Olympic hockey match delayed before players return to ice in masks under helmets

A women’s ice hockey preliminary round game between Canada and the Russian Olympic Committee at the Beijing Winter Games was delayed by an hour before players returned to the ice wearing masks.

No reason was given for the delay but Canadian media reported the ROC had not provided Canada with Covid-19 test results.

Six members of the ROC squad had been placed in isolation last week after testing positive for the virus.

Canadian Olympic Committee staff were unclear of the reason for the delay as they huddled around televisions in their office in the hope of finding answers.

The ROC skated onto the Wukesong Sports Centre ice for the introductions but were left standing on the blueline as the Canadians failed to join them.

Absolutely wild. CAN takes early lead 1-0 vs ROC - all players wearing N95 masks. Sign of the times, or what? pic.twitter.com/WDm1QVXPfG

When the players returned an hour later both were wearing masks under their helmets.

The masks did not seem to hurt the Canadians’ performance as they jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with Sarah Nurse and Sarah Fillier scoring 20 seconds apart.