Canada Joins Countries Refusing to Play Russian Ice Hockey Teams
Canada has joined a group of countries refusing to play ice hockey teams from Russia. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Russian skaters will not be able to compete in a world junior championship next month because of the war in Ukraine.
Carney told reporters on Tuesday that, as long as Russia and Belarus support the war, athletes from those two countries will not compete for their countries in Canada, according to The Guardian. The world junior tournament is scheduled to begin on 26 December in Alberta, a province in western Canada.
The sport's international governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), barred Russian teams after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The restriction was extended every year after that. In May, the IIHF determined that Russia would not return to its competitions for the 2026-2027 season, citing safety and security concerns, according to the federation.
That position was overturned on Friday, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international body that settles sports disputes, lifted the ban on Russian teams competing in IIHF events. The court said the safety and security concerns behind the ban were not supported by sufficient evidence.
The reaction came quickly. The Finnish Ice Hockey Association asked other nations on Monday to oppose the court's decision to let Russians compete. On Tuesday, hockey federations in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Latvia and the Czech Republic announced that they had sided with Finland in refusing to play Russian teams.
