For this reason, the King convened an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH) on Monday. “Given the continuing Russian aggression in Ukraine, it will propose the immediate cancellation of bilateral national events involving hockey players of the Russian Federation and request a discussion on the position that CSLH will promote in negotiations on the participation of Russian hockey players in events organized on a multilateral basis,” the union report.
If the executive committee approves the King’s proposal, it would mean forbidding any bilateral events in the form of preparatory matches with Russia in all youth or women’s categories, but it is clear that the whole issue will affect larger (multilateral) events, such as tournaments. EHT, but also the Senior World Championships in May in Finland or the World Junior Championships in Canada postponed to August.
The President of Czech Hockey, Tomáš Král, convened an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of Czech Hockey on Monday, February 28, 2022. Due to the continuing Russian aggression on the territory of Ukraine, he will propose the immediate cancellation of bilateral national events with the participation of hockey players of the Russian Federation.
– Czech Hockey (@czehockey) February 26, 2022
One of the measures concerning the next program of the national team should be to prevent the participation of the team in the Czech Hockey Games, which define the period between April 28 and May 1. The Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Russia are steadily participating in the series’ tournaments. “It is probable that, as the organizer of the tournament, we will not invite the Russian team at all,” Zdeněk Zikmund, the association’s spokesman, told ČTK.
The situation is similar in the case of the twenty, whose program includes a tournament of five countries in Chomutov in mid-April. Russian participation was also originally planned there.
“The CSLH Executive Committee unequivocally condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and considered it inadmissible a violation of the principles of peaceful coexistence, international law and relations between countries,” the union said.
In the King’s view, the activities of the international community in relation to the Russian aggression should include a coordinated approach by national federations and international sports federations, including the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The IIHF Council convened for the same reason will meet later in the afternoon on Monday. “Given that the IIHF has a duty to care for all participants in its tournaments, the IIHF Council is reviewing and considering the implications of this conflict for our actions,” the federation said on its website.
Therefore, there are still many questions about participation in the World Cup in Finland, not only in the case of Russia, but quite possibly Belarus. According to Ukrainians, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is helping the invasion by allowing attacks from Belarusian territory.
Belarus is to be one of the Czech rivals in Group B of the World Championships in Tampere, along with the USA, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Norway and the United Kingdom. The Russians are among the top eight Group A teams in Helsinki.
