One by one, the International Ice Hockey Federation has been forced to strike competitions from the calendar in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic. But throughout the cancellations of the women’s World Championship, a multitude of U18 events and, most recently, second- and third-level men’s tournaments, the IIHF has held out hope that the men’s World Championship could – and would – be played in Lausanne and Zurich, Switzerland, this coming May.
On Saturday, however, the IIHF accepted that it is no longer possible to stage the top men’s competition and announced that the last of the major 2020 events has been cancelled.