Team North America - comprised of top players who are 23 and under from the United States and Canada - makes its tournament play debut against Team Finland on Sunday, Sept. 18, and the next day they take on Team Russia, with both games on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. Team North America ends group play against Team Sweden on Wednesday, Sept, 21, at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
The Semifinals begin Saturday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 with the second Semifinal on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN. Game one of the best-of-three Final begins Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. on ESPN followed by game two on Thursday (8 p.m.) and game three on Saturday (7 p.m.), if necessary, both on ESPN2.
All coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS will also be available to stream live on WatchESPN across computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices via an affiliated video provider.
Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe and Team USA are in Group A. Group B is made up of Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia and Team Sweden.
ESPN's World Cup of Hockey play-by-play commentator Steve Levy and analyst Barry Melrose will call all of Team USA's games as well as the Semifinals and Final. Play-by-play commentator John Buccigross will call the remaining action alongside analyst Kevin Weekes. NHL Hall of Famers Brett Hull and Chris Chelios will provide studio analysis with Adnan Virk and Buccigross. See the
full commentator release
.
Date, Time (ET), Telecast, Network
Sep 17, 3:30 p.m., Group Play: USA vs. Europe, ESPN2
Sep 17, 8 p.m., Group Play: Czech Republic vs. Canada, ESPNEWS
Sep 18, 3 p.m., Group Play: Sweden vs. Russia, ESPN
Sep 18, 8 p.m., Group Play: North America vs. Finland, ESPN2
Sep 19, 3 p.m., Group Play: Europe vs. Czech Republic, ESPN2
Sep 19, 8 p.m., Group Play: Russia vs. North America, ESPN2
Sep 20, 3 p.m., Group Play: Finland vs. Sweden, ESPN
Sep 20, 8 p.m., Group Play: Canada vs. USA, ESPN
Sep 21, 3 p.m., Group Play: North America vs. Sweden, ESPN
Sep 21, 8 p.m., Group Play: Europe vs Canada, ESPN2
Sep 22, 3 p.m., Group Play: Finland vs. Russia, ESPN
Sep 22, 8 p.m., Group Play: USA vs. Czech Republic, ESPN2
Sep 24, 7 p.m., Semifinal one, ESPN2
Sep 25, 1 p.m., Semifinal two, ESPN
Sep 27, 8 p.m., Final: Game one, ESPN
Sep 29, 8 p.m., Final: Game two, ESPN2
Oct 1, 7 p.m., Final: Game three (if necessary), ESPN2
About the World Cup of Hockey
The World Cup of Hockey is a joint effort of the NHLPA and the NHL, in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Eight teams -- Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe, Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia, Team Sweden and Team USA -- will compete in the two-week tournament, featuring more than 170 of the best players in the NHL. All tournament games will be played at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, home of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs.
The eight teams are split into two Groups, Group A and Group B, for the Preliminary Round (Sept. 17-22), when each team will play its three Group opponents in a round-robin format. Placed in Group A are Team Canada, Team Czech Republic and Team USA, plus Team Europe, a pan-European roster of players from birth countries outside of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden. The four teams in Group B are Team Finland, Team Russia, Team Sweden and Team North America, a selection of the top players from Canada and the United States who are 23 or under as of Oct. 1, 2016.
The top two finishers in each of Group A and Group B will advance to the Semifinals (Sept. 24-25), where each qualifier will face an elimination game against a team from the other Group. The two Semifinal winners will meet in the Final, a best-of-three series on Sept. 27, Sept. 29 and, if necessary, Oct. 1.
