NHL Announces Players Won't Be Allowed to Go to Olympics

FILE -Canada defenseman Shea Weber, left, trips over USA forward David Backes during the third period of a men's semifinal ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. NHL players will not take part in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing after all. A person with direct knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press the league is going to withdraw from the Olympics after the regular-season schedule was disrupted by coronavirus outbreaks, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.(AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

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By Associated Press

December 22, 2021 at 3:53 PM UTC

Updated on

December 22, 2021 at 7:07 PM UTC

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(AP) -- The inevitability sunk in for Steven Stamkos a full day before the NHL made it official that players would not be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics.

Left off Canada's Olympic roster in 2010, injured after being named to the team in 2014 and unable to go in 2018 because the NHL opted out, the Tampa Bay Lightning captain crystallized what it meant that the pandemic was wiping out participation at the 2022 Beijing Games, too.