Rescheduled 2021 World Championships to be held in Calgary

Six weeks after cancelling the tournament with no backup plan and a month after releasing the new dates but no location, the IIHF announced the 2021 World Championships will be played in Calgary from August 21 - 30.

According to the IIHF, the 10 teams are set to arrive on Aug. 10 for their quarantine period in addition to practice and pre-tournament games.

The games will be played at WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park.

Although countries started releasing rosters before the May tournament dates, it’s likely we’ll see new rosters, at the very least from the US. Team US veteran defender Kacey Bellamy retired in the interim. USA Hockey said their Worlds roster will be determined from their 40-player centralization selection camp, running currently. Canada’s roster will come from their 28-player centralization roster.

Holding the women’s World Championships has been quite the saga since the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, in the very early days of the pandemic.

Nova Scotia was set to host and was re-awarded the 2021 edition. Typically, the tournament is held in late March and early April, but in early March the IIHF announced the May dates. Then, just about 24 hours before teams were set to leave for their pre-tournament quarantine in Nova Scotia, the tournament was cancelled by the provincial government due to rising COVID-19 cases. The IIHF had no back up plans in place and players were left in a holding pattern.

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