IIHF reschedules world juniors, women's U18 worlds for summer 2022

The IIHF is rescheduling two canceled marquee international hockey events.

The 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship, which was canceled in December in the middle of the round robin due to COVID-19, will be played in mid-August in Alberta, IIHF president Luc Tardif said Thursday.

It'll be a new competition, so any results from games played in December will be forgotten. Countries will be allowed to select new rosters, and the age requirements will be the same as in the original tournament.

"We are talking with all participants and are negotiating on details," Tardif said. "It will be after the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It will be a hockey festival, and the teams are excited to do it."

The 2022 U18 Women's World Championship, which was scheduled to take place in Sweden in January, was also canceled due to COVID-19. It'll be played in June somewhere "north of the USA," Tardif said.

Discussions with potential hosts are ongoing. The cities and dates will be announced later once confirmed with the hosts and participating nations, Tardif added. Sweden will instead host the 2023 tournament.