The IIHF World Championships start today, Friday, May 6, in St. Petersburg, Russia featuring an opening match between arch rivals United States and Canada. The timing of the tournament puts it right in the middle of the NHL and AHL playoffs, and just following the European league playoffs.
The Sabres have five players participating in the tournament: Ryan O’Reilly and Sam Reinhart (Canada), Jake McCabe and Hudson Fasching (USA), and Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia). O’Reilly was named an alternate captain for Canada.
The format of the Worlds splits teams into two pools, playing in two different cities. Pool A, with games in Moscow, features: Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Latvia, Norway, Denmark, and Kazakhstan.
Pool B, with games in St. Petersburg, will draw the most attention as it not only includes the U.S. and Canada (the returning champion), but will also provide a first glimpse at seeing top draft prospects –American Auston Matthews and Finland’s Patrik Laine– playing alongside and against current NHLers. It includes: Canada, Finland, USA, Slovakia, Belarus, France, Germany, and Hungary.
Canada is the heavy favorite to win the gold.
If you want to check out the action, all of the games featuring the U.S. team will be televised by NBCSN.