The World Junior Championship is a holiday hockey tradition like no other.
This year is an exception.
The tournament is still coming your way during peak vacation time, only now it's happening mid-summer, rather than post-Christmas. Confused? Let's recap.
The 2022 WJC was set to be played as usual last December. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the location was moved to Edmonton, Alberta, under restrictive "bubble" conditions. The International Ice Hockey Federation hoped strict protocols would allow the event to go off as scheduled. Spoiler: It did not.
Four days in, the IIHF was forced to call things off after the United States, Czechia and Russia each forfeited preliminary round games because of mounting COVID cases through their ranks.