The hockey world reacts to the cancellation of U18 Worlds

Since the announcement of the cancellation of the Women’s Under-18 World Championships on December 24, many around the hockey world – and even the sports world in general – have combined their rage and disappointment that the IIHF doesn’t care about the progress and development of young women’s hockey. players.

Several federations have issued joint statements on behalf of their U18 teams, including Norway, who wrote:

We are very concerned about how this development will affect our player base and that on the women’s side, among our teammates and opponents, we will see a growing drop in the sport. For three seasons, many goal-oriented, hard-working and ambitious young women have seen the International Hockey Federation crush their dreams.

Click for a complete statement in both Norwegian and English here.

The Swedish U18 national team also issued a statement urging the IIHF to be responsible for the differences between their tournament preparations and the men’s U20 tournament in the bubble in Alberta, which is due to end just two days before the start of the women’s series. U18 tournament. The group wrote:

U20 men [have] also been in the bubble for 10 days … what prevents us from going through the same procedure? We think this is a matter of equality and that this is an injustice. Each of us has fought for the rest of our lives for the opportunity to represent our country in the World Championships. Now that we had finally survived, our dreams were robbed of us, leaving us [a] horrible and empty feeling.

Click for a complete English statement here.

Sydney Brodt, a U.S. gold medalist under the age of 18 and a striker for the SDHL club in Linköping, the host city, shared a video on Twitter showing hockey in Linköping and calling on the IIHF. After all – the federation mentioned “league responsibilities” in Sweden as a reason for not being able to postpone the tournament … but also mentioned health and safety considerations as a reason to cancel it. Non-professional health and safety concerns …?

Four-time Olympic champion Florence Schelling also shared her thoughts on a four-part chain posted on Twitter. Schelling pointed out that the tournament is “more than just a tournament,” but “approx [the players’] future ”- and he is right.

Minnesota Duluth goalkeeper Emma Söderberg, who was voted the best goalkeeper in the 2016 U18 tournament, added to Schelling’s thread and wrote on Twitter that the tournament “is much more than just hockey, it talks about the opportunities it can offer for the future” (see full tweet).

More than just the athletes themselves took Twitter to invite the IIHF as well – just check the quote quotes and the answers to any of the IIHF’s recent tweets. Particularly popular is the embedded below, where the IIHF asked followers what Christmas gift they would give to their national teams … predictably the tweet didn’t go well, and dozens of fans responded to the iteration with “an opportunity for the U18 countries”. women to play. “

On Tuesday, the Finnish national team under the age of 18 also took Twitter to share their frustration with a strong letter to the IIHF.

It is time for national hockey federations to demand better care [girls’] and women’s hockey. We deserve the same ranking as boys and men. We demand that the IIHF work … to move the championship tournament and find a date for that tournament. Girls today and in the future deserve it. It is the responsibility of the IIHF to lead the way in increasing women’s sport.

Click for a complete English statement here.

Casey O’Brien, a two-time U18 medalist and current Wisconsin Badgers striker, also recounted what it meant to him to play in the U18 tournament, asking the IIHF to be transparent and hold itself accountable for its decision.

“I know how much the U18 Women’s World Cup meant to me, my teammates and our competitors,” O’Brien wrote in a screenshot posted Twitter Monday evening. “I know how much it meant to our families. I know how much it meant to our coaches and our coaches … how much? What was the value of all this? To you?”

Anaheim Ducks (NHL) striker Maxime Comtois was one of a handful of men’s hockey players who also voted disappointed in the IIHF, arguing that the health and safety risks in women’s tournaments are exactly the same as men’s – and yet World Juniors are allowed to continue.

Also present were Zers Fucale of Hershey Bears and Drake Batherson of Ottawa Senators, the brother of Mae Batherson, a junior defender for Syracuse.

Nearly 60,000 people have signed a petition initiated by photographer Lori Bolliger to postpone the tournament. “We’re sending a message to the IIHF,” Bolliger writes in the text of the petition, “we care, we see the hours players play in the gym and on the ice, we support women in sports, and we want the 2021 U18 Women’s Championships to be dating.”

You can view and sign the petition here.