Russia has announced that it wants to return to international national team games. Swedish star Mattias Ekholm made a straight comment on the hot topic.
Joel Sippola,
Jussi Saarinen
NHL’s long -term commissioner Gary Bettman reported that the NHL’s four -country tournament starts that the World Cup will return after a 12 -year break in 2028. This tournament has eight teams.
Russia, which attacked Ukraine almost three years ago, has been out of international ice hockey tournaments since spring 2022 and has not been seen, for example, in the previous three men’s World Championships.
Bettman and the CEO of the NHL Player Association Marty Walsh At a press conference for a four-country tournament, Russia-positive statements.
– I would love to see Russian players in international games. But these questions are political. I hope that as we are closer to the Olympics and the World Cup, we can see Russian players in international tournaments, Walsh said.
– Russia has a great hockey culture, we have (in the NHL) great Russian players, Bettman praised.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine or the war of Bettman and Walsh did not mention, but they talked about the world political situation.
A direct comment of the Swedish player
Chairman of the International Olympic Committee and Vice Chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association Emma Terho notes that there is nothing abnormal in the statements of NHL bosses in Russia.
Throughout the Russian offensive war, the NHL has given the series of Russian players to play and avoided talking about war in Ukraine. The series has also annoyed this in its social media channels Wayne Gretzky an all -time paint record chasing Alexandr Ovetshkinin Monies.
– This is not a new thing. Throughout the war, Russian players have played in the NHL, just like tennis, says Terho.
Swedish defender and Edmonton Oilers representing Mattias Ekholm is on different lines with the NHL player association. The line of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association is that Russian players do not currently have an issue for international national team events.
– I agree with the Swedish Association. It is impossible to think at the moment, Ekholm referred to SVT In the interview, Russia would return to national team games.
Attempts to influence
At the beginning of this month, IIHF, the International Ice Hockey Association, announced that Russia and Belarus will stay outdoors as well as this year, including the 2026 World Cup. In its announcement, the Hockey Association did not mention the war, but appealed that it was “safety”.
Chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association Heikki Hietanenthat is also a member of the Board of the International Ice Hockey Association, says Russia is in discussions at government meetings.
– Russia has often been active in letters and others. They have a desire to come back. We have been caught in our own policy. Nothing has changed, so we have no reason to start modifying our decisions.
Matti Nurminen, Secretary General of the International Ice Hockey Association in Montreal, refused to comment on “political questions” for Sports.
There was a handful of Russians at the Paris Summer Olympics, but they competed as so -called neutral athletes.
In December, the International Association for Skating decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be able to seek Olympic spots with neutral status. The athletes of both countries may receive a maximum of one representation per species through qualifiers.
Terho mentions that Russia intended to organize the Friendship Games in September last year as a response to the Paris Olympics. The races were not of interest to the top of the world, which was why they were moved. Finally, in December, they were canceled.
Russia was also confusing in the hot boxing gender of the Paris Olympics.
– For example, the uproar around female boxing was effective, which easily passed the news threshold in our neighboring countries.
See you in the Russian World Cup?
Terho says that in the United States, for example, Russia is not treated in the same way as even in the Nordic countries and the Baltic countries.
– The farther we go, the war in Ukraine is a crisis among others. Naturally, the Nordic position on the Olympics has not changed in any way, Terho refers to the fact that Russians and Belarusians are not part of international sports activities.
Hietanen says that Russia’s possible return to international hockey depends on the political situation in the world.
“Something must happen in the politics of the world and, above all, in Ukraine before any movement can happen in this matter,” Hietanen points out.