Great Britain and Canada are looking to re-schedule their lucrative exhibition game ahead of the 2021 World Championships, following this year’s cancellation.
Both sides would have met yesterday (Tuesday) at the Motorpoint Arena as they prepared for the tournament in Switzerland, which was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But there have been positive noises from both sides as they look to arrange the game again ahead of the competition in a year’s time.
And IHUK General Secretary Andy French is working hard to achieve this.
“It was a massive disappointment to everyone that the Canada game was unable to take place,” he said. “We know from speaking with supporters how excited everyone was.
Ice Hockey UK General Secretary Andy French is working to trying and reschedule the exhibition game with Canada
“We had worked with our fantastic sponsors, Lucas, to put together something that had never been seen in the UK.
“People were coming from all over the world and tickets sold out within days. I have never known interest like it in a GB game.
“But we are hopeful that this is just a postponement rather than a cancellation.
“The federations in the UK and Canada will look at next year’s schedule and we are hopeful that something can be arranged.”
Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney added: “It is our desire to fulfil the hope of playing a pre-2021 World Championship game in the UK. Only time will tell but that is our desire.”
