The end of the quarantine, the cancellation of the match and Ovechkin's parting words: what is being discussed four days before the start of the MFM in hockey

Start of training and cases of infection

The Russian youth ice hockey team continues to prepare for the World Championship, which starts on December 25 in Edmonton, Canada.

Igor Larionov's wards have started full-fledged training after a mandatory four-day quarantine.

The mentor was satisfied with how responsibly the players reacted to the self-isolation classes, and noted that both they and the coaching staff were happy to return to the ice.

“There was an engaging workout that gave the guys the opportunity to feel what we want to see.

To a pleasant surprise, they did not have a lot of marriage, which can be expected after a long downtime - those little details that do not quite fit with our game, ”the website of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) quotes Larionov.

During the quarantine, the hockey players were forced to constantly stay in their rooms, where they received food and did exercises.

Trainers conducted lessons via video communication.

In addition, the athletes passed several tests for COVID-19 in order to get admission to the rink.

The Russians successfully passed the tests, which cannot be said about the other participants in the tournament.

According to the organizers, they took all measures to ensure safety, but they could not avoid infection.

Eight cases were identified in the Swedish national team, two in Germany.

All sick players and members of delegations were sent to quarantine, and the organizers had to revise the calendar of test matches.

As a result, the game between Russians and Slovaks was canceled.

On December 23, they will meet with the hosts of the tournament, the Canadians.

New restrictions and first penalties

The experience of other major international tournaments, including the tennis US Open and matches of North American sports leagues, was taken as a model for organizing the World Cup in a pandemic.

However, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation did not stop at the holding of competitions inside the closed area and introduced additional restrictions, which were not satisfied by all delegations.

So, the Finnish national team complained that upon arrival the team received a new medical protocol, which became an unpleasant surprise for them.

General manager Kimmo Oikarinen said that the working hours of the servicemen on the ice were significantly reduced, the hockey players had to return to their rooms after the first training session, and joint meetings and meals were prohibited in the first days.

According to him, all this created additional inconveniences.

Compliance with the rules by the tournament participants will be monitored using chips that fix the social distance.

Other measures include a ban on visiting other people's hotel rooms, restrictions on large gatherings of people and meal times of no more than 15 minutes.

As for the matches themselves, they will be served exclusively by Canadian teams of referees.

This step had to be taken in order to reduce the number of foreign participants in the tournament.

The head of the Canadian Ice Hockey Federation, Scott Smith, noted that all teams reacted to this decision with understanding.

The captain of the Russian national team Vasily Podkolzin shared his impressions of the numerous rules.

“First of all, these are safety rules.

As for social distance: it is impossible for a lot of people to be in the elevator, of course, everywhere you go in a mask, without it you can only go on the ice and be in the locker room and your room.

Everything else is done in masks.

There was a rule that you shouldn't spit on the ice, you can't celebrate goals either, we were told so.

I don’t know what will happen next, but so far there is such information, ”the Sport24 hockey player quotes.

For neglect of the medical protocol, sanctions are provided - up to and including disqualification.

According to media reports, the manager of the Swedish national team Jonas Fransson has already experienced the strictness of the regulations.

He was forced to leave his team's locations after breaking quarantine.

Larionov's ring and the symbolic team

However, the last stage of preparation for the World Championship was marked by positive events.

So, the mentor of the Russian national team Igor Larionov received an honorary ring of a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, in which he was included back in 2008.

Such a legend.

@ russiahockey's Igor Larionov received his new @HockeyHallFame Honored Members ring in Edmonton as he prepares for the #WorldJuniors.

Photo credit Andrea Cardin / HHOF-IIHF Images pic.twitter.com/s7NwmS5Eqo

- IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 21, 2020

In addition, the National Hockey League (NHL) made up a symbolic team, which included Soviet and Russian players.

The first line-up includes goalkeeper Evgeny Belosheikin, defenders Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexander Romanov and forwards Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny.

In the second - goalkeeper Andrey Vasilevsky, defenders Dmitry Orlov and Mikhail Tatarinov, forwards Vladimir Krutov, Evgeny Malkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

When choosing, the performances of hockey players were taken into account exclusively at the youth world championship of different years.

So far, Larionov's wards only have to prove that they are worthy heirs of domestic hockey legends.

However, they can be well motivated by a message from Washington Capitals captain Ovechkin.

He wrote warm words under the posts of Podkolzin and Yegor Afanasyev, who published photos from the training.

“Good luck!

We will be ill! ”- wrote Ovechkin.