Move It or Cancel It: Russia Presses Hockey's Governing Body Over the World Juniors as Canada Holds the Line in Alberta

The World Junior Championship is supposed to be one of the warmest traditions of the hockey year, a holiday tournament that families on both sides of the border plan their Christmas week around. This year it has become a standoff between a sports court, a sovereign government and Moscow.

Russia's hockey federation is now pressing the International Ice Hockey Federation to move the tournament out of Canada or call it off, Euronews reported Saturday. The federation wants the event relocated or canceled, and it has also asked the IIHF to investigate and punish national federations that are organizing boycotts of games against Russia, ESPN reported. The tournament is scheduled for Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.

Russia has been kept out of IIHF competition since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That changed on paper when the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the IIHF to readmit Russian teams to five upcoming championships, beginning with the World Juniors, after finding that the federation had not sufficiently justified keeping the ban in place, Meduza reported. The IIHF said it disagreed with the ruling, and it notified member federations that Norway, the lowest-ranked team in the field, had been dropped to make room for Russia.

Canada had other plans. Ottawa has said Russian players will not be allowed to compete in Alberta, and Adam Van Koeverden, the federal secretary of state for sport, confirmed that the ban applies even to players who already hold valid Canadian visas, Global News reported. Prime Minister Mark Carney put it plainly, saying "the Russians will not be there," according to CBC Sports.

The decision has not stopped at Canada's border. Norway's hockey federation said it had been told Russia would be added at Norway's expense. Euronews reported that Estonia, Finland and Norway plan to keep Russian athletes out until the war in Ukraine ends. Several federations have said their teams will refuse to face Russia, and the boycott talk is spreading.

Vladislav Tretiak, the legendary goaltender who now leads the Russian Hockey Federation, said Russia will seek compensation from Canada if its team is barred from the tournament, Global News reported. The federation's push to relocate or cancel the event raises the stakes further, because it asks the IIHF to choose between a court order and the host country it picked.

The IIHF has declined to comment on the dispute, and it has not announced any decision to move, cancel or sanction the tournament, according to ESPN. With six weeks to go, the likeliest outcome still appears to be the one Canada has already announced: the tournament goes ahead in Alberta without Russia. But nothing about this fight has followed a script so far.

For the IIHF, this is a test of whether a sports body can make decisions that a host nation refuses to carry out. A court can order the federation to admit a team. It cannot order Canada to let that team's players across its border. Every federation that hosts a major event in the years ahead is watching how this ends.

For the players, the stakes are personal. The World Juniors are often the first time the world sees future NHL stars, and the teenagers on every roster had nothing to do with the war.

Canada is right to control its own border, and it has every right to decide who enters the country while Russia's war in Ukraine continues. A sports court in Switzerland can rule on what a sports federation must do. It does not get to overrule a sovereign nation's government about who comes through its airports. That principle matters to Americans as much as it matters to Canadians.

I also feel for the young Russian players. They are teenagers who grew up dreaming of this tournament, just like the kids in Minnesota, Michigan and Manitoba. But the responsibility for their absence lies with the government that launched the war, not with Canada and not with the Norwegian players whose spot was put at risk.

The best thing the IIHF can do now is say clearly that the tournament will go ahead in Alberta as planned. Families have bought their tickets. The players have earned their holiday on the ice. Let them play.