• Groups for 2019

    From IIHF News@1:266/404 to All on Tue May 22 05:07:30 2018
    The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced the groups of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia, 10-26 May 2019.

    Host Slovakia selected to play the preliminary round in Kosice in Group A that further includes Canada, the first-ranked team in the IIHF Men's World Ranking,
    recent bronze medallist United States, Finland, Olympic silver medallist Germany, Denmark, France and Great Britain, which last month earned promotion in dramatic fashion for its first top-level participation since 1994.

    Group B will be played in the capital of Bratislava in close proximity to two of the participating countries, the Czech Republic and Austria. The group also includes defending champion Sweden, Russia, silver medallist Switzerland, Norway, Latvia and Italy, the other promoted team.

    The groups are based on the 2018 IIHF Sport Regulations and the 2018 IIHF Men's
    World Ranking established following the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship
    with one horizontal swap to accommodate special organizational needs and geographical considerations.

    Slovakia with the cities of Bratislava and Kosice will host the IIHF Ice Hockey
    World Championship for the second time after 2011. Bratislava was also a co-host in 1959 and 1992 during the Czechoslovak era.

    A city of 650,000 inhabitants in the region, the Slovak capital of Bratislava has 4.2 million people in a 100-kilometre radius including Vienna. The Ondrej Nepela Arena, home of Slovak Bratislava of the KHL, has a capacity of 10,040 seats for hockey and two practice rinks under the same roof.

    Kosice is the country's second-largest city with a population of 240,000. The Steel Arena offers 8,347 seats and an additional ice sheet for practices. It's home to HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga.

    Each venue will host 28 games in the preliminary round and two quarter-finals. The final weekend with the semi-finals and the medal games will be held in Bratislava.

    The game schedule of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be established in the upcoming months. Ticket sale is expected to start in September. More details will be announced on the official website 2019.iihfworlds.com, which is available in English and Slovak.

    Groups of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship
    Group A Group B
    (Kosice) (Bratislava)

    Canada Sweden
    USA Russia
    Finland Czech Republic
    Germany Switzerland
    Slovakia Norway
    Denmark Latvia
    France Austria
    Great Britain Italy

    http://2019.iihfworlds.com/en/news/groups-for-2019/
    --- SBBSecho 3.04-Win32
    * Origin: TequilaMockingbird Online - Toms River, NJ (1:266/404)