Russian Ice Hockey Federation to appeal IIHF's ban
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced on Friday that they will be contesting the IIHF's ban on them from all sanctioned events, a move that was announced on February 28th due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
All Russian, as well as Belarusian, teams have been banned from participating at IIHF events including the 2022 World Championship, 2022 Women's World Championship, the rescheduled 2022 World Juniors, as well as the 2023 World Juniors, among others. Russia was set to host the 2023 World Juniors in Omsk and Novosibirsk, but the IIHF took the hosting duties away from them.
Earlier, the IIHF Council decided to revoke the right to host the 2023 World Junior Championship from the RIHF while also suspending Russian teams and clubs from participating in IIHF tournaments for an indefinite period.
The actions of the RIHF are in accordance with the belief that the IIHF's restrictive measures against Russian athletes are discriminatory.
Banning players from international competition based on nationality fuels intolerance in the media and could lead to divisions within the ice hockey community, which has always been known for its unity."
With Belarus and Russia being banned from the Men's World Championship, which is set to begin on May 13th, it's unclear if the tournament will proceed with 14 teams or if they'll bring up two teams from Division 1A. There have been rumours that Austria and France are set to be the replacement teams, but no official announcement has been made by the IIHF yet.
It's highly unlikely that the IIHF will overturn its ban on Russia, especially given that FIFA, the international governing body for soccer, upheld their ban on Russia for upcoming World Cup qualifying matches.
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation is contesting the decision made by the IIHF Council.
More information: https://t.co/EYYLrvEGik #RussiaHockey pic.twitter.com/x2GYl3OP4l— Russia Hockey (@russiahockey_en) March 18, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 23 | 18 | 5 | - | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 33 | |
Wild | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
Devils | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | |
Capitals | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 31 | |
Golden Knights | 23 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 31 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
Panthers | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 27 | |
Kings | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||