Today’s athlete has no qualms about using their sports bully pulpit to advance a political agenda. Now, ice hockey players are jumping on the “Save the Planet” bandwagon.

The idea to stage a hockey game at the North Pole to raise awareness about so-called climate change was first announced in Spring 2018 in connection with the United Nations, which dubbed it “the last ice hockey game in the Arctic.”

The UN issued a report on the proposed game in May 2018, which noted “the frightening speed of climate change is particularly visible in the Arctic.”

“The game is spearheaded by legendary Russian ice hockey player Viacheslav Fetisov, who was designated UN Environment Patron for Polar Regions,” the UN reported.

“The world today is very fragile and it’s our duty to do everything to unite people and nations to remind them that we don’t have a planet B,” Fetisov said. “Sport and environment are two spheres that will unite people and help us to protect the Earth – our common heritage.”

The UN report shared a grim future for the Arctic, Based on so-called climate change models:

The symbolic event is a wake-up call to the world, highlighting climate models projecting that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free by 2040. During the event, the teams will phone the United Nations Secretary-General from the North Pole. 

“We simply cannot ignore the threat of climate change to the Arctic regions of our earth. Once this fragile ecosystem is disturbed, it may never recover,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “I am grateful to see great athletes like Viacheslav Fetisov lending their names to this ‘last call for the Arctic’ and make the world aware that we have to take action. It is now or never.”

But the Arctic still has perfect weather for ice hockey and Yale University has announced the match will take place in April 2020, reporting on its Climate Connections website that Russian Sergey Rybakov is helping organize the game.

“It’s a project that is about bringing everyone – all the countries, all the sportsmen, all the people – together on one topic: climate change,” Rybakov said in the Climate Connections report.

Mike Richter, formerly with the New York Rangers, is on the rooster, as are unnamed ice hockey players from Russia, Canada, and Scandinavian countries.

Climate Connections reported on the urgency of the long-delayed game:

Global warming is rapidly melting Arctic sea ice, so the event is being billed as the first and last hockey game to be played at the North Pole. For this game, the ultimate goal is to bring attention to the climate crisis.

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