The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced that it will be rescheduling both of its major male and female tournaments that had previously been cancelled this past winter for the summer months.
The 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship is expected to be played from August 8-19 in Alberta, while the 2022 Women’s U-18 Championship will be held in the United States at a date, time and location still to be determined.
The 2022 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will run in mid-August this summer.
Teams will start over from scratch, with the same age group that participated in December.
Fantastic news.
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“It will be in the middle of August in Alberta,” IIHF President Luc Tardif said during the Olympic Games. “It will be a new competition, which means we forget the (December) results. We are talking with all participants and are negotiating on details. It will be after the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It will be a hockey festival and the teams are excited to do it.”
The original running of the December 25-January 6 tournament was cancelled after just four days as COVID-19 took over the event. Players eligible for the initial tournament will be allowed back for the summer event, no matter if they would have aged out by the new dates.
As Tardif mentioned, the tournament will start over from scratch. Relegation will be re-introduced, and a new World Juniors champion will be crowned.
As for the Women’s U-18 World Championship – originally scheduled to be held back in September of 2021 in Sweden – Tardif said that the new date of the re-scheduled event has also not yet been determined, but it will be held in June, “in the north of the USA”.
“We’re pleased to step forward and host the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship this summer,” USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher said. “Like everyone, we were disappointed the tournament was initially canceled. While it’s a significant undertaking in a short period of time, we look forward to putting on a great championship and providing an opportunity for the eight competing teams a chance to win a world championship. We anticipate announcing dates and location for the tournament in the near future.”
The IIHF will bring the event to North America in June, with the hope of sending it back to Sweden for 2023. Sweden is unable to host in 2022, so a different host country will be needed for this coming year’s spectacle. Canada is the likely front-runner.
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