hockey World Championship, and the 2022 World Youth Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.
The restrictions didn’t end there. On March 16, the Russian national team was suspended from the Eurotour for two years. Our place was taken by the Swiss team.
– I never thought that I would find out that we are not playing in the Eurotour from the Swedish newspapers. World turned upside down. We have been playing with the national teams of the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland for more than 20 years. And we didn’t even receive a letter,” commented Vladislav Tretiak, President of the FHR, on this decision.
Opinions on the removal of the national team from the Eurotour were divided. For example, two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov said that the loss was insignificant, while Boris Mikhailov, on the contrary, said that it was a painful blow to the team.
The World Cup without Russia will be held from 13 to 29 May. Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Denmark, Italy and France will play in Group A. In group B – Finland, USA, Czech Republic, Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Austria and Great Britain.
Obviously, without Russia, the tournament will be much less spectacular and cool in terms of the quality of the game.
Source: Sportbox
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