The National Hockey League (NHL) is not participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing. This decision was made in consideration of COVID-19 concerns and the highly contagious Omicron variant which has already led to the cancellation of the IIHF’s World Junior Hockey Championship and U-18 Women’s World Hockey Championship tournaments. This news came as a shock to the hockey fans across the globe, who were eagerly waiting for the first best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Although the NHL-hosted World Cup allowed us to see Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews share the ice as members of Team North America, the stakes were not equivalent to an Olympic gold medal. After witnessing a lack-luster 2018 Winter Olympics in which the NHL also did not participate due to security concerns, the excitement for the 2022 games was unprecedented. I remember watching my first Winter Olympic games in 2010 and being introduced to young stars like Drew Doughty, who would dominate the NHL for the 2010s after the tournament. Furthermore, we saw the torch get passed from Marty Brodeur to Roberto Luongo for Canada’s best goalie in 2010, and then again from Luongo to Carey Price in 2014.
This tournament has also given hockey fans everlasting memories since the NHL first took part in 1998. The “Lucky Loonie” buried at center ice in the 2002 games where Canada took gold against the US in Salt Lake City and Crosby’s golden goal in 2010 are just two such moments that have stuck with fans for a lifetime.
However, as there was news of players and entire teams entering COVID protocols, and then games being postponed for weeks at a time, fans got nervous. I remember sitting in front of my laptop, reconstructing my roster and line projections for Team Canada as players got injured or infected by the virus, clinging on to the tiny sliver of hope that the NHL would be at the Beijing games. Unfortunately, my nightmare became a reality on December 22 when the official announcement was made. On a personal level, the disappointment was insurmountable. This is not only because we, as fans, have been robbed of an opportunity to watch competitive, best-on-best hockey, but also because the Olympics would have hinted at a return to normalcy. This announcement was the realization that the rapidly changing virus had once again beat us and continued to affect the NHL, international hockey, and sports in general.
The NHL is not participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing. I am disappointed, frustrated, and will not be watching the games because I have now lost all interest. Nevertheless, I hope that we can beat COVID-19 soon enough to see Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid take the ice together in a competitive, extremely high-stakes hockey tournament.