IIHF Confirms No Relegation From 2022 World Junior Championship


After a degree of uncertainty surrounding how the IIHF would handle the 2023 World Junior Championships after the bottom two division tournaments set to take place in January 2022 were cancelled due to COVID-19, today they announced no teams in the ongoing Top Division would be relegated in 2022.
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๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ IIHF Cancels January 2022 Tournaments, Including Junior Division IIB & III


Thanks to the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant across the globe, the IIHF today announced that all tournaments set to begin in January 2022 will be cancelled, including the entire Under-18 Women’s World Championship, and the two bottom Divisions in the World Junior Championship.
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IHLC Preview – 2022 World Junior Championship


After COVID-19 forced the 2021 World Junior Championship into a bubble, the tournament returns to Alberta, Canada for 2022, with Edmonton and Red Deer hosting the world’s top under-20 hockey teams in front of fans for the first time since January 2020, just before the world changed forever.
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NHL Withdraws From 2022 Olympics Due To COVID Postponements


After having to cancel fifty games in the past week over protocols due to the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, the National Hockey League today officially announced that due to the material impact of these postponements on the 2021-22 season, they will be withdrawing their players from participating in the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.
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๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ Belarus Promoted To World Junior Top Division In 2023


After a one-year stasis of the same ten teams in the World Junior Championship Top Division thanks to COVID-19, today Belarus punched their ticket to Russia in 2023 by emerging victorious atop Division IA in Denmark, going a perfect 5-0 in the tournament and sealing their victory with a win over Norway.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Dion Phaneuf Formally Announces Retirement


Just days after fellow punishing defender Braydon Coburn announced his retirement from hockey, his counterpart Dion Phaneuf, a three-time NHL All-Star inactive for the past three seasons, today formally announced he is stepping away from the game at age 36.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Hockey Hall Of Fame Inducts Class Of 2020 Following Delay


After a sixteen-month pandemic delay, the Hockey Hall Of Fame tonight inducted their Class of 2020, inducting five legendary players to their ranks with a number of tremendous international achievements.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Czechia, Denmark, Sweden Clinch Final 2022 Women’s Olympic Qualifying Spots


After just three months Olympic qualifiers that were set to begin nearly a year ago, but delayed due to COVID-19, the three final qualification spots for a trip to Beijing were today clinched by Czechia, Denmark and Sweden for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Braydon Coburn Retires From Hockey At Age 36


Bruising Canadian defenceman Braydon Coburn, who spent sixteen NHL seasons with five clubs, amassing nearly 1000 games played and a Stanley Cup ring, today announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 36.
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๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Mariรกn Gรกborรญk Formally Announces Retirement From Pro Hockey


After spending the past three seasons on injured reserve due to a herniated disk, Slovak star forward Mariรกn Gรกborรญk officially announced his retirement from pro hockey at the age of 39.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 2022 World Junior Championship Schedule Released


The schedule for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship has been released, returning to the originally planned hosts of Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, which was set for the 2021 tournament but instead played in a quarantine bubble only in Edmonton, in front of no fans.
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๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Tardif Named New IIHF President, Fasel Inducted To IIHF Hall Of Fame


After a four-round vote to replace IIHF President Renรฉ Fasel after a 27-year term, Luc Tardif Sr. today was voted in as new President of the International Ice Hockey Federation, following stints as IIHF Treasurer and President of the French Ice Hockey Federation.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ 2022 Men’s Olympic Hockey Schedule Released


The IIHF today released the schedule for the men’s tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, with the tournament beginning on Wednesday, 09 February, with defending champions the Russian Olympic Committee starting their title defence on the opening day, in the first tournament since 2014 to feature NHL players on Olympic rosters.
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IIHF Congress Approves Women’s World Championships In Olympic Years


After over twenty years of not holding the IIHF Women’s World Championship in years when the Olympics are taking place, today the IIHF Congress voted to allow for both tournaments to be held the same calendar year every four years, with the tournament moving from April to August in Olympic years, starting in 2022.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Czech Goaltender Jakub Kovรกล™ Retires At Age 33


Citing health reasons for his early retirement, Czech goaltender Jakub Kovรกล™ today announced he was leaving KHL club Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg after just one start in the 2021-22 KHL season, ending his professional career.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Ladislav Lubina: 1967-2021


Ladislav Lubina, the Czech winger who captured a number of medals for the Narodnitym throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, today sadly passed away from brain cancer at the age of 54.
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๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ American Forward David Backes Retires As Blue At Age 37


American forward David Backes, who has seen limited playing time over the past two seasons due to recurring injuries, today officially signed with St. Louis for a day to retire as a Blue, ending his career at the age of 37.
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๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ NHL, IIHF Reach Agreement On 2022 Olympic Participation


After the NHL and NHL Player’s Association came to an agreement last summer to participate at both the 2022 and 2026 Olympics, pending negotiations with the International Olympic Committee and IIHF, today it was announced that NHL players will in fact participate at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, marking their return to the Games after skipping the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
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๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ป ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark Clinch Final Beijing 2022 Men’s Olympic Qualifying Spots


After nearly two year of Olympic qualifiers that began in Luxembourg and China in November 2019, four rounds of play, 36 teams competing and a global pandemic in between, came to a conclusion today for the final three spots in Beijing, with the spots being clinched locked up by Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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