World Cup of Hockey set for September 2016

The World Cup of Hockey is back. Gary Bettman announced the return of the tournament today, slated for September 2016. The tournament will be two weeks, beginning on September 17, 2016 at the Air Canada Center in Toronto. Eight teams will be competing in the tournament: Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Team Europe (the remaining European countries not included in the “Big Four” European countries), and the North American Youngstars.

Each team will have three pre-tournament games, followed by three round robin games. The top four teams will play in a single elimination semi-finals round, and the winners will play a best of three finals. Each team will consist of 20 skaters and 3 goalies.

The plan is to have the tournament every four years.