The North American Professional Hockey League (NHL) has reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Hockey Federation (IIHF), which means that hockey players in the world’s strongest league will also be there at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.
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| Boston Bruins players at a National Hockey League game in Beijing in 2018 (Photo: AFP) |
According to the agreement announced Friday, NHL matches will be suspended from February 3 to 22, with the final to take place on February 20.
The NHL stars competed first at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano and then in four subsequent races, in 2002 in Salt Lake City, in 2006 in Turin, in 2010 in Vancouver and in 2014 in Sochi, most recently, in 2018, however, he lost in Pyongyang.
Twelve men’s teams will compete in the Beijing Olympics, plus China, Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the United States, Germany and Switzerland, and have already secured their place in the 2019 world rankings, followed by Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark last Sunday in Olympic qualifiers.
Olympic group classification:
the group: Canada, the United States, Germany and China
Group B: Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark
Group C: Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia
