The 2016 World Cup Of Hockey Is Now Official

The NHL has announced the schedule for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which include six of the best nations in the world.

By Jay Travers

Today the NHL announced details regarding the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Who doesn’t love watching the United States face off against Canada?

Beginning on September 17th, Team USA, Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Finland, Team Russia, Team Sweden, Team North America and Team Europe will battle it out for international bragging rights over the great sport of hockey.

Lasting only two weeks, the World Cup of Hockey will have a playoff system like this: Preliminary- Semifinals- the Final. Featuring more than 150 players from the NHL alone, the World Cup of Hockey is set to be a great showcase for all nations who have become powerhouses in the sport of hockey.

The grouping is broken down like this: all eight teams are put into two groups, Group A or Group B.

Group A features: Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe and Team USA. Team Europe posses players from countries outside of the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, and Finland.

Group B displays: Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia and Team Sweden. Team North America has players from the United States as well as Canada who are 23 years old or younger.

The grouping is for the Preliminary round, which will begin on September 17th and end on the 22nd, which will be in a round-robin fashion. As mentioned above, games between the USA and Canada are always fun to watch, and on September 20th, that will be a game to mark on your calendar.

After the Preliminary round is completed, whoever are the top two teams in each grouping will play in the Semifinals on September 24th and 25th. The first place team from Group A will play the second place team from Group B and vice versa. Then, the two final teams will dish it out in a best-of-three on September 27th, 29th, and, if necessary, the 1st of October.

Here’s the scheduling for all the games

The Preliminary Round:

• Sept. 17
  • Europe vs. USA; 3:30 p.m
  • Canada vs. Czech Republic; 8 p.m.
• Sept. 18
  • Russia vs. Sweden; 3 p.m
  • Finland vs. North America; 8 p.m.
• Sept. 19
  • Czech Republic vs. Europe; 3 p.m.
  • North America vs. Russia; 8 p.m.
• Sept. 20
  • Finland vs. Sweden; 3 p.m.
  • Canada vs. USA; 8 p.m.
• Sept. 21
  • North America vs. Sweden; 3 p.m.
  • Canada vs. Europe; 8 p.m.
• Sept. 22
  • Finland vs. Russia; 3 p.m.
  • Czech Republic vs. USA; 8 p.m.

The Semifinals:

• Sept. 24
  • Semifinal number one; time TBA
• Sept. 25
  • Semifinal number two; time TBA

The Final:

• Sept. 27:
  • Final; time TBA
• Sept. 29:
  • Final; time TBA
• Oct. 1 (If necessary)
  • Final; time TBA

The 2016 World Hockey Championship should be able to hold all of us hockey fans over till October, but with every day in September going by, we are one day closer to preseason. We’re almost there, folks.