The 2021 Women's World Hockey Championship has been canceled after Nova Scotia's provincial government determined the tournament could not proceed as scheduled due to COVID-19 safety concerns, the IIHF announced Wednesday.

The tournament was set to take place May 6-16 in Halifax and Truro. The IIHF and Hockey Canada said in a joint statement that they are aiming to stage the event "in the summer of 2021."

“In the end, we must accept the decision of the government," the two governing bodies said. "This does not mean that we will not have a Women's World Championship in 2021.

"We owe it to every single player that was looking forward to getting back on the ice after such a difficult year that we do everything possible to ensure this tournament can be moved to new dates and played this year."

The IIHF and Hockey Canada pushed the tourney to May from its original target dates of April 7-17 in March.

This is the second consecutive year the tournament has been called off because of the coronavirus. Halifax and Truro were also the intended host cities for the 2020 women's worlds, but the event was canceled last March.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Nova Scotia has been relatively low throughout the pandemic, but rising totals prompted the provincial government to close its borders to seven other provinces Tuesday.

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