The Junior WC for U18 girls, which was to be played in Linköping and Mjölby between 8-15 January, was canceled by IIHF.
This prompted the Swedish junior national team to write an open letter to the international federation, in which the team, among other things, asked themselves whether they infected more than the boys.
Now the IIHF is responding.
In a statement, the president of the International Federation, Luc Tardif, said that during a normal season they had not canceled anything.
"This is not a gender issue, it is a covid-19 issue," Tardif said in the statement.
"The decision to cancel has affected six tournaments, not just one, including two U20 tournaments for men, something that critics seem to forget."
"People seem to misunderstand"
Tardif explains that they are struggling with the current situation.
On the subject of whether there are financial incentives in holding the men's WC and JVM every year, no matter what he says:
"Absolutely.
But people seem to misunderstand that we do it because we favor men's hockey over women's hockey, but that is completely false.
The income from these two events enables the survival of our union and supports all other IIHF events ”.
Tardif emphasizes that he and the IIHF board believe in women's hockey and are willing to invest in it both now and in the future.
"We know the players and the supporters, and we look forward to coming back to a full championship program."