On other hockey worlds, European support for the Russian ban continues to hold

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — With three men’s world championships played since the International Ice Hockey Federation banned Russian athletes, the global hockey community appears to have moved on entirely without one of the sport’s most decorated countries.

This year’s IIHF World Hockey Championship was a success in every sense, breaking the previous attendance record while delivering a compelling competition and a memorable gold medal final.

There was certainly no feeling on the ground that anything was lacking or lacking.

There remains strong support for the IIHF ban on Russia and Belarus, especially from European countries. These two countries have been banned from all international hockey competitions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Requested by The Athletics If he felt at the World Cup that those sanctions were still appropriate, Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen said: “Yes, definitely. There’s no doubt about that.”

“I think it’s fair considering the circumstances,” said Finnish forward Ahti Oksanen, who played four years at Boston University before pursuing a professional career closer to home. “I know the situation in North America is a little bit different than here in Europe, because in Europe we are very close to Russia and we have to deal with them all the time. At the moment I think that’s reasonable.”

There is no end in sight to the ban as the invasion of Ukraine continues.

In fact, the possibility of Russia returning for the 2026 Milan Olympics is diminishing as the conflict continues day by day.

In February, the IIHF expanded its ban on Russia and Belarus through 2025 events, citing security concerns. A decision affecting the first Olympic tournament to feature NHL players in more than a decade will be made next winter, IIHF president Luc Tardif told reporters Sunday at a press conference in Prague to conclude the world championship.

“We will make a decision next February, as we always do,” Tardif said. “It doesn’t matter what the International Olympic Committee decides. This is how we acted before and we did not wait for the decision of the Olympic Committee, although of course we spoke to them.”

A limited number of Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics this summer, although they will have to compete as individual neutral athletes without their flag and go through a vetting process that ensures they have not actively supported the war. in Ukraine.

No Russian or Belarusian teams were allowed to qualify for the Paris Games.

While the topic remains somewhat sensitive to discuss publicly among hockey players and executives – many of whom continue to work with individuals from those countries in the NHL or elsewhere – the national federations for which they played were vocal about their actions at the world championships. .

Kazakhstan was the only country of the 16 in the league to bring a player from the Russia-based KHL.

Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Latvia and France have explicitly banned those who remain in the KHL from being considered for national teams since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Slovakia joined them ahead of this year’s World Cup and ruled in April that those employed in the KHL would be ineligible because they had not played or practiced with the national team all season.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation was much more direct than when it issued the indefinite national team ban against KHL players in August 2022, with president Anders Larsson saying in a statement that it sent an important message to the hockey world because “it is about our fundamental values. ”

Russia last competed at the 2021 World Cup, losing to Canada in the quarterfinals in a tournament played under bubble-like conditions in Latvia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In total, the country has won 27 gold medals at the Men’s Hockey World Championships – second only to Canada’s 28 – despite traditionally being one of the top tournaments. The tournament was so important to the Russians that they almost always produced a star-studded roster, with top players willing to immediately hop on a transatlantic flight after being eliminated from the Stanley Cup play-offs, even if that meant they only had to play one or two games. in the worlds.

However, international competition is a privilege, not a right, and it is difficult to imagine anyone welcoming a Russian team before the war in Ukraine is over.

“I think the whole situation needs to calm down,” Oksanen said. ‘They have to stop what they are doing. Then we can reconsider the situation, the entire hockey world can reconsider everything. Hopefully they can come back after that.”

Jalonen added: “The war must be stopped and then it may be some time before they get involved again.”

It took eight years after the end of World War II before Germany was allowed to return to international hockey competition at the 1953 World Cup, where it competed as West Germany.

How to deal with Russia is currently of particular concern in Finland, a country that endured the Winter War in 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded its territory. These countries share a land border that extends 1,289 kilometers from north to south.

“They are our neighbors,” Jalonen said. “We drove more than 1,000 kilometers together with them. Of course we have to be ready, because anything can happen. I don’t think we are afraid, but we are prepared for anything.”

(Top photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)