One for the books
World junior men’s hockey championship in Edmonton achieved with few COVID-19 hiccups
The 2021 world junior men’s hockey championship had a shaky start, but Hockey Canada, the International Ice Hockey Federation and Edmonton’s organizing committee pulled it off in a global pandemic.
Using the 2020 NHL playoff “bubble” in Edmonton as a template, the 10 teams arrived, played games and crowned a champion without derailment by the COVID-19 virus.
“There will be no asterisk. The competition has taken place,” Hockey Canada chief executive officer Tom Renney said Tuesday before the gold-medal game involving host Canada and the United States.
“Participation of 10 teams is something that is extraordinary in every sense of the word.”
From Dec. 13 when the teams arrived in Edmonton, nearly 600 people lived “bubble” life walled off from the general public for 24 days, according to Hockey Canada.
Teams quarantined before and after arrival. Daily testing and temperature checks, mandatory masks off ice, wearable technology to prevent and track possible exposure and zero spectators at games were among measures taken to avoid spread of the virus.
“We wanted to finish this tournament with 10 teams. We made it,” tournament co-chair Luc Tardif said.
Teams were affected by the virus and the protocols designed to stop it, however. Sweden arrived without its regular coaching staff and some top players who tested positive before leaving that country.
Germany was down to 14 skaters and two goaltenders for its first two games of the tournament.
A third of the team stayed in extended isolation because of positive tests during a mandatory five-day quarantine upon arrival. One German player was in quarantine for the whole tournament.
“I think it is unfortunate what happened,” IIHF president Rene Fasel said. “We do not know what really happened with the German team as they were travelling with the Swiss and a delegation of the IIHF and then to have these 10 positive tests was really a surprise.
“In fairness, they beat the Swiss, they went to the quarterfinal and played a very, very good game against Russia.”