The youth ice hockey world championship, which took place these days in Canada, was canceled due to the coronavirus. Now it is planned to be held in the summer.

International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on the cancellation of the World Youth Championship, which has been held since December 26 in Canada. This decision was preceded by a series of positive coronavirus tests among players.

“Due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus and the omicron strain, the World Cup will be canceled to ensure the safety and health of all participants,” the IIHF said in a statement.

On December 29, it became known that the match between the national teams of Russia and Slovakia in the youth championship was canceled due to a case of coronavirus infection in the Russian team. Russian striker Matvey Michkov passed a positive test for coronavirus. The match was supposed to take place on December 30th.

The players from the Czech Republic and the USA also passed positive tests.

President of the International Ice Hockey Federation Luc Tardiff announced that the World Youth Championship will be held again and again in Canada.

“Perhaps the tournament will be in June, sometime in the summer”, – leads words of the President of the Sports.ru Federation.

Tardiff noted that the championship will be held in the current season and therefore the same age group will perform at it, although the lineups may change. That is, players who are already 20 years old at the start will still be able to take part in the tournament.

The Russian national team managed to play two matches in the tournament within the framework of group B. In the first meeting, it was defeated by Sweden (3: 6), in the second it defeated Switzerland (4: 2).

A year ago, the Youth World Cup was also held in Canada, with the USA team becoming the winner, beating the hosts in the final with a score of 2: 0. Russia finished fourth, losing 1: 4 in the match for the bronze to Finland.