Defending champion United States lost Tuesday’s game against Switzerland in the men’s youth hockey world championship because two players tested positive for COVID-19.
The American team was placed in mandatory quarantine. The game was scheduled to be played Tuesday afternoon in Red Deer, which is the co-host of the 2022 U-20 men’s tournament with Edmonton.
The game will be recorded as a 1-0 win for Switzerland by loss in accordance with the rules, the International Ice Hockey Federation said in a statement.
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“We are extremely disappointed, especially by our players,” United States youth team general manager John Vanbiesbrouck said in a statement.
“We are operating in a constantly changing landscape and that is very challenging.
“We have followed the tournament protocol from the beginning and we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that our players have the opportunity to compete in the junior world championship.”
The quarantine status of the US team will be assessed later to determine if it can compete in its next preliminary round game against Sweden on Wednesday, the IIHF said.
The Americans opened Group B in Red Deer with a 3-2 win over Slovakia, while the Swiss opened with a 4-2 loss to Russia. The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinal round on Sunday, followed by the semi-finals on January 4 and medal games on January 5.
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Canada versus Austria in Group A in Edmonton was the only other game on Tuesday’s schedule.
The United States defeated Canada 2-0 in the final of the 2021 youth tournament in Edmonton and the 2022 roster features six returning players from that team.
Teams that traveled to Canada were quarantined for two days after their arrival on December 15 with just over 5,800 tests conducted on 462 players, staff and game officials before the tournament began on Sunday, according to the IIHF.
A Finnish player tested positive and was placed in isolation without other team members being affected. Two game officials were isolated after testing positive during quarantine.
A Swiss player who tested positive caused the cancellation of a pre-tournament game between Switzerland and the Czech Republic. An Austrian player who tested positive put that team in quarantine until contact tracing was completed and allowed the team to play its first game against Finland on Monday.
The IIHF canceled six men’s and women’s tournaments in January, including the women’s U-18 world championships for the second year in a row, due to concerns about COVID-19.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca