Austria Cup in Klagenfurt cancelled
The Ö-Cup involving Austria’s men’s national ice hockey team, scheduled to take place in Klagenfurt from 10 to 12 February 2022, has been cancelled. France and Norway were informed of this decision immediately. The reason is the sharply rising number of coronavirus cases in Austria.
2 min readSource: Eishockey.at
Image information: The Austria Cup in Klagenfurt has been cancelled – photo: GEPA pictures/Daniel Götzhaber
ÖEHV Men's Sports Director Roger Bader and the ÖEHV Executive Board discussed extensively whether to stage the Austria Cup next February. It is one of the most important national team weeks of the year. "A highlight," as Roger Bader stresses. The Swiss coach had planned to assemble the strongest possible squad for this tournament and use it as preparation for the World Championship.
However, due to the sharp rise in coronavirus cases both in society and in ice hockey, it was decided to cancel the February break in order to protect the health of players and staff. The experiences of the U20 World Championship in Edmonton also influenced the decision.
"We very much regret this cancellation. The Austria Cup is of great importance both from a sporting and marketing perspective. Unfortunately, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has developed in recent days as many experts feared. As things stand today, it is impossible to assess which squad would actually have been available to us. In our view, it is hardly possible to organise a tournament entirely without COVID-related incidents in this situation. Although we have demonstrated so far that our prevention measures work. There has not been a single positive case in the national team so far," emphasises Roger Bader, who also serves as Head Coach.
In recent days, he has been in intensive discussions with Christian Feichtinger, Managing Director of the ICE Hockey League, the clubs and a number of players.
This gives the bet at home ICE Hockey League additional match dates and allows it to make up some of the games already postponed due to Covid.
ÖEHV President Klaus Hartmann: "Naturally, it is a great pity that the renewed cancellation of the popular Ö-Cup means that our extensive efforts in the run-up were unfortunately in vain (editor's note: TV contract with ORF, event organisation, sponsorship agreements). However, we want to send a signal to the league so that together we can set the right course for Austrian ice hockey in future."
