The Ice Hockey World Championship will be held in Finland and Latvia from May 12th. Information about who the favorites are, what role the German team can play and in which format the tournament will be held can be found here.
Where is the Ice Hockey World Championship taking place?
The Ice Hockey World Championship 2023 will be held from May 12th to 28th, 2022 in the Finnish city of Tampere and in Riga, Latvia. The world tournament was originally supposed to take place in St. Petersburg. The World Federation IIHF withdrew the World Championship from Russia because of the Ukraine war.
Matches will be played at the newly built Nokia Arena in Tampere and at Arena Riga. Finland is hosting the tournament for the tenth time, most recently last year.
Which teams are playing?
The teams are divided into two groups of eight nations each, with the world ranking list after the last World Cup tournament being decisive. Slovenia and Hungary, who were promoted, replaced Great Britain and Italy, who were relegated. A total of 64 games will be played.
Group A (Tampere): Finland, USA, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary
Group B (Riga): Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia
In which mode is it played?
In the preliminary round, the teams within the group play each other once. The last two in the group dismount. The first four teams in each case reach the quarter-finals, which are played crosswise. The first in one group meets the fourth in the other group, the second meets the third, the third meets the second and the fourth meets the first.
In the semifinals, the participants are then ranked according to their placement in the preliminary round group, the number of points and goal difference, and the number of goals scored. The best team then plays against the worst team within those categories.
Who are the favourites?
The role of favorites has almost traditionally been played by hosts and defending champions Finland, Canada, the USA, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Russia would actually also belong to this circle, but is not allowed to play for well-known reasons.
What role can the German team play?
The quarter-finals should be the minimum goal for the team coached by Harold Kreis. If there are no points against the difficult opening opponents Sweden, Finland and USA, the DEB-Tem must achieve success against Denmark, Austria, Hungary and France at the latest in order to achieve their own goals.
Luke Reichel (Rockford IceHogs), Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings) and Tim Stutzle (Ottawa Senators) had to cancel their participation due to injury. Leon Draisaitl stands with the Edmonton Oilers in the Playoffs. The two Sweden legionnaires Tom Kühnhackl and Tobias Rieder also canceled.
Against whom and when does the DEB team play?
Germany – Sweden (May 12, 7:20 p.m.)
Germany – Finland (May 13, 7:20 p.m.)
Germany – USA (May 15, 3:20 p.m.)
Germany – Denmark (May 18, 7:20 p.m.)
Germany – Austria (May 19, 7:20 p.m.)
Germany – Hungary (May 21, 3:20 p.m.)
Germany – France (23.5., 11.20 a.m.)