Good news, everybody!

According to an interview with IIHF president Luc Tardif with Russian sports outlet RIA Novosti, the IIHF is currently targeting the relaunch of the 2022 World Junior Championship tournament for August.

The tournament is usually held over the Christmas holidays, but this year’s event was canceled just a few days into the proceedings due to a massive COVID-19 outbreak related to the omicron variant in both Edmonton and Red Deer.

Calgary Flames prospect Matt Coronato was part of the United States team at the event.

The August relaunch would probably be a reset or redo of the tournament, in the sense that the games played in December wouldn’t count and we would probably see teams shuffle their rosters a little bit. These details are still being ironed out by the IIHF and the various international hockey agencies involved in the tournament.

The summer of 2022 could be a bit jam-packed with hockey. The 2022 NHL Draft is set for July 6 & 7 in scenic Montreal. Traditionally, the summer also sees the NHL’s member clubs hold prospect development camps, and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament for the 2023 NHL Draft class would usually be held in August as well. (The IIHF is also likely hoping to fit in other postponed tournaments into the summer.)

Given that the past two years have been anything but normal, take any bit of traditional scheduling as provisional and not set in stone.