The schedule for the 2020 IIHF Women’s World Championship was today announced for the tournament taking place in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, which hopes to bring as much drama and excitement as the last year’s tournament in Finland did.

Group A, which will meet in Halifax, sees last year’s finalists, the United States and Finland, joined by hosts Canada, who were unceremoniously slotted into the bronze medal game by an upstart Finnish squad, Russia and Switzerland. The trio of Canada, the U.S. and Finland will all be coming into Halifax hungry – the Americans hungry for their sixth straight world title (which would tie them with Canada for the most all time), the Naisleijonat hungry to win their first title ever, especially after their heartbreaking silver last year in Espoo, and the Canadians hungry to redeem their disappointing 2019 finish in front of a raucous home crowd. Russia and Switzerland will surely be looking to make a splash as well, but are far less likely to do so with aforementioned trio looking to set the bar high in 2020.

Group B, which will play in Truro, will feature a trio of surprising squads from 2019 in Japan, Czechia and Germany, along with the two newly-promoted teams, Denmark and Hungary. While none of the Group B teams made it past last year’s Quarterfinals, each team held their own against the World’s best. With Sweden shockingly out of the picture for 2020, the group is anyone’s for the taking, and each team will be looking to make a big impact. Denmark, in the tournament for only the second time and the first since 1992, and Hungary, who has never been in the Top Division, will both simply be to not just survive, but perhaps delegate a new team to be 2020’s version of the Damkronorna.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

The IHLC champion should be known by the end of the 2020 iteration of the Rivalry Series. Unless of course, the Finns can pull off more upsets in any matches against the United States and Canada to potentially replace the cancelled Four Nations Cup, which would mean the title would re-enter the European pre-tournament circuit for the first time since 2009, when it was Sweden who played the spoiler at the Lake Placid Four Nations Cup.

Photo Credit: 2019 Women’s World Championship – IIHF – HHOF – IOC