20211229_Power

The remainder of the 2022 World Junior Championship has been cancelled due to COVID-19, the IIHF announced Wednesday.
The Sabres had four prospects participating in the tournament: forwards Isak Rosen (Sweden) and Jakub Konecny (Czechia) and defensemen Owen Power (Canada) and Nikita Novikov (Russia).

Power became the first Canadian defenseman in tournament history to record a hat trick in Canada's opener against Czechia, a 6-3 win. He added two assists in an 11-2 victory over Austria on Tuesday.
The United States forfeited its game against Switzerland on Tuesday due to positive tests. That cancellation was followed by an announcement that Czechia would have to forfeit its game against Finland on Wednesday. The decision to cancel the tournament came after Russia had a positive test, which would have forced a third forfeit in two days.
"Together with the teams, we came into this event with full confidence in the COVID-19 protocols put in place by the IIHF, the LOC, Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada," IIHF president Luc Tardif said in a statement. "The ongoing spread of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant forced us to readjust our protocols almost immediately upon arrival to attempt to stay ahead of any potential spread. This included daily testing and the team quarantine requirement when positive cases were confirmed.
"We owed it to the participating teams to do our best to create the conditions necessary for this event to work. Unfortunately, this was not enough. We now have to take some time and focus on getting all players and team staff back home safely."