IIHF could make decision at Monday meeting affecting Russian participation

Russian participation in international hockey events could be in question going forward.

Indications are the IIHF will make significant decisions at its council meeting tomorrow that will likely impact Russian participation in International hockey events, beginning with the Men’s Worlds in Finland.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 27, 2022

According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the International Ice Hockey Federation will make significant decisions at its council meeting on Monday that will likely impact Russian participation in international events.

This could begin with the men's World Hockey Championship set to begin in mid-May in Finland.

TSN Hockey's Gord Miller tweets there is wide support for an immediate removal of Russian teams for the rest of 2022, including the men's Worlds and the World Junior Championships.

Miller adds there is also support for moving the 2023 World Junior Championship out of Russia.

Based on what I’m hearing, there is wide support for:

-immediate removal of Russian teams from all @IIHFHockey events for the rest of 2022, including the World Championship and the World Junior Championships scheduled for August and December.

-moving the 2023 WJC out of Russia https://t.co/26n0gIMshX

— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) February 27, 2022

The 2023 WJC is scheduled to be played in Novosibirsk and Omsk in December and January. There is also a possibility that the Men’s World Championship scheduled for St. Petersburg in the spring of 2023 could be moved, but that decision may not come on Monday, Miller adds.

This comes after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in the early hours Thursday morning local time.