IIHF releases 2021 Worlds schedule

Get your calendars out and start planning your month of May because the IIHF announced the schedule for the 2021 World Championship in Halifax and Truro in Nova Scotia, Canada!

The 10-team, 10-day tournament kicks off on May 6 with a round-robin group play. Group A includes reigning champions USA, 2019’s silver medalist Finland, bronze medalist Canada, Russia, and Switzerland. Group B includes Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, and Hungary.

After group play, all of Group A and the top three teams from Group B will advance to the quarterfinals. The bottom two teams in Group B will not be relegated because none of the lower tournaments were played this year, according to the IIHF.

The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals, as usual, and then those winners will move onto the medal games. The quarterfinal losers will play knockout placement games with the winner moving up into Group A for the next Worlds tournament.

We’ll have to wait six days into the tournament, the last day of group play, to get the always anticipated USA v Canada game. However, Day 1 features a rematch of 2019’s semifinal game between Canada and Finland, which saw Finland become the first team outside of North America to reach the gold medal game, and the gold medal game rematch is on Day 2.

Schedule

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