The 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship will be played in August after it was postponed in December due to COVID-19, International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said Thursday
“It will be in the middle of August in Alberta,” Tardif said at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. “It will be a new competition, which means we forget the results (in December).”
The tournament for players under 20 began in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, on Dec. 26. However, it was postponed after four days of play when the United States, Czechia and Russia were each forced to forfeit a preliminary-round game because of positive COVID-19 tests among players.
According to Tardif, the rescheduled tournament could consist of the same rosters each country had in December, regardless of whether those players turn 20 before August.
“We are talking with all participants and are negotiating on details,” Tardif said. “It will be (played) after the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It will be a hockey festival, and the teams are excited to do it.”
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup, an annual event for under-18 players, is scheduled to be played during the first week in August in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Unchanged rosters would mean that the top five players selected in the 2021 NHL Draft would play. Defenseman Owen Power, the Buffalo Sabres’ No. 1 overall pick, and forwards Mason McTavish, selected No. 3 by the Anaheim Ducks, and Kent Johnson, selected No. 5 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, were on Canada’s roster when the tournament started in December.
Forward Matty Beniers, the No. 2 pick by the Seattle Kraken, and defenseman Luke Hughes, selected No. 4 by the New Jersey Devils, were on the United States roster. In addition, defenseman Jake Sanderson, picked No. 5 by the Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft, was captain for the United States.
The U.S. is looking for back-to-back titles for the first time. The last team to do so was Canada, which won the last of five straight in 2009. It is expected to play preliminary-round games in Group B with Russia, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland. Canada will play preliminary games in Group A with Finland, Czechia, Germany and Austria.
The relegation round will be restored. The loser of the best-of-3 round between the last-place finishers in each group will be replaced with Belarus at the 2023 tournament, scheduled for Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Novosibirsk and Omsk, Russia. Belarus earned promotion by winning the 2022 WJC Division I, Group A tournament.
The 2022 tournament was held in Alberta because the 2021 event, which also was scheduled to be played in Edmonton and Red Deer, was played without fans in attendance and held in a secure-zone at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
–Field Level Media
