Breaking News: Team USA Forced To Forfeit At World Juniors

The defending World Junior gold medalists have run into some adversity in just their second game of the 2022 tournament. It was announced that Team USA has been forced to forfeit their game against Switzerland scheduled due to multiple positive tests for COVID-19.

The game was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Red Deer, Alberta.

The official statement coming from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) mentioned that the Americans were going into a “mandatory quarantine, following a positive test result of two of its players.”

As of now, the players haven’t been identified yet. The full statement is linked below if you want to check it out for yourself.

Team USA opened their gold medal title defense on Boxing Day, as they took down Team Slovakia by a final of 3-2. Matthew Knies (Maple Leafs), Mackie Samoskevich (Panthers), and Landon Slaggert (Blackhawks) all scored, and Drew Commesso (Blackhawks) made 23 saves in the winning effort.

Going forward, however, a forfeit loss like this could have some dire consequences down the road. In the stacked Group B, Team USA is currently scheduled to take on the group leaders Sweden (2-0-0-0, 6 pts) on Wednesday night before taking on the Russians (1-0-0-1, 3 pts) on New Year’s Eve. Although the U.S. is currently tied with Russia for second place in Group B, one thing going for Team USA right now is that they have a game in hand on both Russia and Sweden.

The U.S. hasn’t missed out on the medal round since 2020, as they’ve taken home bronze or better in four of the last five tournaments (including two golds).


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

One thought on “Breaking News: Team USA Forced To Forfeit At World Juniors”

Leave a Reply

2025 Hockey Hall of Fame Class Announced

The 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame Class has been announced. The class will be inducted on Monday, November 10, 2025.

Read More
William Moore 2025 Draft Profile

2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: William Moore

William Moore is a 6’2” center who played 64 regular-season games for the U.S.A. National under-18 team, scoring 27 goals and added 32 assists in the 2024-25 National Team Development Program season. Additionally, Moore scored 10 goals and added 11 assists for the USNTDP Junior team of the USHL in 25 regular-season games. The Mississauga, […]

Read More
Haoxi Wang 2025 NHL Draft Profile

2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Haoxi Wang

Haoxi Wang is a defenseman at 6’6” and 209 lbs. The Beijing, China native is a big, left-shot defenseman without the usual drawbacks of the typical big defenseman. Wang is a smooth skater for his size who can play in all three zones. Physical play and high-end mobility allow Wang to challenge attackers efficiently. Wang […]

Read More