World Cup team
The 2023 World Championship will take place in Tampere (Finland) and Riga (Latvia) from May 12 to 28. Teams from 16 countries are split into two groups of eight teams each according to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rankings.
Group A: Finland, Sweden, United States, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary.
Group B: Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia.
In the group stage, each team plays 7 matches. The places in the table are distributed according to the points scored. A team receives three points for a victory in the group stage, one point for a draw in regular time, an additional point for a victory in extra time or on penalties and zero points for a defeat.
The top four teams from their groups qualify for the quarter-finals and play according to the scheme: the team that takes first place in group A plays with the fourth team in group B, the second – with the third and vice versa.
The big favorite in Group A is the Finnish national team, who will try to defend the league title, for which they have assembled a very strong team in terms of names. Not only do former KHL stars stand out, such as goaltender Juho Olkinuora, defender Mikko Lehtonen, forwards Teemu Hartikainen and Sakari Manninen, but also the leaders of their clubs in the NHL. First up, we’re talking about Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen and Columbus forward Patrick Laine.
The teams from Sweden and the United States will try to impose the fight for the first place on the Finns, who so far cannot boast of the same brilliant line-ups. The fourth place, by status, in the group belongs to the German national team, but the same Danes, of course, will try to seize their chance and qualify for the playoffs.
It is the match between the national teams of Finland and the United States that will open the 2023 World Cup. On May 12, the channel will broadcast this meeting live.
In Group B, as usual, the Canadian team is respected by its name alone. Certainly, while the composition of the Canadian team, while not final, is not as impressive as it could be. However, the presence of world hockey superstars is not a necessary condition for victory, and the last world championships proved this more than once. The most important quality here is character, and his Canadians have always had it.
The Czech national team will bring a very interesting team to the 2023 World Cup. Here are goalkeeper Szymon Grubec, well known from the KHL game, defender Michal Jordan, forwards Lukas Sedlak, Tomasz Ghica and Roman Cervenka, and goalkeeper Karel Veimelka (Arizona), who joined them from the NHL, defensemen David Jirzhichek (Columbus) and Jakub Zborzhil (Boston), as well as forwards Dominik Kubalik (Detroit) and Philip Chytil (Rangers). The North American landing might look even more impressive, but some players have declined the national team invite due to injuries or simply fatigue. Of course, the most offensive thing for the Czechs is the refusal to travel to the 2023 World Cup by Boston forwards David Pastrnak and David Krejci.
The Swiss national team are once again taking a strong team to the World Cup, led by the tournament’s main veteran, Andres Ambuhl. The 39-year-old, who broke the record for most World Cup appearances last year, is set to feature in the 18th World Cup of his career, which is also an all-time high.
The teams of Slovakia, Latvia and Norway can apply for the last ticket for the quarter-finals of group B with more or less seriousness.
World Cup group stage schedule
All matches will be played in two stadiums: Nokia Arena (Tampere) with a capacity of 13,455 spectators and Arena Riga (Riga) with a capacity of 10,300 spectators. All Group A matches will be played at Nokia Arena, all Group B matches at Arena Riga.
May 12
4:20 p.m.* Finland – United States
16:20 Slovakia — Czech Republic
20:20 Sweden – Germany
20:20 Latvia – Canada
May 13
12:20 France – Austria
12:20 Switzerland — Slovenia
16:20 Hungary — Denmark
16:20 Norway — Kazakhstan
20:20 Germany — Finland
20:20 Slovakia — Latvia
May 14
12:20 United States – Hungary
12:20 Slovenia – Canada
16:20 France – Denmark
16:20 Norway – Switzerland
20:20 Sweden – Austria
20:20 Czech Republic — Kazakhstan
May 15
16:20 Germany – United States
16:20 Slovakia – Canada
20:20 Finland — Sweden
20:20 Czech Republic – Latvia
May 16
16:20 Denmark – Austria
16:20 Slovenia – Norway
20:20 France – Hungary
20:20 Switzerland — Kazakhstan
May 17
16:20 United States – Austria
16:20 Latvia — Norway
20:20 Finland – France
20:20 Canada – Kazakhstan
May 18
16:20 Hungary — Sweden
16:20 Czech Republic — Slovenia
20:20 Denmark – Germany
20:20 Switzerland — Slovakia
May 19
16:20 Hungary — Finland
16:20 Latvia — Slovenia
20:20 Austria — Germany
20:20 Kazakhstan — Slovakia
May 20
12:20 United States – Denmark
12:20 Norway – Czech Republic
16:20 Austria — Finland
16:20 Canada – Switzerland
20:20 Sweden – France
20:20 Kazakhstan — Latvia
May 21st
16:20 Germany – Hungary
16:20 Slovenia — Slovakia
20:20 United States – France
20:20 Czech Republic – Switzerland
May 22
16:20 Denmark – Sweden
16:20 Canada – Norway
20:20 Austria – Hungary
20:20 Kazakhstan — Slovenia
May 23
12:20 Germany – France
12:20 Slovakia — Norway
16:20 Sweden – United States
16:20 Canada – Czech Republic
20:20 Finland — Denmark
20:20 Switzerland — Latvia
May 25
Quarter-finals (two matches will start at 4:20 p.m., the other two at 8:20 p.m.)
May 27
Semi-finals (match start time – 2:20 p.m. and 8:20 p.m.)
May 28
15:20 Game for 3rd place
20:20 The final
* Moscow time
Author: Ivan Chitik
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
