Gord Miller, a well-known journalist from the Canadian TV channel TSN, said that the World Youth Championship could be taken away from Russia, which will take place in 2032, and the suspension of national teams will last for decades. The Canadian refers to reliable sources in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It seems that they are simply afraid of the return of one of the best teams in the world and intend to ruin everything that the previous head of the IIHF, Rene Fasel, built for years.
What the Canadian said
Miller attended the IIHF congress in Tampere, where the Ice Hockey World Championship is taking place. There, the journalist spoke with representatives of various national federations, who assured him that Russia and Belarus would not return to international competitions even after the conflict in Ukraine ended. And with a high degree of probability, our country will be deprived of the right to host the World Youth Championship — 2032.
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“The overwhelming majority of national federations at the IIHF congress unanimously agreed that it would be years before Russia and Belarus were admitted to the international arena, regardless of when and how the events in Ukraine ended. To be clear, it is extremely unlikely that Russia will be allowed to host the 2032 World Youth Championships, which was approved back in 2018,” Miller wrote.
Recall that the IIHF Council at the end of February 2022 suspended the national teams of Russia and Belarus from international competitions for an indefinite period due to the situation in Ukraine. The organization also took away from Russia the right to host the youth and adult world championships in 2023. Since then, the suspension has been extended several times, and it is already clear that we will not be allowed until the next world championship. The head of the IIHF, Luc Tardif, said that the organization will return to this issue in March 2024.
It's funny that Tardif does not consider the decisions made to be political and assures that this was done to protect the representatives of Russia and Belarus. Enchanting nonsense. The president of the IIHF obviously understands that he is talking nonsense to the masses, but, apparently, he simply has no other choice. Russia in contrast to the IIHF
Let's return to Miller's statement, which announced the terrible terms for the removal of Russia. If the same Tardif is talking about the next world championship, then the Canadian is confident in the virtually indefinite isolation of our hockey. It must be admitted that Miller really communicates closely with many people from the national federations and the leadership of the IIHF, so it is quite possible to believe that such discussions took place.
But this does not mean at all that it will be so. Unless Miller and others have a magic ball that predicts the future. And in general, what reasons can the International Ice Hockey Federation have to prevent Russia when the conflict in Ukraine is over. Officials now only do what they say about the return of Russia to the hockey family after the end of hostilities. And now, you see, rumors have spread on the sidelines that nothing depends on the geopolitical situation. One would like to ask the question: what factors then are taken into account?
It seems that in Canada and the United States they saw that without Russia it is much easier to take medals at the World Championships and the Olympic Games. And so you can report on great successes to big bosses. Of course, Canadians do not want to change anything and will insist that Russia never return at all. Only business. Another thing is that in the IIHF they should finally think with their heads and evaluate the losses, but they definitely exist without our team. Both financially and in sports terms.