IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2022: Preview, schedule, how to watch top stars in action

There’s a rare double on the table for Finland at this year’s men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Tampere and Helsinki from 13–29 May.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic champions could become the first team to complete the Olympic and world title double on home ice as hosts of the World Championships – and just the second team to do it outright. Since the Olympic and world tournaments were split after 1968, only Sweden in 2006 have managed to win both in the same year (in Turin at the Olympic Games and Riga at the Worlds).

While the Leijonat (Lions) are the reigning Olympic champions, Canada enter as the defending world champions from last year in Riga. And, unlike at Beijing 2022, National Hockey League (NHL) players are eligible for the World Championship as long as their NHL team has already been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Additionally, Team ROC – silver medallists from Beijing 2022 – and Belarus have been excluded from this year’s tournament by the IIHF, ice hockey’s global governing body. Replacing them are France and Austria.

So, which are the teams to look out for this year in Finland, and when are the games? Read on to find out.

2022 Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship format

The 16 teams are split into two round-robin groups of eight, Group A and Group B. After each team has played the other seven in their group, the top four teams from each group progress to the quarter-finals.

As is usual, the bottom two teams overall are relegated to Division 1 of the World Championships for the following year. Even with ROC and Belarus’ exclusion this year, the relegation system has not been modified.

Group A will play at the Helsinki Ice Hall, an 8,200-capacity arena that has been home to Finnish league team HIFK since 1966 and hosted World Championship games in 1974 and 1991. It features defending champions Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, France, and Italy.

Meanwhile, Group B will play at the brand-new Nokia Arena in Tampere, which was only opened in November. That indoor stadium holds over 13,000 people and is the main arena for the championships, also holding two quarter-finals, both semi-finals, and both medal games. In Group B are hosts Finland, USA, Czech Republic, Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Great Britain, and Austria.

If the scores are tied at the end of regulation time (three periods of 20 minutes), a sudden-death first-goal-wins overtime period will be played. This period will last for five minutes in the group stage, with teams playing at three-on-three strength, before a best-of-five penalty-shot shootout.

The length of the overtime period in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and bronze-medal game is 10 minutes, before a shootout. In the gold-medal game, the overtime period will be 20 minutes long, with no shootout – multiple overtime periods will be played until a goal is scored.

Teams, stars, players to watch at the 2022 Men’s IIHF World Championship

The big question is: Which NHL players will be participating? Teams must submit their preliminary list of players by the first meeting of the Championship directorate. However, crucially, only 17 players – 15 skaters and 2 goalies – need to be named at this point, and teams may name up to 22 skaters and 3 goalies. That means up to eight players can be added at any point in the tournament, allowing countries to call up players whose NHL teams have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the World Championship tournament.

Group A

Favourites and defending champions Canada, headed – as they were in Beijing – by general manager Shane Doan and head coach Claude Julien, will be a threat regardless of which NHL players are available to them to pick. However, defenceman Owen Power – at 19 already a veteran of international tournaments, having been part of last year’s gold-winning team and Canada’s Olympic squad – appears to be in the frame as his Buffalo Sabres did not make the playoffs.

Germany have named a training camp squad of 28 men including three NHLers – goalie Philip Grubauer (Seattle Kraken), defenceman Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings), and forward Tim Stützle (Ottawa Senators). However, star forward Leon Draisaitl is still involved in the NHL post-season with the Edmonton Oilers.

There’s an intriguing race for the other qualification spots in this group between Switzerland, Slovakia, and Denmark, with the Slovaks looking to build on their impressive bronze medal won in Beijing. The likes of teen sensation Juraj Slafkovsky, the Beijing 2022 tournament most valuable player, and NHL veteran Tomas Tatar will be closely watched. Denmark will also have the skill of Winnipeg Jets' Nikolaj Ehlers, who helped them secure their Olympic qualification earlier in January, on the squad. The Swiss, meanwhile, included six NHL men on their preliminary roster.

