Team Canada, like the United States, was supposed to kick off its potential march to Olympic gold in women’s hockey Thursday before the game was subsequently postponed.
Canada’s game against Finland, scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Milan, was postponed to Feb. 12 due to an outbreak of novovirus on the Finland roster that left it not enough players to participate.
Canada’s Olympic-opening game will now be against Switzerland on Saturday. The Finns are slated to play the United States on Saturday as well.
Canada, Finland, the U.S., Czechia and Switzerland make up Pool A, of which the top-four teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The U.S. defeated Czechia 5-1 in the lone Pool A matchup Thursday, and along with Canada, is expected to challenge for gold, which it last won in 2018.
Much of the world’s women’s hockey fans were chomping at the bit to see the reigning gold-medal-winning Canadian team play, the IOC rightly made the call to postpone the game until the two days after Canada and the USA play their round-robin game.
“While all stakeholders recognize the disappointment of not playing the game as originally scheduled, this was a responsible and necessary decision that reflects the spirit of the Olympic Games and the integrity of the competition,” Olympic officials announced. “All stakeholders thank teams, partners and fans for their cooperation and understanding, and look forward to the rescheduled game being played under safe and appropriate conditions.”
It’s norovirus season, especially for Scandanavians who hail from the coldest and darkest reaches of the planet right now. So Finland coach Tero Lehterä made the difficult call to call Canada and tournament officials and postpone the game for the sakes of both countries’ teams.
“Most of them are getting better but not healthy enough to play, and there’s the chance that if we would play it could influence Team Canada and their health as well,” Lehterä told the AP. “But I couldn’t risk my players if they were ill yesterday to play tonight because that would be wrong against the individual.”
According to the AP, Lehterä and Finnish officials were considering forfeiting the game. Fortunately, officials from both sides, and the tournament, came together and found a solution.
“Some things might happen, you never know what happens, and you only worry about the things that we can affect,” Lehterä said. “This is not something we can do anything about. We have no say whether we play or not. It’s not up to us. When we’re told to show up, we show up. Whether it’s five, six, seven, 15 or 20 [players].”
Finland, who has won the bronze medal at the past two Olympics in Beijing and South Korea, is hoping to compete for a medal again — along with Czechia and Switzerland. Lehterä feels the delay will help the team.
“It might become a strength,” Lehterä said. “I got to think positive. We might be stronger when we come out of this. You never know.”
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Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens
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