Today the IIHF will announce new plans for the 2021 and 2022 World Junior Championships. This winter’s event, scheduled to run in December 2020 and January 2021, will be held entirely in Edmonton in a hub format similar to the way the NHL is holding the playoffs. The event was originally scheduled to be held in Edmonton and Red Deer.
The 2022 event will not go to Europe in the usual alternating system where Canada hosts every other year, but will stay in Alberta, presumably to allow Red Deer to have their turn as host.
Announcement coming from IIHF. This years World Junior Championship will be hosted in the Edmonton Hub. Next years also hosted in Alberta, hopefully in healthier times.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) September 17, 2020
Official post:
The 2021 #WorldJuniors will be played in a bubble without spectators in Edmonton🇨🇦, in 2022 with fans in Edmonton & Red Deer. The World Juniors in Gothenburg🇸🇪 will be moved to 2024. https://t.co/LIK2g8RYiG
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) September 17, 2020
📷 Codie McLachlan/CP/AP/Keystone pic.twitter.com/s3MO4Mc7n0
There will be no fans for the upcoming WJC, and Sweden will get one of the future events to make up for losing the 2022 tournament. Hockey Canada will be giving full refunds to all tickets that were sold up to now.
They IIHF have also cancelled all other men’s U20 events in 2021, but not the U18 series. All women’s junior-level events, including the main women’s junior championships, the U18, are cancelled for 2021.
The IIHF cancels the men's U20 World Championship tournaments (except top-level #WorldJuniors) and the U18 Women's World Championship tournaments due to the situation with the #COVID19 pandemic.
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) September 17, 2020
➡️ https://t.co/u4PiflgO1j
📷 Robert Hradil / HHOF-IIHF Images pic.twitter.com/ETRDj0T87z
All IIHF championships have multiple tiers below the top level, and there are normally dozens of tournaments a year all over the world.
The senior men’s and women’s World Championships are still on track, with the women’s event scheduled for Halifax where the 2020 tournament was supposed to be held. It was cancelled this spring.
However, the men’s tournament is scheduled for Riga, Latvia and Minsk, Belarus, and many, including the Latvian government, don’t want anything to do with an event in Belarus, currently the sight of civil protests and state-sponsored violence over a contested election. The IIHF is reviewing the situation and changes may be made.
All Olympic qualification tournaments are postponed as well. This is the full list of cancelled tournaments:
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION I GROUP A 13-19 December 2020 – DENMARK, Horsholm
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION I GROUP B10-17 February 2021 – ESTONIA, Tallinn
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION II GROUP A 8-14 February 2021 – ROMANIA, Brasov
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION II GROUP B 8-14 February 2021 – SERBIA, Belgrade
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION III 11-16 January 2021 – MEXICO, Mexico City
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP5-12 January 2021 – Sweden, Linkoping & Mjolby
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division I Group A10-16 January 2021 – HUNGARY, Gyor
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division I Group B10-16 January 2021 – AUSTRIA, Radenthein
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division II Group A19-22 January 2021 – GREAT BRITAIN, Dumfries
2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division II Group B28-31 January 2021 – TURKEY, Kocaeli
