World Juniors canceled | “The variant was already in advance”

“We looked more at the test results than the rankings. That says a lot. ”

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

Luc Tardif explained himself for long minutes at a press briefing on Wednesday. But in the end, the conclusion was quite simple: the Omicron variant won the race. Now we have to add the World Junior Championship to the list of things it has derailed.

Tardif, the new president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), spent long minutes answering questions about the cancellation of the World Juniors, a flagship event in international hockey.

The native Quebecer, French by adoption, correctly recalled, for example, that the tournament, a holiday season tradition for hockey fans, was not the only event compromised by the new wave of COVID -19.

“The NHL and women’s tournaments have also suffered consequences,” Tardif recalled. We made changes to our protocols, but the variant was already in advance. ”

Reviews

Tardif and the Hockey Canada bonzes appeared rather combative at this press briefing. It is because, in the hours which preceded it, the criticisms rocked from everywhere.

For some, the organizers gave up too quickly. The COVID-19 cases had forced the cancellation of a game on Tuesday and two others on Wednesday, and another cancellation was still on the cards for Wednesday. This was the result of two cases in the American team, one in the Czech team and one in the Russian camp. But these cancellations made the organizers realize that their mission was impossible.

For others, the criticisms were more related to the environment of the teams. Last year, the tournament was played in a proper bubble, with no spectators in the stands. This year, we preferred to speak of a “protected environment”.

Teams underwent a 48-hour quarantine upon arrival in Alberta on December 15, and then had to stick to back and forth between the arena and the hotel.

Press conferences were held in virtual mode, but the broadcast networks were part of the bubble and could therefore meet in person. TSN, for example, had shot a segment of Christmas carols with a few players from Team Canada, including Kaiden Guhle.

Unlike the bubble that the NHL created during the 2020 playoffs, however, hotels were not for the exclusive use of teams, and other clients were also accommodated there. This gave rise to stories that circulated to the right and to the left on Wednesday: a wedding organized in the hotel in Red Deer, where the teams were staying, the bar in a crowded Edmonton hotel lobby…

The story of the wedding was even brought up by Ivan Fenes, head coach of Slovakia, who was critical of the organization of the tournament.

“From day 1, things did not go as planned,” Fenes lamented, according to comments reported by Czech descriptor Roman Jedlicka.

United States head coach Nate Leaman and Finland counterpart Antti Pennanen added their voices to criticism.

The organizers defended themselves by recalling that daily tests for COVID-19 had been added at the last moment, in order to control any outbreak. Tardif spoke of “7,000 to 8,000 more tests” than expected.

Scott Smith, president of Hockey Canada, described the challenge of changing protocols on such short notice. “At first, the general impression was that our environment was too restrictive. The teams arrived, and we changed things in the first seven days. In 2020, preparations had started in early September, and things had evolved until the teams arrived in December. This time, the changes had to be started with six days’ notice, with the hotel parameters to be respected. We believe that we have improved the team environment as much as possible. ”

Explosion of cases

The contagious Omicron, which arrived in Alberta about a week later than in Quebec, was therefore a game-changer at the worst possible time.

Originally, the tournament was even to be presented without restrictions on the number of spectators admitted to the arenas, but on December 21, five days before the start of the preliminary round, a limit of 50% of the capacity was imposed, due to the explosion of COVID-19 cases.

At the start of December, Alberta had some 300 new cases per day (seven-day moving average). However, in its update of the Christmas break, the Alberta government declared 8,250 new cases for the period of December 23 to 27, for a daily average of 1,650. Wednesday’s toll: 2,775 cases. In 24 hours …

Tournament postponed?

Now is the tournament canceled or postponed? “Give us a month to think about it, and we might come up with a surprise,” Tardif said.

He has indeed suggested a few times that a postponement was not excluded. However, the operation promises to be complex. In April and May, teams from the three Canadian junior circuits are in the playoffs; many players would therefore be unavailable.

Also in May, it is also the Senior World Championship and the annual convention of the IIHF. “So that takes us to June. You have to see if the rinks are available. I will not come forward, ”he said.

We can add to this questions about the enthusiasm that a tournament would generate in the middle of summer, at the counters as on television. The NHL playoffs will undoubtedly stretch until the end of June. Ratings for the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which concluded in July, left the NHL lukewarm. One also wonders what NHL teams would think of letting their top prospects play this late in the summer, knowing the recovery time needed for the 2022-2023 campaign.

Under these circumstances, the postponement of the tournament perhaps looks a bit more like wishful thinking.

Completed for Guhle, Mysak and Kapanen

The Canadian had three prospects at this tournament: Kaiden Guhle (Canada), Jan Mysak (Czech Republic) and Oliver Kapanen (Finland), the first two in the role of captain. The three players played two games each. Mysak scored a goal, Guhle an assist, while Kapanen was shut out. Mysak averaged 19 minutes per game, by far his team’s highest total among forwards.