Meeting To Plan Meetings

It was decision day at the IIHF offices in Switzerland as they were reviewing China's men's hockey entry for the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics. Norway, who are set to be China's replacement if the IIHF deems China's entry to be less than ideal competitively, await the decision that was to be handed down today. Several teams - Canada being one of them - wait in the balance to see if their pool's teams remain the same or change. Needless to say, there was a big decision happening today for the IIHF when it came to their little Olympic tournament happening in China.

In knowing that there were a number of teams, countries, and players waiting for a decision, the IIHF went to work. When they emerged from their boardroom, the IIHF officially had done nothing.

Don't confuse doing nothing with "making no changes". That's not what I wrote. I said they did nothing as in they neither made a decision on China's participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics nor did they give Norway any news on whether they'll be going to Beijing to play hockey. As I said, they did nothing.

According to Reuters,

"During a meeting on Nov. 26, the IIHF Council received a report from the expert group assigned to review all potentially eligible players that might be included on the Chinese men's national team roster," an IIHF spokesperson told Reuters.

"The council was also presented with the most up-to-date eligibility documents from the Chinese Ice Hockey Association concerning the players that were included in its long list.

"These documents, together with the expert evaluation report, will be reviewed over the coming weeks before the council reconvenes to determine further actions. The status of the Chinese men's national team is unchanged."

As I said above, they literally did nothing except listen to China try and make a case for more players to help them be more competitive. They didn't hold their end of the bargain to make a decision that affects not only China, but Norway as well. They didn't improve their little Olympic tournament by any measure. They didn't ensure a more competitive field for the Olympic men's hockey competition. They did nothing.

Instead, they agreed to review the new information presented by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association and reconvene on December 6 where a decision can be made about China's participation in the men's hockey tournament. They literally met to plan another meeting, and these are the people in charge of all the major international ice hockey tournaments on the planet. Astounding.

Honestly, whoever was on China's list of potentially eligible players should have already been in the mix if China was truly serious at competing in their own Olympic Games. The fact that they were withholding or sitting on these names throughout the build-up to this point shows a complete lack of respect for the tournament and for the IIHF since these names could have been reviewed long before November 26.

What makes this laughable, though, is that these eligible players likely won't change much for China's level of competition when it comes to playing teams like Canada and the US. Why the IIHF is even giving these new players any consideration is beyond me, but I guess the IIHF is doing their due diligence to be fair in this process.

I get that China holds all sorts of opportunities for the growth of sports for a number of international federations, but the fact that China can force the IIHF into another week of deliberations because it magically came up with more names for potentially-eligible players is a farce. Just oust the 32nd-ranked Chinese team for being nothing more than a scrimmage team for the opposing nations in their pool, and allow the 11th-ranked team on the planet in Norway to replace them. Having them add a million more names won't make their team any more competitive.

Instead, we'll wait until December 6 for the IIHF's decision.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!