The governing body of women’s hockey in Ontario has made an offer on social media to host the 2022 under-18 world women’s championship after the event was cancelled for the second straight year on Friday.
The International Ice Hockey Federation announced Friday that tournaments scheduled to begin in January have been cancelled due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
The U18 championship was scheduled to take place Jan. 8-15 in Linkoping and Mjolby, Sweden. It’s the second straight year the tournament has been cancelled after the 2021 event, also scheduled for Linkoping and Mjolby, was scrapped due to the pandemic.
News of the cancellation came two days before the men’s junior hockey championship was set to begin in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta.
The cancellation drew strong criticism from the hockey community.
Former Canadian star Caroline Ouellette tweeted her support of the OWHA’s plan.
Hopeful to hear! We have a Solution @IIHFHockey ! Let’s start planning and offer our best -18 female athletes a competition they have earned to play in! https://t.co/Hsd62RbT2P
— Caroline Ouellette (@couellette13) December 25, 2021
Fran Rider, the president/CEO of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, was one of the founders of the organization in 1975 and was named to the Order of Canada in 2015.
Ontario has hosted the event once — in St. Catharines in 2016.
Calgary has been the only other Canadian host with the Alberta city staging the first U18 women’s worlds in 2008.
