Today, the IIHF is set to formally announce the cancellation of the Women’s World Championships for 2020 because of concerns over COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. This tournament, which takes place every year there is no Olympic Games, is the premier international event in women’s hockey and was set to open in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia on March 31.
This year’s worlds would have featured USA, Canada, Finland, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Czechia, Denmark and Hungary in the second year of an expanded format to eight teams.
In a year when the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association is running a series of challenge games across North America to raise the profile of the sport as they search for a sustainable professional model, the loss of the capstone tournament of the season is a huge blow.