Men’s ice hockey
When the National Hockey League and its players agreed to pause the season and participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics, it came with the caveat of pandemic conditions not making it impractical to go to China.
Seven weeks before puck drop at what was supposed to be the first Olympics with NHL players since 2014, the league pulled the plug amid a rash of postponements for coronavirus-related reasons. Instead of getting the world’s best on Olympic ice for the sixth time since 1998, the tournament will now feature players from the college ranks in the U.S., professional leagues across Europe and the minors in North America.
The Russians are again favored to win gold after beating Germany in the 2018 final, thanks to the talent coming from the home-based Kontinental Hockey League that will shut down for the Olympics. The lack of NHL players throws even more uncertainty into the competition and the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden are all thinking they have a realistic chance of winning.
“You look at the 2018 Olympics, it was just very competitive — there was a lot of parity,” U.S. coach David Quinn said. “The Russians are perceived to be the team with a leg up on everybody just because of the KHL, but they had a hard time (four years ago) with Germany in the gold-medal game. I just think it’s going to be a very, very competitive tournament.”
Four years since the Russians — known as the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” — emerged with gold, Germany silver and Canada bronze, things look wide open.