The schedule for the 2022 IIHF World Championship was today announced for the tournament taking place in Tampere and Helsinki, Finland, returning to the nation for the first time since Helsinki hosted consecutively in 2012-13.

Group A, which will meet in Helsinki, sees defending Gold Medalists (and no friends of the Finns after said final) Canada looking to retain their title, with the Russian Olympic Committee squad serving as their biggest obstacle to topping the table. With more traditional powerhouses slotted in Group B, the likes of last year’s surprising fourth-place Germany, Slovakia, Denmark and Switzerland will look to finish higher in the group and improve their medal round matchups. Kazakhstan and Italy will likely be competing to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table, as relegation is back in play as of this writing, with Italy, who finished with no points in 2021, the likely contender to play for survival.

Group B, which will play in Tampere, sees the hometown and defending Silver medalist Finland take on fellow Euro Hockey Tour juggernauts Czechia and Sweden, along with defending Bronze medalists Team USA in a top-heavy group, with these four likely to round out the top of the group into the medal round. Norway, as well as perennial tournament fan favourites Latvia, will continue to push to act as spoiler and make it to the medal round, while Belarus and Great Britain will likely end up in the relegation round, where the Lions and Bisons will both fight to stay alive in the Top Division to 2023.

UPDATE 28 Feb 2022: With the IIHF suspending both the Russian Olympic Committee and Belarus from the World Championship, these games have been struck out until further updates are provided, or potential replacement teams are considered.

UPDATE 18 Mar 2022: The IIHF has announced that France and Austria will replace the Russian Olympic Committee and Belarus, respectively, in their Group A and B matches.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

The IHLC champion by May 2022 will be known by at least the end of next February’s Olympics in Beijing, with the possibility for the title to follow on the Euro Hockey Tour and/or Challenge, depending on who brings the title home from China; the last post-Olympic World Championships saw a surprising entrant, France, start the tournament with the IHLC, so who will hold the title by next May is anyone’s guess!

Photo Credit: 2021 World Championship – IIHF – HHOF – IOC