COVID cancels/postpones world juniors

These unprecedented times produced another unprecedented event on Wednesday with the cancellation - or maybe postponement? - of the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship in Alberta.

The announcement comes after a few more positive COVID-19 cases amongst players, resulting in more forfeited games.

From the IIHF:

In addition to ensuring the health and safety of participants, the Council has determined that with another forfeiture – the third forfeited game in two days – the sportive integrity of the event has been compromised, and the event must be cancelled.

The good news, it seems, is that the IIHF will look into rescheduling the tournament for this summer. That's positive news for both players and fans (and also ensures the IIHF/Hockey Canada gets to keep its sponsorship, ticket and TV revenue).

I'm told when players were informed of the cancellation, they were also informed work will continue to find a possibility. Many challenges remain in actually hosting. June, July and August on the table per Tardif just now during the press conference.

— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) December 29, 2021

Tardif making it clear he wants to “restart the competition in a better way.”

As reported, this summer is their focus.

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 29, 2021

This news comes at a time when the IIHF has been heavily criticized for its quick cancellation of the World Women's Under-18 Championship and a number of other events scheduled for January.

The IIHF confirmed that players eligible for this year's world juniors will remain eligible for this summer's event if one takes place.

Luc Tardif says if the World Juniors does get rescheduled in June or July that the players who had turned 20 will be eligible. pic.twitter.com/UKpTC2KAV0

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 30, 2021

Some other thoughts and things from Wednesday's news:

• It's wild how quickly this all turned into a huge mess. A few weeks ago everything was looking pretty okay.
• It's impossible to not be a little concerned about the 2022 Memorial Cup, scheduled for June 4-13 in Saint John. Even if things are looking fine come May, the world juniors showed just how quickly things can take a turn.
• It's probably a good thing that TSN owns the CHL and IIHF TV rights, which will presumably ensure there is no overlap between the Memorial Cup and a summer world junior tournament.
• The world junior setup also showed that Omicron will break though semi-bubbles/protected environments. The QMJHL had several successful protected environments last season, but even stricter protocols would likely be needed this time around. Also avoid weddings.
• With the world juniors over, we could certainly see some player movement in the QMJHL sooner than expected. All eyes are on Team Canada's Elliot Desnoyers. The trade deadline is Jan. 6.
• The OHL and WHL restarted as planned after the holiday break but have had a lot of games postponed by COVID. It's going to be a challenge to squeeze all of those games into the schedule for later this season, but we'll see what happens.
• We're slowly seeing more players leave U Sports programs and join pro teams in either North America or Europe. Two of the latest, according to Ben Steiner: Acadia captain Garrett McFadden and Acadia starting goaltender Logan Flodell. Acadia is scheduled to host nationals in March - although it's starting to feel like we may not see university hockey again until next fall.
• Good news will return someday.