Ottawa says it will not admit Russian players to the upcoming World Junior Championship, even with valid visas<\/p>\n
Canada will bar Russian hockey players and officials from the upcoming World Junior Championship, even those with valid visas, the government has announced.
\nCanadian Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden sought to justify the ban, announced on Wednesday and defying a sports court ruling, by portraying Russian athletes\u2019 participation as a vehicle for \u201cstate representation, political legitimacy and propaganda,\u201d adding that immigration authorities will block their entry.\u00a0\u201cCanada\u2019s position is unequivocal: As long as Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, there can be no return to business as usual,\u201d he declared, echoing Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had ruled out Russian participation last week. The tournament runs from December 26 to January 5.\u00a0\u00a0Ottawa\u2019s move puts it at odds with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which last month overturned the International Ice Hockey Federation\u2019s (IIHF) suspension of Russia over the Ukraine conflict and ordered its reinstatement for five championships in 2027, including the World Juniors in Canada and the men\u2019s World Championship in Germany. The IIHF expressed disappointment but pledged to comply.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Four Nordic nations refuse to play hockey with Russia<\/p>\n
The ruling sparked boycott threats from several of Kiev’s European backers, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, while Germany has called for a fresh IIHF suspension of Russia.
\nMoscow has accused the boycotters of putting politics above sport. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev earlier warned that federations defying the CAS ruling could face lawsuits, lose hosting rights or suffer automatic 5-0 defeats under IIHF rules for refusing to play Russia.\u00a0The Russian Ice Hockey Federation has demanded that the IIHF either guarantee Russia\u2019s participation in Canada or move the tournament elsewhere, according to Match TV.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Russia\u2019s hockey comeback a \u2018return to normality\u2019 \u2013 German opposition\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two-time Olympic hockey champion Boris Mikhailov has blasted Ottawa\u2019s decision as politically motivated, joking that Carney might be jealous of Russian NHL star Alexander Ovechkin for smashing Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky\u2019s long-standing record of 894 regular-season goals in April 2025.
\nOvechkin himself argued that fans should get to see the world\u2019s best players compete.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ovechkin retires: The NHL record-breaker who never turned his back on Russia (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)<\/p>\n
\u201dI\u2019m pretty sure if you ask the fans, the fans want to see the best players out there,\u201d the Washington Capitals captain told reporters Tuesday. \u201cThe fans want to see young generation players who are going to be future stars, future NHLers. But you know it\u2019s not up to us.\u201d
\nRussia remains an ice hockey powerhouse and a member of the sport\u2019s elite ‘Big Six’. Soviet and Russian teams have claimed a record 27 World Championship titles and nine Olympic golds, with the legendary Soviet \u201cRed Machine\u201d dominating the sport for decades. The country also remains a major source of hockey talent, producing stars including Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, and Andrei Vasilevskiy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ottawa says it will not admit Russian players to the upcoming World Junior Championship, even with valid visas Canada will bar Russian hockey players and officials from the upcoming World…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t