As Michael Farber (TSN) already reported last night, Team Canada has decided to withdraw from the 2021 Spengler Cup due to health and safety concerns.
HC Ambrì-Piotta, on the other hand, has been placed in ten-day quarantine by the cantonal doctor and will thus not be able to participate in the tournament. By the mandate of the league's medical task force, five days will be added to the ten-day quarantine. Only after that, they will be able to return to game action.
Juuso Hietanen, who played with his national team last week, will not have to go into quarantine. HC Ambrì-Piotta is willing to make him available to another team participating in the tournament. The same applies to Bobby Ryan, who would have reinforced the National League team for the tournament.
As for the Spengler Cup, the organizing committee was able to find one team that is willing to participate in the tournament: HC Slovan Bratislava. They are also looking for another team so that the tournament would keep its six-team format.
According to the Berner Zeitung, several solutions are being discussed right now: a "Berne Select" team, consisting of players of SC Bern and the SCL Tigers (and potentially EHC Biel) is on the table, but they have also received phone calls from foreign teams who would be interested.
However, if that does not work out, they will return to the old five-team format: each team plays against all other teams and in the end, there is one final game.
