The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) have officially announced the cancellation of the remainder of the World Junior Championships in Edmonton and Red Deer.

After consultations with the COVID-19 medical group along with the IIHF Medical Committee, the IIHF have decided to cancel the remainder of the tournament due to the widespread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The decision was made following the positive case of a Russia player that forced the cancellation of the Russia-Slovakia making it the third game cancelled on Wednesday, following the cancellations of the USA-Switzerland and Finland-Czechia matchups.

Organizers determined that with three games cancelled within two days, that the sportive integrity of the event has been compromised, and the event must be cancelled.

Canada had a 2-0 record in the tournament before the cancellation, highlighted by Connor Bedard’s four goal effort in Canada’s 11-2 win over Austria on Tuesday night.