The 2020 International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Hockey Championships in Switzerland from Zurich and Lausanne, Switzerland has been cancelled due to Coronavirus according to Carol Schram of Forbes. The event was to take place from May 8 to 24 and feature many players from the National Hockey League who either did not make the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs or had been eliminated in the early rounds.
Looking back at history, the 1980, 1984 and 1988 World Men’s Hockey Championships were not held because they were in the same year as the Olympic Winter Games. Meanwhile, the results of the Olympic hockey tournament were used to determine the medalists of the World Hockey Championships every four years from 1920 to 1936 and again from 1948 to 1968. There were no World Men’s Hockey Championships from 1940 to 1946 because of World War II.
The 2020 Women’s World Hockey Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada was cancelled on March 7, 2020. The event made its debut in 1990 in Ottawa, Ontario and has taken place annually except for 2003 and years since 1998 when the Olympic Winter Games occur. In 2003, the Women’s World Hockey Championship was cancelled in Beijing, China because of the SARS outbreak.
The 2019-20 National Hockey League regular season was put on pause March 12, the morning after it was announced that basketball player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for Coronavirus. The National Basketball Association game between the Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 11 was cancelled.
It should be noted that one initial reason why the NHL season was paused is because 10 NHL franchises share their arenas with a NBA franchise. They are the Toronto Maple Leafs (with the Toronto Raptors), Boston Bruins (with the Boston Celtics), Los Angeles Kings (with the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers), Chicago Blackhawks (with the Chicago Bulls), Colorado Avalanche (with the Denver Nuggets), New York Rangers (with the New York Knicks), Detroit Red Wings (with the Detroit Pistons), Philadelphia Flyers (with the Philadelphia 76ers), Washington Capitals (with the Washington Wizards) and Dallas Stars (with the Dallas Mavericks). To date, two unnamed players from the Ottawa Senators have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Finland was the defending champion of the World Men’s Hockey Championship. The United States was the defending champion of the World Women’s Hockey Championship.
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