International

IIHF releases (new) schedule for 2021 World Championships

Just under one month until the tournament kicks off!

Time to update your calendar! The 2021 IIHF World Championship schedule is here.

The 10-team tournament has twice been rescheduled and will now be held in Calgary starting on Aug. 20.

All but one of the group play days has three games and follows a basic schedule of games at 2 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Eastern, and 9:30 p.m. Eastern. All five Group A teams and the top three Group B teams will advance to the quarterfinals. The bottom two Group B teams will not be relegated because none of the lower tournaments 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 claiming first place and moving up into Group A for the next Worlds tournament.

Group A includes reigning champions USA, 2019’s silver medalist Finland, bronze medalist Canada, Russia (competing under Russian Olympic Committee, or ROC, because of doping), and Switzerland. Group B includes Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, and Hungary.

The tournament starts on a Friday which, unfortunately, means medal games are on a Tuesday night rather than a Sunday.

So far, USA Hockey has announced all of their games will be broadcast live on NHL Network.

Some Games To Watch

The first day features a rematch of the 2019 semifinal game: Canada versus Finland on Friday, Aug 20 at 6 p.m. Eastern.
In Group B play, Germany versus Hungary on Saturday, Aug 21 at 2 p.m. should be fun match up to catch.
The bronze medal rematch game of Canada versus Russia will be Sunday, Aug 22 at 6 p.m. Eastern.
The 2019 gold medal game rematch between USA and Finland is Sunday, Aug 22 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern.
As always, the highly anticipated USA v Canada group play game is the final day of the round - Thursday, Aug 26 at 6 p.m. Eastern. /

Schedule

DAY	DATE	TIME IN ET	TEAM	TEAM	GROUP
Friday	Aug 20	2 p.m.	CZE	DEN	B
Friday	Aug 20	6 p.m.	CAN	FIN	A
Friday	Aug 20	9:30 p.m.	SUI	USA	A
Saturday	Aug 21	2 p.m.	GER	HUN	B
Saturday	Aug 21	6 p.m.	RUS	SUI	A
Saturday	Aug 21	9:30 p.m.	DEN	JPN	B
Sunday	Aug 22	2 p.m.	HUN	CZE	B
Sunday	Aug 22	6 p.m.	CAN	RUS	A
Sunday	Aug 22	9:30 p.m	FIN	USA	A
Monday	Aug 23	2 p.m.	GER	DEN	B
Monday	Aug 23	6 p.m.	JPN	CZE	B
Tuesday	Aug 24	2 p.m.	USA	RUS	A
Tuesday	Aug 24	6 p.m.	SUI	CAN	A
Tuesday	Aug 24	9:30 p.m.	HUN	JPN	B
Wednesday	Aug 25	2 p.m.	RUS	FIN	A
Wednesday	Aug 25	6 p.m.	CZE	GER	B
Wednesday	Aug 25	9:30 p.m.	DEN	HUN	B
Thursday	Aug 26	2 p.m.	FIN	SUI	A
Thursday	Aug 26	6 p.m.	USA	CAN	A
Thursday	Aug 26	9:30 p.m.	JPN	GER	B
Saturday	Aug 28	Noon	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	medal
Saturday	Aug 28	3:30 p.m.	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	medal
Saturday	Aug 28	7 p.m.	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	medal
Saturday	Aug 28	10:30 p.m.	Quarterfinal	Quarterfinal	medal
Sunday	Aug 29	3 p.m.	Play 1	Play 1	medal
Sunday	Aug 29	7 p.m.	Play 2	Play 2	medal
Monday	Aug 30	3 p.m.	Semifinal	Semifinal	medal
Monday	Aug 30	7 p.m.	Semifinal	Semifinal	medal
Tuesday	Aug 31	noon	Play 3	Play 3	medal
Tuesday	Aug 31	3:30 p.m.	Bronze	Bronze	medal
Tuesday	Aug 31	7:30 p.m.	Gold	Gold	medal