The pledge follows a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that forces the IIHF to let Russia back into international competition.
The Danish, Latvian, Norwegian and Swedish hockey federations said Tuesday they will refuse to play Russian teams, joining a boycott that's gaining steam across European hockey. The move came a day after the Finnish Ice Hockey Association said it was trying to build a coalition to keep Russia out of the sport.
The dispute traces back to Friday, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Russia must be allowed to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation events again after several appeals from the Russian hockey federation. The IIHF, like most other Olympic federations, banned Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and had renewed that ban every year since.
CAS's ruling effectively forces the IIHF's hand, but it does nothing to change how individual federations feel about sharing the ice with Russian sides. With Denmark, Latvia, Norway and Sweden now on record refusing to play Russia, and Finland working the phones to add more countries to the list, the IIHF faces a world championship picture where its own reinstatement ruling could be undermined by teams simply declining to show up.