Welcome Back To Alberta For The 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship
The United States seeking to win back-to-back titles at the tournament, which starts Dec. 26. The United States will play Slovakia on Dec. 26, one of four games scheduled for the first day of the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.
World Junior Hockey Schedule 2022 Released Earlier This Month
The schedule was announced Thursday for the 10-team tournament, which will be held from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
The U.S., which defeated Canada 2-0 in the championship game in 2021, seeks to win back-to-back titles for the first time. The last team to do so was Canada, which won the last of five straight in 2009.
The U.S. will play preliminary-round games at WP Centrium in Red Deer in Group B along with Russia, Sweden, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Canada will play preliminary games at Rogers Place in Edmonton in Group A, along with Finland, Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria.
The top four teams in each group will play in the quarterfinals Jan. 2. The semifinals are Jan. 4, and the championship and third-place games are Jan. 5.
After opening against Slovakia (9:30 p.m. ET), the U.S. will play Switzerland on Dec. 28 (4:30 p.m. ET), Sweden on Dec. 29 (9:30 p.m. ET), and Russia on Dec. 31 (9:30 p.m. ET).
The U.S. has finished first five times but has never won back-to-back championships.
“It’s the difficulty of beating a team twice in a tournament,” said John Vanbiesbrouck, general manager of the United States national junior team. “Bob Motzko returned as coach the year after winning gold (in 2017), did a fantastic job, but fell a bit short (third place in 2018). Repeating is very difficult but we can’t focus on one set thing. We can’t say we did it this way and need to do it that way again. We have to adapt … we might have to do it a different way.”
Canada plays its opening game of the round-robin portion against Czech Republic on Dec. 26 (7 p.m. ET).
All games will be broadcast on NHL Network in the United States and TSN and RDS in Canada.
2022 World Junior Hockey Championship Schedule
Sunday, Dec. 26
Finland vs. 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, Dec. 27
Austria vs. Finland (Edmonton), 2 p.m. ET
Russia vs. Switzerland (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Germany vs. Czech Republic (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
Sweden vs. Slovakia (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Dec. 28
Switzerland vs. United States (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Austria vs. Canada (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Finland vs. 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, Dec. 30
Czech Republic vs. Austria (Edmonton), 4:30 p.m. ET
Slovakia vs. Switzerland (Red Deer), 7 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 31
Germany vs. Austria (Edmonton), 2 p.m. ET
Switzerland vs. Sweden (Red Deer), 4:30 p.m. ET
Canada vs. Finland (Edmonton), 7 p.m. ET
United States vs. Russia (Red Deer), 9:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, Jan. 2
Quarterfinal 1 (Edmonton), 2:30 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal 2 (Red Deer), 5 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal 3 (Edmonton), 7:30 p.m. ET
Quarterfinal 4 (Red Deer), 10 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Jan. 4 (Edmonton)
Semifinal 1, 3 p.m. ET
Semifinal 2, 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Jan. 5 (Edmonton)
Third-place game, 4 p.m. ET
Championship game, 8 p.m. ET
