The start to Monday's women's ice hockey matchup between Canada and the Russian Olympic Committee at the Winter Olympics in Beijing was delayed for more than an hour because of COVID-19 concerns.
As the game was set to begin at 12 p.m. local time in Beijing, the Russians skated out on the ice to start the game, while the Canadians stayed back in the locker room. Canada decided not to take the ice after COVID-19 results from the ROC team failed to come back to the team in time.
After waiting a while on the bench and on the ice for the Canadians to emerge from the locker room, officials told the Russians to go back to the locker room as the game was to be "delayed until further notice."
Eventually, a compromise was reached by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to have both teams wear masks throughout the contest. After a 65-minute delay to the start of the game, the puck was eventually dropped.
The game resulted in a third-straight win for Canada to open up the 2022 Winter Games, as they downed the Russians by a 6-1 final score. Canada has outscored its opponents 29-3 in their three games so far this tournament, also beating up on Switzerland and Finland.
Up next for Canada is a highly-anticipated matchup with the United States, who are also 3-0 to start Olympic competition.
The U.S. has outscored their opponents 18-2 over their first three games of the tournament. That includes a pair of shutout wins in the Americans' last two games over Switzerland and the Russian Olympic Committee.
Tuesday's matchup will mark the final game of preliminary play on the women's side before the quarterfinal round gets started on Friday.
Faceoff between the U.S. and Canada is set for 12:10 p.m. local time in Beijing. In the United States, that game can be watched live at 11:10 p.m. EST late Monday night.
