I Welcome I Bulletin I IIHF I Competition I Interview I i IceTimesJuly 2020 / Vol. 24, No. 2 Returning to the ice Congress meets online IIHF breaks into Esport I Welcome I Bulletin I IIHF I Competition I Interview I I i I 2 IceTimes July 2020 / Vol. 24, No. 2 From the IIHF President be able to play ice hockey in an arena, watch I was so pleased to see the familiar faces of it on TV, or even compete in the backyard all our MNA delegates on screen, and I hope with friends and family. that we will see each other in person sooner rather than later. Making a comeback Whether you talk about strapping on skates and hitting the ice, or watching your favourite Together we were able to forge ahead and By René Fasel team play on television, sports has a tremen- set a plan forward for the 2020/21 season. dous capacity to enrich people’s daily lives, We have assigned all tournaments and pus- In the aftermath of one of the most dis- by giving them the chance to feed into their hed the Council and presidential elections ruptive events to occur to the sporting passions, whether for ice hockey, golf, ten- to 2021. You can read more about the 2020 world in decades, we have taken our nis, or even esports! Extra-Ordinary Congress on Page 8. first major steps towards reopening and resuming international ice hockey. So in effect, it is the responsibility of the That said, we are aware that COVID-19 has IIHF, its member national associations, and not disappeared, and we cannot assume Here we sit in July, having gone through the all sports leagues and federations to try to that we have seen the last of the disruptions 2019/20 season with over half the tourna- find ways in which people can safely return to our sport from this pandemic. It may be ments cancelled and no World Champion to sport, and rediscover the passion that we that some of our members will not be able declared. used to take for granted. to travel, or that a second wave may affect one of our tournament hosts, forcing more Sports had to take a back seat to COVID-19, But this is not a simple thing. COVID-19 cancellations. which has tragically affected and continues created such an incredible amount of issues to affect hundreds of thousands of peo- affecting so many aspects of daily life, in- But governing in fear of what “may happen” ple around the world. We are not out of the dustry, and commerce. But in the push to is not possible. We met the challege of CO- woods yet either. There is still a battle being reopen, it is important that we all take an ac- VID-19 together with our membership, and waged by governments and medical profes- tive role to promote sport as a way for peo- thanks to mutual assistance, cooperation, sionals to lower the amount of infections and ple to achieve a return to normality. and communication, we came out stronger. allow people to return to a normal way of life. We will adjust and adapt where we need to, With this in mind, the IIHF took its first major if and when more challenges arise. We will But as we come back into a post-COVID steps by inviting all our MNAs to the table move forward with the safety of our players, world, it is important to acklowledge the by hosting its first-ever Extra-Ordinary Con- coaches, officials and fans always a priority. role that sports play in our lives, and what it gress in a virtual online format. It was a very But regardless, we will move forward and do means for players, coaches, and fans to not positive experience and a great step forward. our best to bring ice hockey back. I Welcome I Bulletin I IIHF I Competition I Interview I I i I 3 IceTimes July 2020 / Vol. 24, No. 2 2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY The Minsk Arena with two practice rinks on- News and Notes WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP site broke the World Championship attendance record, that was reclaimed by the Czechs in MEN’S TOURNAMENT SEEDING The IIHF Council has approved the groups for 2015, when Belarus hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey IIHF WORLD RANKING/2022 OLYMPICS GROUP A GROUP B GROUP C the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. World Championship in 2014 for the first time. Canada (1) Russia (2) Finland (3) The tournament will now start in May 2021 and The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will be co-hosted by Minsk and Riga under the Latvia will be the host of the other group and USA (6) Czech Republic (5) Sweden (4) has published the 2020 IIHF Men’s & Women’s slogan “Passion. No borders”. two quarter-final games. The seeding for the World Rankings. The