The 2024 edition of the hockey World Championships gets underway on Friday in Prague, Czechia.
Us British (ice) hockey fans will be able to cheer on the Lions once again, with this being the third time in the last four World Championships that the team has qualified for the main tournament.
That is a great achievement in itself for Pete Russell’s team and we all know to be realistic about the big step up in competition that they now will face. The schedulers have made sure that message is received loud and clear by producing Canada and Finland as their first two opponents. It’s likely to be a somewhat messy start, yet a win or two can be possible across the seven group-stage games if they don’t let individual losses knock them too much.
All of GB’s games are being broadcast live on Premier Sports in the UK, with the schedule being as follows:
- Sat. 11th May: Great Britain v Canada – 12:20 (11:20 UK)
- Sun. 12th May: Finland v Great Britain – 12:20 (11:20 UK)
- Wed. 15th May: Switzerland v Great Britain – 20:20 (19:20 UK)
- Fri. 17th May: Great Britain v Denmark – 16:20 (15:20 UK)
- Sat. 18th May: Czechia v Great Britain – 20:20 (19:20 UK)
- Mon. 20th May: Great Britain v Norway – 16:20 (15:20 UK)
- Tues. 21st May: Austria v Great Britain – 12:20 (11:20 UK)
Day One on Friday
Before then, the tournament begins on Friday with four games, highlighted by Sweden vs the United States.
Sweden, or Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) as they are known, had an impressive collection of NHL talent in their first provisional squad and they’ve been strengthened further by the early play-off exits of the LA Kings (Adrian Kempe, and Carl Grundstrom) and Tampa Bay Lightning (Victor Hedman).
Pontus Holmberg has also been added to the roster following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ latest play-off disappointment, although the Swedish dream of William Nylander following suit has been dashed today.
As for the United States, they are as strong as expected, as demonstrated by Head Coach John Hynes announcing today that their leadership group will consist of Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) as Captain, with Brock Nelson (New York Islanders), Seth Jones (Chicago Blackhawks), and Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets) as Assistants.
All the details can be found on the official website at https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2024/wm