Cold Play: Nations Line Up To Boycott Ice Hockey Games Against Russia

A growing list of countries are lining up against a court decision allowing Russia to rejoin international ice hockey events, saying they will boycott any team Moscow sends, putting the World Championships next year in jeopardy.

A major hockey power, Russia has been banned from global competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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But on October 30, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled the federation must reinstate Russian teams beginning with next month's World Junior Hockey Championships in Canada. The IIHF said it disagreed with the ruling but would comply.

The decision has sparked sharp criticism from Ukraine and many of the world's hockey powers who support Kyiv, which says the court ruling was "staining the ice with Ukrainian blood" and urging its partners to take a "firm stand" against Russia's return.

"Russia and Belarus are supporting this illegal, unjustified, horrific war in Ukraine. As long as that's going on, there will be none of those athletes competing for their countries in Canada," Prime Minister Mark Carney said on November 3.

Carney's announcement is especially key since Canada will host the World Junior championships in less than two months, which would have been the first major tournament with Russian participation since the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just days after the Games ended.

At least six European nations, including prominent hockey countries Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, and Finland, the reigning men's world champions, have said they will refuse to play against Russia despite the ruling.

The German hockey federation, which is to host the 2027 World Championships in May, has said the ruling “fundamentally changes the situation” for it as host nation.

"Allowing Russia to participate would have serious consequences for us as the host country in terms of security, as well as politically and economically," according to German ice hockey federation (DEB) Chairman Frank Lutz, adding the DEB was analyzing how it will proceed.

"Our position remains unchanged: we reject the return of Russian national teams to international ice hockey tournaments," Lutz said.

A number of longtime sponsors of the men's world championship, including Swedish furniture company AJ Products, German workwear manufacturer STRAUSS, and Czech carmaker Skoda Auto, have already vowed to reassess their involvement in the tournament if Russia's team is reinstated.

The CAS ruling also sent a shockwave across Ukraine when it was handed down.

Ukrainian authorities had often noted that hundreds of the country's athletes had been killed in Russia's war and hundreds of sports facilities were damaged or destroyed by Moscow's relentless air attacks.

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The Ukrainian Ice Hockey Federation did not immediately respond for comment, but Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said in a statement on social media on November 4 that "there is no impunity [for Russia] on ice."

"Moscow still believes it can hide its crimes behind a hockey jersey and that an ice rink can restore its battered reputation," he said while applauding Canada's move and calling on more nations to join the boycott.

Moscow appeared to downplay the wave of opposition to its return to the international hockey arena, with Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev saying that "the world is much bigger than Scandinavia or the Baltic states."

In its ruling, CAS said that the IIHF's justifications for maintaining the ban on Russian teams, which included safety and security concerns, "were not supported by sufficient evidence."

At the same time, it provided the federation with no guidance on how to reintegrate Russia after years of absence, during which the sport's landscape had significantly changed.

Despite expressing "disappointment" with the move, the IIHF said on October 30 that it "will act in accordance" with it. It later added that "the global impact" of the CAS ruling had been "significantly underestimated."

"The immediate reintegration of Russian teams presents significant practical and sporting challenges," the IIHF said on November 4, citing "visa and entry requirements, security provisions, logistical constraints and consequences for competition formats, all compounded by the limited time available, with some events only weeks away."

The CAS ruling does not apply to the Women's World Championships, which begin on November 6 in Denmark. Russia will not play in that tournament.

Russian men have won five world championships and one Olympic gold medal since the country succeeded the Soviet Union in 1992. Soviet teams won 22 titles and seven gold medals before the country broke apart.