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It’s game on for Finland and Switzerland at the Milano-Cortina Games women’s hockey tournament on Saturday despite both nations dealing with a stomach virus affecting its players.
“Finland plays today,” team spokeswoman Henna Malmberg wrote in a text to The Associated Press.
Finland’s outing against the U.S. will be the nation’s tournament opener after its game against Canada on Thursday was postponed to Feb. 12.
The postponement came as a result of Finland having 13 of its 23 players in quarantine because of a norovirus that began affecting the team on Tuesday night.
Malmberg’s message comes a day after Finland coach Tero Lehterä said his team was going to play the U.S. no matter what following a practice in which only nine players were absent.
Malmberg had no update on how many players would be available.
Team Switzerland, meantime, also announced it was preparing to play Canada (3:10 p.m. ET), a day after revealing it had one player test positive for the norovirus. Switzerland opened with a 4-3 shootout win over Czechia on Friday.
Gina Kingsbury, general manager of Canada’s women’s Olympic hockey team, said Thursday that her team was asked if they were willing to postpone their first game after the Finnish team was hit with a norovirus outbreak. ‘Forfeiting was never brought up,’ she said of a conversation with officials, adding that delaying was in the spirit of the Games.
The entire Swiss team spent Friday night in isolation and skipped the opening ceremony.
“The incubation period has now passed,” Switzerland’s chief medical officer Hanspeter Betschart said in a released statement. “From a medical perspective, there are currently no concerns about the game taking place, provided no further players show symptoms.”
The team did not reveal which player was affected.