Despite just holding a World Junior tournament a few weeks ago, things are already ramping up toward the next one. The IIHF and Hockey Canada have released the schedule for the 2023 event, which will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick. The tournament begins with Finland and Switzerland doing battle on December 26, while the U.S. and Canada open their tournaments against Latvia and Czechia respectively later that evening.
The two North American squads will not have a New Year’s Day matchup this time around as they are in different groups, with Russia not included this year. The gold medal game will be held on January 5. The full schedule is as follows:
All times in central
December 26:
Switzerland vs Finland – 10:00 am
Austria vs Sweden – 12:30 pm
United States vs Latvia – 3:00 pm
Canada vs Czechia – 5:30pm
December 27:
Slovakia vs Finland – 10:00 am
Sweden vs Germany – 12:30 pm
Latvia vs Switzerland – 3:00 pm
Czechia vs Austria – 5:30 pm
December 28:
United States vs Slovakia – 3:00 pm
Germany vs Canada – 5:30 pm
December 29:
Finland vs Latvia – 10:00 am
Czechia vs Sweden – 12:30 pm
Switzerland vs United States – 3:00 pm
Canada vs Austria – 5:30 pm
December 30:
Latvia vs Slovakia – 12:30 pm
Austria vs Germany – 3:00 pm
December 31:
Slovakia vs Switzerland – 10:00 am
Germany vs Czechia – 12:30 pm
Finland vs United States – 3:00 pm
Sweden vs Canada – 5:30 pm
January 2:
Relegation match #1 – 8:30 am
Quarterfinal #1 – 10:00 am
Quarterfinal #2 – 12:30 pm
Quarterfinal #3 – 3:00 pm
Quarterfinal #4 – 5:30 pm
January 4:
Relegation match #2 – 10:00 am
Semifinal #1 – 1:30 pm
Semifinal #2 – 5:30 pm
January 5:
Relegation match #3 – 10:00 am
Bronze medal match – 1:30 pm
Gold medal match – 5:30 pm
The groups for the event are:
Group A:
Sweden
Germany
Czechia
Austria
Canada
Group B:
Switzerland
Latvia
United States
Finland
Slovakia
I get the political side of removing Russia, but punishing young players because of corrupt politicians is unfortunate – understandable as it may be. This tournament always had too many weak teams and that just got worse.
I think the issue is that these aren’t just kids from Russia coming together, it’s a state sponsored organization.
I had bigger issues with wimbledon banning Russian players as they are individual players not a funded overarching team/org.
Ok, Money. Good point. Unfortunate, no less.
At the rate Putin has Europe over a barrel by turning their gas line off on them, they may be relenting on these sanctions by mid-winter. Freezing to death tends to change hearts and minds.
Should just do what the Olympics does and let them compete as the RWJCC or something like that.
I do hope USA has more players from this last draft on the team than they did in the tournament last month.
No Russia. Why wasn’t the same decision made before sending hockey teams to the CCP Olympics? I’m sure the Uyghurs, Christians, Falun Gong and Hong Kong freedom fighters would like to know.
The IIHF has $$ for eyeballs