© Reuters/LEHTIKUVAFILE PHOTO: Ice Hockey - 2019 Women's IIHF World Championship
(Reuters) - The women's ice hockey world championships set to be played in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia have been cancelled because of a surge in COVID-19 cases in Canada, Hockey Canada said on Wednesday.
The announcement came one day before the 10 teams were to arrive to begin their quarantine ahead of the May 6-16 tournament.
"This is very disappointing news to receive with just a few weeks until the tournament was to begin," said International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel in a statement.
"We strongly believe that we had the adequate safety measures in place. In the end, we must accept the decision of the government."
The IIHF and Hockey Canada were informed by the Nova Scotia provincial government on Wednesday that the 10-country tournament could not go ahead due to safety concerns associated with COVID-19.
Still the news came as a shock after Nova Scotia's chief medical officer had 24 hours earlier given the event the thumbs- up.
"At five o'clock this morning we were full go and at 7:30 am we were not," explained Hockey Canada chief executive officer Tom Renney. "That is the way the world is right now and there is only so much we can control.
"At the end of the day there is a bigger game than the one we play here and quite honestly it is about the safety of the general public."
The cancellation was another blow for the women's game that has endured a number of recent setbacks, including the folding of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.
It was also the second consecutive year the Nova Scotia world championships have been stopped by COVID-19.
"Definitely, a little bit of disbelief, a little shock, a lot of emotion," said Canadian coach Gina Kingsbury, who pulled some players off the ice to deliver the bad news. "This is a group that has been through a lot this past year and two years so they are definitely familiar with disappointing news."
Both the IIHF and Hockey Canada indicated they plan to play the world championships this year, possibly this summer, in Canada.
"Our intention, and that of the IIHF, is to reconnect with this event as a world championship in 2021 in Canada," said Renney. "That's our number one objective. We have every desire to hold this event in Canada."
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)