The United States will play Slovakia on Dec. 26, in the first of four scheduled games on the first morning of IIHF World Juniors 2022 Live ice hockey game.
The schedule was announced on Thursday for the tournament with 10 teams, that will take place beginning on December. 26 through January. 5, in Edmonton in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
The U.S., which defeated Canada by 2-0 in the final game in 2021, hopes to claim back-to-back championships in the very first time. The last team to achieve it was Canada who was the winner of the fifth consecutive titles in 2009.
It is expected that the U.S. will play preliminary-round games at WP Centrium in Red Deer in Group B, along alongside Russia, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland. Canada will play its preliminary games in Rogers Place in Edmonton in Group A along alongside Finland, Czech Republic, Germany and Austria.
Four teams from the top from each group will compete in the quarterfinals on Jan. 2. The semifinals will be played on January. 4. The Championship and Third-Place games take place on January. 5.
After playing with Slovakia (9:30 p.m. ET) The U.S. will play Switzerland on December. 28, (4:30 p.m. ET), Sweden on Dec. 29 (9:30 p.m. ET) and Russia on December. 31 (9:30 p.m. ET). ET). U.S. has finished first five times, but never had a back-to-back title.
“It’s difficult to beat an entire team twice in one competition,” said John Vanbiesbrouck who is the general manager for the United States national junior team. “Bob Motzko, who was coach following the gold medal (in 2017) He did an amazing job, but came up a little behind (third third in the 2018 season). It’s not easy to repeat the same thing, however we aren’t able to focus on one thing. We cannot say that we’ve done it this way and then have to repeat it the same way. We must adapt … it’s possible that we need to approach it in with a different approach.”
Canada will play its first match of round-robin phase with Czech Republic on Dec. 26 (7 p.m. ET).
The games are shown all games on NHL Network in the United States as well as TSN as well as RDS within Canada.
2022 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE OF CH
Sunday, December. 26
Finland is playing. Germany (Edmonton), 2 p.m. ET
Russia vs. Sweden (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Czech Republic vs. Canada (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
United States vs. Slovakia (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Monday, December. 27
Austria against. Finland (Edmonton), 2 p.m. ET
Russia Vs. Switzerland (Red Deer) 4:45 p.m. ET
Germany opposes. Czech Republic (Edmonton) 7 p.m. ET
Sweden vs. Slovakia (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Tuesday, December. 28
Switzerland is vs. United States (Red Deer) at 4:30 p.m. ET
Austria vs. Canada (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Finland is playing. Czech Republic (Edmonton) 2 p.m. ET
Slovakia vs. Russia (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Canada vs. Germany (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
Sweden vs. United States (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, December. 30
Czech Republic vs. Austria (Edmonton), 4:30 p.m. ET
Slovakia vs. Switzerland (Red Deer), 7 p.m. ET
Friday, December. 31
Germany is playing. Austria (Edmonton), 2 p.m. ET
Switzerland vs. Sweden (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Canada against. Finland (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
United States vs. Russia (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, January. 2
Quartfinal 1. (Edmonton) at 2:30 p.m. ET
Quartfinal 2. (Red Deer) 5 p.m. ET
Third Quarterfinal (Edmonton) at 7:30 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal 4. (Red Deer) 10, 10 p.m. ET
Tuesday, January. 4. (Edmonton)
Semifinal 1 – 3 p.m. ET
Semifinal 2 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Jan. 5 (Edmonton)
Third-place game Third-place game, 4 p.m. ET
Championship game at 8 p.m. ET