annual ranking is based Germany (7) Switzerland (8) Qualifier 1 (9) groups is based on the IIHF Sport Regulations on the results in the World Championships China (12) Qualifier 3 (11) Qualifier 2 (10) Belarus will play host to Group A in Minsk. The and the 2020 IIHF Men’s World Ranking, and Olympic Winter Games (including Olympic 15,086-seat Minsk Arena will serve as main which takes into consideration the results in Qualification) of the last four years and the venue and host the Group A preliminary round, World Championships and Olympics during 2020 edition is used for the seeding of the 2020 IIHF WOMEN’S WORLD RANKING two quarter-final games, both semi-finals and the last four years, with one horizontal swap to 2022 Olympic Winter Games. the medal games. accommodate special organizational needs. With only two tournaments played this season, the 2020 IIHF Women’s World Ranking also The 2020 rankings include points from the Minsk is the Belarusian capital with almost two Following the decision on the groups, the didn’t change much. The top-6 countries 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship million inhabitants and 3.4 million in the region. organizers will work on the game schedule remained in the same order and will be the program in the men’s senior and women’s during the upcoming weeks. More information ones directly qualified for the Olympic women’s senior category. For tournaments that were not on the games as well as the ticket sale will follow ice hockey tournament in Beijing 2022, which played due to the coronavirus pandemic, the at a later date. points will be given according to the seeding will be played in two tiered groups: 2021 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP position as stated in the IIHF Sport Regulations. AUSTRIA GROUP A GROUP B 2020 IIHF MEN’S WORLD RANKING Russia Finland The membership of the Austrian Sweden Canada Ice Hockey Association elected WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT SEEDING Due to the lack of tournaments there was few Czech Republic United States Klaus Hartmann as new movements in the 54-country ranking. The GROUP A GROUP B President at its 75th general Switzerland Germany top-10 remain the same and are led by Canada USA (1) Japan (6) assembly in Villach. Slovakia Latvia followed by Russia, Finland and Sweden. Canada (2) Qualifier 1 (7) Finland (3) Qualifier 2 (8) Denmark Norway In the first contested board election in many The new World Ranking also determined the years two different groups competed for votes. seeding of the Olympic men’s ice hockey Russia (4) Qualifier 3 (9) Belarus Italy Hartmann received 133 against the 121 votes tournament in Beijing 2022: Switzerland (5) China (10) Italy Kazakhstan of the old leadership of Gernot Mittendorfer. I Welcome I Bulletin I IIHF I Competition I Interview I I i I 4 IceTimes July 2020 / Vol. 24, No. 2 The board now includes Hartmann as If everything goes according to plan, the first World Championship in Slovakia and will national team while continuing to coach JKH President and the three Vice Presidents class of young women will be able to join the play at the top-level IIHF Ice Hockey World GKS Jastrzebie. Nicolas Stockhammer, Gunther Ropatsch extended venue in summer 2023. Championship for the second time in a row. and Yasmin Sarina Stepina. Stepina (nee Poland will host the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey Weiss), a former Austrian national team player Austria is ranked 14th in the IIHF Women’s For Ireland it’s the first job in international World Championship Division I Group B on and current coach became the first female World Ranking and aims at qualifying for the hockey beside coaching HC Lugano and home ice in Katowice at the historic Spodek member of the federation’s board. 2022 Olympic Winter Games for the first time Adler Mannheim in the Champions Hockey arena and hopes to return to the Division I with a women’s ice hockey team. League and Spengler Cup. Group A. Poland will play Lithuania, Japan, Hartmann previously served as Vice Estonia, Ukraine and Serbia for promotion in President of the ice hockey association of ITALY POLAND the tournament that is scheduled for 26 April the state of Carinthia and comes from the to 2 May 2021. finance services and insurance industry. The Italian Ice Sports Federation The Polish Ice Hockey He ends the term of Mittendorfer, who has hired Greg Ireland as Association signed Slovak RUSSIA was elected in 2016 to succeed Dieter Kalt new head coach of the men’s coach Robert Kalaber to after heading the federation for 20 years.