Making sense of the decision to cancel the Women’s World Championship (again) — and what’s next

The six goalies vying for a spot on Team Canada’s World Championship roster had just left the ice at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax when the news broke: The 2021 Women’s World Championships had been cancelled.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Maine, players chosen to represent Team USA were in the middle of their final day of training camp before they were scheduled to make the bus trip to Halifax on Thursday.

Only hours earlier, the Czech Republic officially named their 25-player roster that would travel to Nova Scotia for the tournament.

All of this reveals how suddenly the rug was pulled out from under players, coaches and tournament organizers.

After being initially postponed from an April puck drop, the IIHF and Hockey Canada received confirmation from the provincial government of Nova Scotia on Wednesday morning that the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Halifax and Truro — scheduled to take place from May 6 to 16 — had been cancelled over concerns associated with COVID-19.

“This is very disappointing news to receive with just a few weeks until the tournament was to begin,” said IIHF President René Fasel. “We strongly believe that we had the adequate safety measures in place to protect players, officials, spectators, and all residents in Halifax and Truro, based on the IIHF and Hockey Canada’s experiences from hosting the IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton.”

The IIHF and Hockey Canada pledged “to work towards finding new dates for the tournament, with the goal to host the event in the summer of 2021.”

The 2021 World Championships was supposed to mark a long-awaited return to competition for the best women’s hockey players in the world, most of whom have not played a meaningful hockey game in over two years.

On the eve of the 2019 world championships, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League announced it would fold after nearly 12 years in operation, setting in motion a two-year boycott of the professional game by nearly 200 elite players and taking away most Canadian players’ daily training environments.

Then, the 2019 4 Nations Cup was cancelled due to contract disputes between the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and the Swedish women’s team. The 2020 4 Nations Cup and the 2020 women’s world championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, the 2021 tournament is in doubt, too.

“It’s hard to describe. You know, (there is) definitely a little bit of disbelief, a little shock, and a lot of emotion,” said Gina Kingsbury, the manager of Team Canada, in a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “This is a group that has been through a lot in the past two years … so they’re definitely familiar with disappointing news.”

During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Hockey Canada executives indicated that the decision to cancel the tournament was one the province of Nova Scotia made Wednesday morning.

“We’ve had excellent discussions … as recently as communicating through the night with the IIHF in advance of the final compliance call this morning,” said Hockey Canada president and COO Scott Smith. “And we were advised very unexpectedly of the change in direction from the province.

“I don’t say that to lay blame at the feet of the province,” he added. “We have full respect for Nova Scotia Health and their decision.”

The decision from the province comes as case counts in Nova Scotia, while small in comparison to other provinces (like Ontario), have steadily been on the rise, with confirmed cases of the new variants.

On Wednesday, the province reported 25 new cases of COVID-19 for 79 active cases, which is nearly double the amount reported less than a week ago. For instance, on Thursday, April 15, the province reported three new cases of COVID-19 and only 42 active cases.

Nova Scotia also imposed new travel restrictions this week, stating “effective April 22 at 8 a.m., people from outside Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador will not be allowed to enter Nova Scotia unless their travel is essential or they are permanent residents of Nova Scotia.”

“This is not the time for people to come to Nova Scotia for anything other than essential travel,” said Premier Iain Rankin. “Given that the pandemic is now being driven by variants that transmit more easily, this strong action is necessary to protect Nova Scotians.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer Robert Strang said that despite the new restrictions, he was comfortable with the protocols in place for the tournament to go ahead.

“That tournament, in my opinion, does not present a risk of bringing COVID and transmitting it into Nova Scotia with all the very strict protocols they have even before they leave their home countries,” Strang said then.

Hockey Canada’s manager of events Dean McIntosh provided an overview of those protocols on Wednesday:

Players and team personnel arriving Thursday were to begin a 14-day quarantine starting with eight days of strict self-isolation in their hotel rooms (meals would be sent to their rooms) from April 22 until April 30.

On May 1, after a third negative test — testing would be on April 22, 26, and 30 — teams would graduate to team isolation.

“What that meant was that each of the Federation’s would travel to the venue on a bus, they would get off the bus, enter the venue, they would have the opportunity to dress and skate, they would have a one-hour session and return back to the hotel and meals would be continued to deliver in their own rooms,” McIntosh explained. “So really the 14-day quarantine period in Nova Scotia would have been a combination of self-isolation and team isolation.”

Those in the bubble would also be tested on May 4 and May 6 prior to the start of the competition, two more times during the competition and prior to leaving the province. Further, players and personnel would have been required to use wearable technology that would monitor their quarantine compliance and allow for contact tracing.

