Canada says Russian teams barred from world juniors

The federal government has told Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) it will not issue visas to Russian players for the 2027 world junior championship in Alberta, TSN reported, a decision that leaves the tournament’s field unsettled with the event less than seven weeks away.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said publicly that Russia will not take part. “If you’re asking specifically about the world juniors, the Russians will not be there,” Carney said, adding that Canada will not approve visas for Russian or Belarusian athletes as long as their countries are fighting in Ukraine, according to The Free Press.

The tournament runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, with games in Red Deer and Edmonton.

The dispute follows an Oct. 30 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which found the IIHF must reinstate Russia in international hockey. Russia and Belarus have been barred from IIHF competition since 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After the ruling, the IIHF placed Russia in the 2027 under-20 tournament, which displaced Norway to a lower division, according to the Kyiv Post.

Norway’s federation has said it has not made a final decision on whether it will take part in the tournament in Canada, Yahoo News Canada reported.

TSN’s Gord Miller reported that players who might already hold Canadian visas, such as Russians playing in the Canadian Hockey League, are also considered ineligible, even if they were to play under a neutral flag.

Secretary of State for Sport Adam Van Koeverden has said the neutral-athlete designation used for Russians at other events applies to individuals, not teams, Daily Faceoff reported. That distinction closes off the one route the IIHF could have used to keep Russia in the Alberta tournament.

What happens next is not clear. The IIHF has not said publicly how it will respond to the visa refusal, and it has not said whether Russia will be removed from the schedule, replaced, or left to forfeit. Hockey Canada, which is the host federation, has not said whether it expects the field to change.

For Alberta, the question is practical: Red Deer and Edmonton are due to host the tournament starting Dec. 26, and the bracket cannot be finalized until the IIHF decides how to handle Russia’s place in it.

Several European federations have also pressed the IIHF over Russia’s return. Our earlier report on Finland’s push to rally hockey nations against Russia’s IIHF return has more on that campaign.

Canada’s refusal to issue visas does not depend on the court ruling. Visas are an immigration decision made by the federal government, and the CAS ruling addressed IIHF membership, not entry into Canada.

Sources: TSN, The Free Press, Daily Faceoff, Kyiv Post, Yahoo News Canada.

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