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Men’s hockey world championships canceled because of coronavirus outbreak

Canada's Dante Fabbro, right, defends against Finland's Juha Lammikko during the 2019 IIHF championship game.
(Martin Rose / Getty Images)
By Helene Elliott
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The 2020 men’s world hockey championships have been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced Saturday.

The tournament was to have taken place in the Swiss cities of Zurich and Lausanne starting May 8 and running through May 24. The women’s championships, which were to have been held in Canada starting March 31, were canceled two weeks ago.

“This is a harsh reality to face for the international ice hockey family, but one that we must accept,” Rene Fasel, the IIHF’s president, said in a statement released Saturday. “The coronavirus is a global problem and requires major efforts by government bodies to combat its spread. The IIHF must do all it can to support this fight. We have to set sport aside for now and support both the government bodies and the ice hockey family.”

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The statement also said there were “obviously no possibilities to relocate” the event this year.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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