According to TSN’s Gord Miller, there is “wide support” for the immediate removal of Russian teams from all IIHF events for the rest of 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Those events include the World Championship and the World Junior Championships scheduled for August and December as well as moving the 2023 WJC out of Russia.

TSN’s Darren Dreger also reports that the International Ice Hockey Federation will have a council meeting tomorrow where those topics will be discussed.

The meeting was called by the IIHF Council for the direct purpose of “reviewing and considering the implications” of the invasion on IIHF events.

Some of that support was on display earlier Sunday as the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation put out a statement calling for the removal of Russia and Belarus from the IIHF and the relocation of the 2023 WJC and World Championship.

They also say that their senior men’s team will not travel to Russia to play a previously scheduled “friendly” game.

‼️ #SwissIceHockey hat zusammen mit weiteren Mitgliederverbänden bei der IIHF unmittelbare und weitreichende Konsequenzen für den russischen und den weissrussischen Eishockeyverband gefordert: https://t.co/gaqE80765l

— Swiss Ice Hockey (@SwissIceHockey) February 27, 2022

Wayne Gretzky is one of the most prominent hockey voices saying that the IIHF needs to ban Russia, especially from the upcoming World Juniors in August.

“I think International Hockey should say ‘we’re not going to let [Russia] play in the World Junior Hockey Tournament,’ Gretzky said via TNT. “I think we got to, as Canadians, take that stance since the games are going to be played in Edmonton.”

The full Swiss statement reads as the following:

Swiss Ice Hockey is applying for sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian ice hockey associations

After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Swiss Ice Hockey together with other member associations at the IIHF demanded immediate and far-reaching consequences for Russia and Belarus.

On February 24, the Russian government launched a war by attacking Ukraine. The attack is in complete contradiction to the values ​​of the Olympic movement, which is committed to peace, understanding and solidarity between countries and peoples. With its actions, Russia is breaking the Olympic truce, which was adopted as a resolution by the UN General Assembly on December 2, 2021 by 173 member countries.

Swiss Ice Hockey strongly condemns Russia’s actions. Swiss Ice Hockey’s thoughts are with the Ukrainian ice hockey family and everyone in Ukraine in this difficult situation. Together with other member associations, Swiss Ice Hockey has submitted an application to the international ice hockey federation IIHF, in which immediate and far-reaching consequences and sanctions against Russia and Belarus – which supports the Russian government in their actions – are required. The application to the IIHF Council calls for, among other things, the immediate exclusion of the Russian and Belarusian ice hockey federations as members of the IIHF and the withdrawal of the U20 World Championship in December 2022 in Novosibirsk and the A World Championship in May 2023 in St. Petersburg.

Swiss Ice Hockey has also decided that the senior men’s national team will not travel to Russia and play a friendly against Russia as part of the World Cup preparations next spring – contrary to the original plan.

The Swiss are not alone as the President of the Czech Hockey Federation has also called for the cancellation of every Czech national team game at every level that is against Russia. Russia will also probably not receive an invite to the Czech Euro Hockey Tour.

Decisions like these also already have precedent in the soccer world as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden have all said that they will refuse to play Russia in World Cup qualifying matches because of the invasion of Ukraine.

“The illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine currently makes all football exchanges with Russia impossible,” Swedish soccer federation chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson said Saturday. “We, therefore, urge FIFA to decide that the playoff matches in March in which Russia participates will be canceled. But regardless of what FIFA chooses to do, we will not play against Russia in March.”

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB