December 21,2021. NHL and NHL players have come to an agreement that due to Covid-19 they’re not going to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics men’s hockey in Beijing. Covid has affected everything. No one is doing anything at this point because if they test positive they won’t be able to do ice hockey. “The NHL and the NHLPA (National Hockey League Players’ Association) had negotiated Olympic participation in 2022 and 2026. The only caveat for the Beijing Olympics, scheduled for February 2022, was if the current NHL regular season was “materially impacted” by COVID-19 postponements.”
Gary Bettman said in the following statement. “Unfortunately, given the profound disruption to the NHL’s regular-season schedule caused by recent COVID-related events — 50 games already have been postponed through Dec. 23 Olympic participation is no longer feasible. We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the efforts made by the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee to host NHL Players but current circumstances have made it impossible for us to proceed despite everyone’s best efforts. We look forward to Olympic participation in 2026.” In this quote about the schedule problem, I would think that they can solve it, maybe by stretching out the times when athletes are going to do their events.
Covid-19 has also affected the players. They have had to be quarantined since they got to Beijing. The players don’t want to catch Covid (I would hope) so they shut everything down. Beijing went into complete lockdown. According to Katherine Liu, “Athletes went out on their own decisions.” No-one went out and if they did it was their responsibility. There was a small chance they could catch Covid.
