IIHF

The remainder of the world junior hockey championship has been canceled over fears of a COVID-19 outbreak.

DÜSSELDORF – DÜThe International Ice Hockey Federation will make a decision in the coming days on whether to pull its world championship from Belarus as pressure increases from sponsors over a crackdown on opposition groups in the country. “If we cancel the games in Minsk, I think we should make a decision until the end of the month. This is the maximum, as we have to choose another place where we can play the championship," IIHF president Rene Fasel told The Associated Press in a recent interview. Fasel met with longtime Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Monday, saying he wanted to use the tournament to build bridges between Lukashenko and the opposition. Fasel is due to step down as IIHF president later this year after 27 years in charge.

EDMONTON, AB - JANUARY 05: The United States team celebrates its victory over Canada during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game at Rogers Place on January 5, 2021 in Edmonton, Canada. Knight made 34 saves in yet another shutout and Team USA upset Canada 2-0 on Tuesday night to win the world junior hockey championship. The tournament was played with no fans in the stands to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Coming into the game, Canada had outscored its opponents 41-4 and never trailed. Canada captain Bowen Byram had tears in his eyes as he handed out the silver medals to his teammates.

(Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)Here’s a look at how the seven Detroit Red Wings prospects participating in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships are performing. Here’s how they’re doing:🇸🇪 Team Sweden -- five Red Wings prospects:🇫🇮 Team Finland -- one Red Wings prospect:🇨🇿 Team Czech Republic -- one Red Wings prospect:The international U-20 tournament got underway Christmas Day. Only the top four teams in each group will proceed from the preliminary round to play in the single-game elimination playoff round. The United States is competing in Group B with Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Austria. View: Detroit Red Wings 2020 NHL Entry Draft picksFollow updates here:

(Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)Here’s a look at how the seven Detroit Red Wings prospects participating in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships are performing. The United States is competing in Group B with Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Austria. The Red Wings have seven prospects playing in this tournament:🇸🇪 Team Sweden -- five Red Wings prospects:🇫🇮 Team Finland -- one Red Wings prospect:🇨🇿 Team Czech Republic -- one Red Wings prospect:Here’s how they’re doing:Here is Soderblom’s between-the-legs goal against Czech Republic:Another angle of this ridiculous Soderblom goal. 🇷🇺 Team LarionovFormer Russian Five member Igor Larionov is coaching Team Russia in this tournament. I’m happy to see some good signs of listening to how we played back in the day and in Detroit with Russian Five.”The “Professor’s” Russian team defeated the Americans, 5-3, on Christmas.