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The women’s world hockey championship has been rescheduled for late August, but the International Ice Hockey Federation has yet to determine a site.
The IIHF announced it is working with Hockey Canada to evaluate potential hosts for the tournament, now scheduled to run from Aug. 20-31. The 10-nation event was previously set to be held in Nova Scotia from May 6-16 before it was abruptly canceled by the province at the last minute due to COVID-19 concerns.
It’s unclear whether Nova Scotia again will be considered as the host.
IIHF president Rene Fasel said the new dates were agreed to despite a consensus from the participating nations, with some preferring the tournament be held in September. Fasel said the late-August dates were selected to allow the bottom four teams the time to prepare for the Olympic qualification tournament in November in advance of the 2022 Beijing Games.
Players across the world had been stunned when the event was called off last week for the second year in a row. Some were hours from boarding planes to travel to Canada to quarantine ahead of the May tournament but instead learned the event was off.
American forward Hilary Knight was among several who voiced her frustration last week, calling the “last minute” move “another reminder that women’s hockey continues to be treated as an afterthought.”
The combination of the pandemic and women’s leagues in transition has kept many players out of any real games for over a year. The 2022 Olympics in Beijing are less than a year away.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.