MOSCOW, 16 Mar. The Swiss national hockey team will replace the Russian team at the stages of the Eurotour for the next two years, according to the official website of the Swiss Hockey Association. This season, the Swiss national team will take part in the Swedish hockey games instead of the Russian team, which will be held from 5 to 8 May. Earlier, the Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) suspended the national teams of Russia and Belarus from international competitions for an indefinite period and deprived Omsk and Novosibirsk of the right to host the Youth World Championship — 2023. The IIHF has not yet deprived Russia of the adult World Championship — 2023, which is scheduled for 5 -May 21 in St. Petersburg. Eurotour is an annual international tournament in which four European teams traditionally took part: Russia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden. Each of the participating countries holds one tournament, Russia hosted the December stage — the First Channel Cup. The Russian team is the current winner of the Eurotour. This season, after two stages, the Russians took third place, gaining 10 points in six matches. The Swedish team is in the lead (12), followed by the Finnish team (10).