“We heard very clearly from Dr. Strang that he was comfortable and confident in our protocols,” McIntosh said. “But at the end of the day there was also a clear discussion with the province of Nova Scotia, and an increasing caseload that the concern was for the health and safety of Nova Scotians, and we certainly respect that decision.”

Less than 24 hours after his chief medical offer expressed support for the tournament, the Premier withdrew his permission for the event to take place in the province.

“It was my recommendation the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships be cancelled,” Premier Rankin said in a statement. “I sincerely regret the short notice, but the rapidly changing environment dictates this decision in the interest of the safety of Nova Scotians and participants. We have worked diligently with Hockey Canada to ensure we can stage a safe and successful world hockey championship and they have been a great partner, but the safety of the Nova Scotia public and participants is paramount and is the reason for our decision.”

This statement comes just one day before all 10 teams were scheduled to enter the IIHF bubble in Halifax on Thursday, with Team Canada already there for their week-long selection camp.

“At five o’clock this morning, this was a go. At seven-thirty, it was not,” Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney said. “Some of this is much, much further beyond our control than we would like.”

The abrupt cancellation of the event so close to its start date raises legitimate questions about why no contingency plan had been considered for a marquee event on the women’s hockey calendar, which had already been postponed after the recommendation from the provincial health authority in Nova Scotia.

Not to mention that the women’s under-18 hockey championship in Sweden was also cancelled while the men’s World Junior Championships were held from Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 in Edmonton. The men’s world championship is scheduled to open in less than a month in Riga, Latvia. And the men’s under-18 championship is set to open Monday in Frisco, Texas, after being moved from Michigan in February with the hope of having a better chance to complete the tournament.

The optics aren’t great. Especially when you consider Team Canada forward Blayre Turnbull publicly questioned the IIHF’s decision not to relocate the women’s world championships as they did the men’s U18 tournament.

Any update on women’s worlds or are we still at the bottom of the priority list? @IIHFHockey https://t.co/X6aMDSuBev

— Blayre Turnbull (@katbt617) February 11, 2021

When asked by The Athletic if a similar move was considered, Smith said there was a meeting between Hockey Canada and representatives of the IIHF during the world juniors in Edmonton, where both sides discussed two options with respect to the women’s worlds.

One option was to move the previously set April dates to May 6-16. And a second option of hosting the tournament from Aug. 20-30. Hockey Canada and the IIHF chose the former option and did not consider a change of location.

“Because of the promising discussions that we had with the Nova Scotia Health Authority as recently as through last night, we didn’t entertain a secondary option,” Smith said. “Because we felt that we were on a path, and had the approval to operate the event until just at 7:30 this morning on the dates that were proposed for May.”

So what now?

The natural next step is to figure out if the tournament will be rescheduled. And if so, where and when it will be held.

Fasel told The Associated Press that the focus is on rescheduling the tournament to potentially this summer and holding it in either Nova Scotia, elsewhere in Canada or finding another host nation. He said the initial plan is to have Nova Scotia host the event in August.

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reported Wednesday night that Dallas-Fort Worth and the Stars are working on potentially hosting. According to Shapiro’s source, multiple federations have encouraged a plan that would see the tournament being held in Texas.

Earlier on Wednesday, when asked if relocating to the U.S. was an option, Renney said the priority is to host in Canada but said “anything is possible.”

“We’re up against an opponent that really dictates the terms, you know, and it really has everything to do with health,” he said. “We have every desire to hold this event in Canada. … That’s our No. 1 objective — where that ends up happening should everything come to pass remains to be seen.”

One major consideration with an August World Championships is how it would impact typical Olympic centralization. Before the Games, Hockey Canada invites its Olympic hopefuls to Calgary for a six-to-seven month “centralized” camp. That usually begins at the end of August or the start of September. According to Kingsbury, Hockey Canada was going to announce its Olympic Selection roster next month, but that timeline may change.

Both the Worlds and a full centralization are critical for Olympic preparation. Working out that schedule is going to be a key balancing act.

When asked about what is next for her group, she said it’s too soon to say but that Hockey Canada will need to make those decisions fairly quickly.

“I don’t think we’re in a position right now to know exactly what our next move is and how we prepare for Beijing,” she said. “But obviously we’ll work closely together as a group and put together the best possible plan to ensure that we are successful in Beijing and that our athletes are prepared and get the experience and opportunities that they deserve.”

(Photo of Blayre Turnbull: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)