Posted on 12/23/2021 2:01:41 AM PST by blueplum
The recent world spike in Covid-19 prompted the NHL on Wednesday to back out the Beijing Olympics, removing the world's best hockey players from the one of the Games' showcase sports.
The National Hockey League had built in a Feb. 6-22 break from action to send its top players to Beijing, but Covid outbreaks throughout North America have put the sport on hold.
Fifty NHL games have already been postponed and Commissioner Gary Bettman said sending players to Beijing "is no longer feasible."...
...“Certainly, the players and hockey fans are quite disappointed," he continued. "But playing a full 82-game season this year, something the pandemic has prevented us from doing since the 2018-19 season, is very important. We expect that NHL players will return to the Olympics in 2026.”
Amateurs and professional players from outside the NHL will likely stock the rosters.
The United States, Canada, Germany, China, the Russian Olympic Committee, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Latvia are the 12 teams competing for men's hockey gold in Beijing....
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
news from china:
Marketwatch:
Northern China city of Xi’an faces lockdown with up to 13 million affected over spread of COVID
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/northern-china-city-of-xi-an-faces-lockdown-with-up-to-13-million-affected-over-spread-of-covid/ar-AAS4LfL?ocid=msedgntp
regional tourism in Yunnan is suspended, Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia is closed, and according to Politico, Shenyang has a 56 day quarantine for business travelers and HongKong has a 3 week quarantine - and you can’t choose the hotel or the food but you have to pay for both.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/07/us-china-covid-strategy-523843
for a country with minimum cases, they sure have a lot of areas quarantined.
Dollies to donuts China will cancel the Olympics.
live by the sword
die by the sword
Whew! Won't need a refund on my Outer Mongolia reservations.
Does anyone actually care about the NHL not taking part in the Olympics?
Nope.
As long as the Russians are there, the Chinese are happy.
Dream on.
ZERO chance of that happening.
Sounds like another lab leak.
Insurance policy - NHL has postponed a handful of games, possibly more are coming....they may need the time to reschedule the postponed games.
I’m not a fan of pros in the Olympics. The 1980 win meant a whole lot more than anything since.
Pros aren’t fans of playing in the Olympics, either.
Perhaps this is just what is needed to start giving the Olympic team sports back to the amateurs...
Of course the reality is the NHL hates doing the Olympics, especially when they’re in a time zone that’s far from GMT-3 through -8. It shuts down their league, gives them very little press, and risks injuring players. So they’re really always looking for a reason.
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