New dates for women’s hockey world

Thus, the tournament will take place from 20 to 31 August at the venue to be determined.

Originally scheduled for May 6–16 in Tru and Halifax, Novo Scotia, the competition was canceled due to the province’s refusal for sanitary conditions.

After a teleconference on Thursday with all participating countries, the IIHF Council met on Friday and agreed to the tournament to be presented in August.

Players, teams, Hockey Canada and IIHF were placed in a difficult position due to the sudden cancellation of the tournament. But it should not be used as an excuse to use this remedy with half measures., Said IIHF President René Fussell in an official statement.

We needed appropriate dates for all teams to allow full coverage of the event and the ability for the audience to attend matches in person., He said, specifying that the dates selected were not unanimous.

Some teams would have preferred playing in September, others in late August. But we had to respect the calendar of leagues around the world and the various competitions, as well as the needs of the four teams participating in the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Beijing Games., M. Fussell concluded.

After thanking Hockey Canada for their participation, the IIHF president indicated that an announcement would be made in the coming weeks where the World Women’s Championship would be presented.

Got a smile

It goes without saying that the announcement pleased athletes who received the news of the cancellation as a shock to the courage.

The goalkeeper of the Canadian team, Annie Renee Desbeans, did not hide her joy when Radio-Canada Sports collected their first impressions of the new calendar.

We are certainly satisfied with the announcement we received this week. The whole team was thinking about what we will do and what we are going to do in the next few weeks. We are really happy to have our answer. It gives us the opportunity to plan, Indicated the first decibens.

Chances remain excellent that the tournament will still be presented in Canada, but Hockey Canada officials are waiting to see progress in terms of the development and vaccination of health conditions in various provinces.

For now, it is going to live in Canada. We are very happy with this. We like to play in our country. We like to represent our country. But you have to understand that hockey will put everything to keep in Canada.

Even if the planned dates are likely to reduce players’ holidays, Ann-Renee Desbeans is confident that they are eager to finally participate in their big tournament. The dates of the next camp are yet to be established.

En-renee décibense

Photo: Canadian Press / Chris Lee

We are not there yet. But I think we are ready to cut our summer short so that we can play. there is no doubt about it. This was exactly what we wanted to do, no matter what the weather, we were ready. We will see with Hockey Canada, with physical trainers, coaches which is the best course for us.

The fact that this World Championship is held just before the Olympic domination camp will certainly require additional adaptations from all team members.