September 27th, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Subject: IHA participation in the 2022 IIHF World Championships

The year 2021 will go down in history as one of the most unprecedented and challenging years for sport of modern times. Ice Hockey Australia was looking forward to sending our very first Australian teams overseas since the COVID-19 pandemic to compete in the International Ice Hockey  Federation (IIHF) World Championships.

However, with the nearing deadline required by IIHF on our decision, following the recent Australian Federal Governments’ position on international travel and after further consultation and review from our IHA Chief Medical Officer, guidance from the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) and additional discussions with our coaches; The Board weighed up our Australian team’s participation versus the risks associated with international travel and have decided to withdraw our participation from the Men’s U20 and Women’s U18, 2022 IIHF World Championships scheduled for January 2022.

Our decision was based on the following:

The current ban on international travel in place for Australia and Federal Government advice remains at “Do not travel due to the health risks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant disruptions to global travel” (https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/crisis/covid-19- and-travel).

Current requirements for a 14-day quarantine period for all returning residents into Australia, incurring significant added financial costs for all travellers and causing unreasonable extended travel times away from the everyday livelihood, and families for our players, coaching staff, and officials to participate in these international events.

The current situation in Australia due to COVID-19, along with the associated lockdowns, border closures and the unpredictable changing domestic travel constraints so far have significantly affected our IHA training camps, team selections and team

A decision regarding our participation in the IIHF Men’s, Women’s, and Men’s U18 championships will be made over the upcoming weeks. As these tournaments are scheduled for March and April of 2022, we remain hopeful that the COVID-19 restrictions in Australia will further ease with the State Government’s reaching their anticipated double vaccination targets before the end of the year.

We really hope that even under difficult circumstances that we are still able to send the first Australian teams overseas in time to compete, as we all know that it is through the power of sport where the rebuilding of human connection through team camaraderie, rivalries, true sportsmanship and shared love and passion for our game, can contribute to the healing and help bring the world together again.

Sincerely

Grove Bennett
President / Director
Ice Hockey Australia

Ice Hockey Australia
(Trading name of Ice Hockey Australia Limited)
ABN: 77 106 538 293 ACN: 629 477 890
M: +61 488 428 808
E: office@iha.org.au w: www.iha.org.au