Group B

Over in Group B, hosts Finland are looking to return to the top of the podium and make a third consecutive final after winning gold in 2019 before falling to the Canadians last year. Led by captain and former NHLer Valtteri Filppula, the Lions will have the entire backing of a home crowd behind them. They also have NHL firepower in the form of Patrik Laine (Columbus Blue Jackets), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes), Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche) and Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), although the latter three are all involved in the playoffs and it's not yet clear if they will make the final squad. Filppula, for his part, could become the first Finn in the IIHF “triple gold club” – players who have won a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal, and world gold medal in a career.

Team USA remain an enigma – they haven’t won World gold since clinching Olympic gold in 1960 that doubled as the world title. Indeed, they haven’t even reached the gold-medal game at a Worlds since then, although they did win bronze in 1996, 2004, 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2021. It looks like another experimental squad from the Americans, whose squad includes three men who were also in Beijing. Chicago Blackhawks captain Seth Jones is the most experienced name in the side.

Czechia – the IIHF team name of the Czech Republic – and Sweden should both also qualify from what is, on paper, the weaker group of the two. Sweden will be looking for an improvement after stunningly missing out on the quarter-finals last year, while the Czechs can count on their NHL regulars Filip Zadina, Jakub Vrana, and Dominik Kubalik.

2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Men's World Championship schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC +3 hours).

Friday 13 May
16:20 FRA v SVK, USA v LAT
20:20 GER v CAN, FIN v NOR

Saturday 14 May
12:20 DEN v KAZ, SWE v AUT
16:20 SUI v ITA, CZE v GBR
20:20 SVK v GER, LAT v FIN

Sunday 15 May
12:20 ITA v CAN, NOR v GBR
16:20 FRA v KAZ, AUT v USA
20:20 DEN v SUI, CZE v SWE

Monday 16 May
16:20 SVK v CAN, LAT v NOR
20:20 FRA v GER, FIN v USA

Tuesday 17 May
16:20 ITA v DEN, CZE v AUT
20:20 SUI v KAZ, SWE v GBR

Wednesday 18 May
16:20 FRA v ITA, NOR v AUT
20:20 SUI v SVK, FIN v SWE

Thursday 19 May
16:20 GER v DEN, GBR v USA
20:20 CAN v KAZ, CZE v LAT

Friday 20 May
16:20 GER v ITA, GBR v FIN
20:20 KAZ v SVK, LAT v AUT

Saturday 21 May
12:20 DEN v FRA, USA v SWE
16:20 CAN v SUI, AUT v FIN
20:20 ITA v SVK, NOR v CZE

Sunday 22 May
16:20 KAZ v GER, GBR v LAT
20:20 SUI v FRA, SWE v NOR

Monday 23 May
16:20 KAZ v ITA, USA v CZE
20:20 CAN v DEN, AUT v GBR

Tuesday 24 May
12:20 GER v SUI, SWE v LAT
16:20 SVK v DEN, USA v NOR
20:20 CAN v FRA, FIN v CZE

Wednesday 25 May
No games scheduled

Thursday 26 May
16:20 Quarter-final games (2)
20:20 Quarter-final games (2)

Friday 27 May
No games scheduled

Saturday 28 May
14:20 Semi-final 1
18:20 Semi-final 2

Sunday 29 May
15:20 Bronze-medal game
20:20 Gold-medal game

How to watch games from 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Men's World Championship

The whole event will be televised, with games available to watch live via broadcasting partners in specific territories.

Some regions will also have livestream and highlights clips available online.

Full information on how to watch in your region is on the official website of organisers IIHF.

Meet Miracleo Lion - The mascot for the 2022 IIHF Men's World Championships

The event mascot is a lion, in the colours of the Northern Lights, and is named Miracleo.

"Miracleo mascot reminds us that each of us can make small miracles every day in the spirit of community, fun and sustainability, which are the values of the 2022 IIHF World Championship,” according to Heikki Hietanen, General Secretary for the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Organising Committee.