The International Ice Hockey Federation, IIHF, has since the decision to cancel the U18 WC for women, which was to take place in Linköping and Mjölby in January 2022, has faced harsh criticism.
Among other things, the Swedish team has expressed its dissatisfaction that the tournament is canceled for the second year in a row, while the men's ditto is played.
"Do we infect more than the boys?"
you ask yourself.
The decision has also been met with criticism in the rest of the ice hockey world.
In the United States, a petition to save the championship has received over 51,000 signatures.
Now the president of the American Hockey Federation, Pat Kelleher, is also appealing to the IIHF to rethink.
He admits that the IIHF's decision was made to protect the players from infection but does not want the championship to be canceled.
- We have asked them to take a closer look at the U18 World Cup specifically to see what can be done to at least postpone it and explore the possibilities with the participating countries, he says.
According to the news agency AP, the Swedish season's schedule is the reason why the championship was not just postponed.
Anders Larsson, chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, was elected to the IIHF's board last autumn, but did not want to comment on the championship.
"I have certainly been newly elected to the IIHF's board since last autumn, but I do not have the role of spokesperson for this type of decision.
I therefore refer to the statements made from IIHF in press releases and on the website etc. "he writes to DN.