IIHF President Luc Tardif announced today that the World Junior Championship that was cancelled in December is planned to be played this summer. He said that the exact dates will be announced during the upcoming Beijing Olympics which begin the first week of February.
The original tournament, which began on December 26 was ultimately cancelled when teams began forfeiting games due to positive COVID tests results. The IIHF said the tournament was cancelled because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The first two scheduled games on Wednesday, December 29 were forfeited after Team Czechia and Russia produced positive test results.

Schedule And Rosters?

It is unclear at this point how the tournament will be resumed. Will they pick up the schedule from where it was left off, including forfeited games? or will they replay the entire tournament schedule?

Sweden’s forward Oskar Magnusson was the only Capitals prospect participating in the tournament in Calgary and Red Deer, Alberta, prior to its cancellation. It’s also unclear if teams will redo individual selection camps and rosters or if they will be required to use previous designated rosters.

Capitals prospects Hendrix Lapierre and Vincent Iorio were cut from Team Canada’s selection camp and Bogdan Trineyev was cut from Russia’s selection camp prior to the start of the tournament on December 26. German Haakon Hanelt missed the tournament due to recent shoulder surgery.

By Jon Sorensen