The official website of the North American Professional Hockey League announced on December 23, Beijing time, that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the regular season, a large number of events have been delayed, and its players will not be able to participate in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. This is also the second time that a North American professional hockey league player missed the Winter Olympics after missing the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Previously, the North American Professional Ice Hockey League has issued a number of announcements of event postponements, and so far this season, 50 North American Professional Ice Hockey Leagues have changed their schedule due to the impact of the epidemic, and the outside world is worried that "such a large backlog of events may cause players to be unable to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics" and finally come true, and players will not be able to compete for the country until at least the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Many players have been disappointed, pittsburgh penguins center Sidney Crosby, who won two winter olympic gold medals for Canada in 2010 and 2014, said: "This is not a few months back or the following year, I am 34 years old, I am not sure if this Winter Olympics will be my last chance to appear on the Winter Olympic stage." ”
According to the September 2021 North American Professional Ice Hockey League, the North American Professional Ice Hockey League Players' Union and the International Hockey Federation, the regular season schedule of the North American Professional Ice Hockey League will be set aside for players around the 2022 Winter Olympics for players to participate in the Winter Olympics, but the agreement also reserves the right to terminate for the North American Professional Ice Hockey League and the North American Professional Ice Hockey League Players' Union. If the North American Professional Hockey League and the North American Professional Hockey League Players' Union believe that the subsequent development of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has made it impractical or unsafe for North American Professional Hockey League players to participate in the Winter Olympic Games, both sides have the right to choose to prevent players from participating.
Since the North American Professional Ice Hockey League is the world's top professional league in the field of ice hockey, this means that almost all the top players in the United States, Canada and European ice hockey powers will not appear on the Winter Olympic Games, which is both an opportunity and a pity for the Chinese team of the United States, Canada and Germany in Group A. On the one hand, the possibility of qualifying has increased, and on the other hand, the opportunity to learn from the top teams has been missed.
Image source International Hockey Federation