World Cup of Ice Hockey is back 2016 and here you will find schedule and fixtures for the tournament. The group stage consists of eight teams divided into two groups:
Group A:
Canada
USA
Czech Republic
Team Europe (A coalition of European players from teams that aren’t participating in the tournament)
Group B:
Sweden
Finland
Russia
Team North America (A team that consists of younger North American players)
Game dates:
Saturday, September 17 2016:
Team Europe–USA
Canada – Czech Republic
Sunday, September 18 2016:
Russia – Sweden
Finland – Team North America
Monday, September 19 2016:
Czech Republic – Team Europe
Team North America – Russia
Tuesday, September 20 2016:
Finland–Sweden
Canada – USA
Wednesday, September 21 2016:
Team North America – Sweden
Canada – Team Europe
Thursday, September 22 2016:
Finland-Russia
Czech Republic – USA
The playoffs are played September 24 – October 1:
Saturday, September 24:
Semifinal 1 (A1 vs B2)
Sunday, September 25:
Semifinal 2 (B1 vs A2)
Final (best-of-three):
Tuesday, September, 27:
Final Game 1
Thursday, September, 29:
Final Game 2
Saturday, October, 1:
Final Game 3 (if necessary)
History of the World Cup of Hockey
The first World Cup of Hockey was played in 1996. It was a successor to the previous Canada Cup which was played between 1976-1991. Canada Cup was a rather one-sided history with Canadian gold medals in 1976, 1984, 1987 and 1991. Soviet Union won the 1981 edition of the Cup. United States won the 1996 World Cup and Canada won the cup in 2004. The 2004 World Cup was the latest edition of the tournament. After 12 years of wait, the World Cup of Hockey is finally back! Hopefully we get to see some European teams having success in the cup this year. However, Canada will have a stronger team than ever on the ice. We still shivers at the thought of the team they had in the 2015 IIHF World Championships, and then they still had a lot of players still playing in the NHL playoffs. We are especially looking forward seeing the coalition of European players in Team Europe. There are plenty of good players in the rest of Europe and teams like Slovakia, Switzerland, Belarus and Germany will probably contribute with their cream of the crop to the team.
The World Cup ensures high quality ice hockey with the best teams and players in the world fighting for prestige and glory. We have a number of good match-ups to look forward to. Or how about the matches in September, 22: Nordic rivals Sweden versus Finland and the North American battle between Canada and USA? It will be a blast!
You can read more about World Cup at NHL.com.
