With a young team and seven current or former world champions, Canada is defending its title. Team boss Andre Tourigny is supposed to lead the selection with super talent Connor Bedard to their 29th gold. The exercise was successful at the last World Cup guest appearance in Prague in 2015: Canada, led by NHL superstar Sidney Crosby, won gold with a 6-1 final victory over Russia. Austria starts the fight to stay in the league on Saturday (4:20 p.m., live on ORF1) in Prague against Denmark.
The Canadians have always been in the final since 2019, and even with a lot of youth – eleven players are between 18 and 23 years old – this series shouldn’t break. “We have a good young group. We have had good experiences with this in the past,” said team boss Tourigny. In the two test games against Austria in Vienna (5:1) and against Hungary (4:0), the Canadians achieved the expected test victories.
Kick-off at the Ice Hockey World Cup
The Ice Hockey World Championships kick off in Prague and Ostrava on Friday. Austria will meet Denmark on Saturday.
Canada still looking for a system
“There were obviously little things that we have to work on,” said defender Colton Parayko, 2019 Stanley Cup winner with the St. Louis Blues, to ORF after the first test, “it will simply be important that we are on top of that Ice work together as five-man units”. It will still be important to internalize the system in the preliminary round. “Most people usually play in different systems,” said the 30-year-old National Hockey League veteran.
In Prague, Tourigny, the coach of the former Arizona Coyotes, who are moving to Utah, sets the system. The 49-year-old has already been on the Canadian team at several World Cup tournaments and led the homeland of ice hockey to the title last year as head coach. “The World Cup is always a race. What matters is who improves the most in the tournament,” explained the coach, highlighting the strong competition. “One thing I learned is that anyone can beat anyone. That’s what makes the tournament so special. There are many teams that can surprise,” said Tourigny.
GEPA/Edgar Eisner Young star Connor Bedard (Wed.) is one of the big attractions in the Canadian team
Sweden and USA heavily occupied
Last year it was mainly Germany, which only had to admit defeat in the final, and Latvia, which defeated Sweden and the USA on the way to the bronze medal. Sweden has been without a World Cup medal for five years, and this year the “three crown team” with 18 top-class NHL players and what is probably the strongest defense on paper is considered a hot contender for the title. The veterans Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman lead the team, which includes five club colleagues of Marco Rossi from the Minnesota Wild.
The USA arrived with what was nominally the best squad in years. Team boss John Hynes, Rossi’s head coach in Minnesota, has top strikers like Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators), strong defenders like Seth Jones (Chicago Blackhawks) and a strong goalkeeper in Alex Lyon in the squad. The 31-year-old should be a teammate of Austria’s NHL hope Marco Kasper at the Detroit Red Wings next season. How strong the US squad really is will probably become clear in the first game in Ostrava. On Friday (8:20 p.m.) we face Sweden.
Reuters/USA Today Sports/Charles LeClaire Pittsburgh star defender Erik Karlsson is one of Sweden’s trump cards in Prague
Finland is again among the favorites. Over the past five years, the “Lejonat” have shared all the gold medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships with Canada. A year after winning the title on their own ice in Tampere, Finland fell short of expectations with seventh place at the second home World Cup at the same place last year. Four Olympic champions from 2022 and seven world champions from 2019 and 2022 should bring Finland back into the medal ranks.
Czech Republic hopes for a medal
The Czech Republic has not reached a final since winning the title in 2010 and wants to finally win a medal at its third home World Cup as its own country (after 2004 and 2015). However, there is skepticism in the host country. In the final preparatory tournament with Sweden, Finland and Switzerland there were three defeats, the six-time world champion only scored two goals. Team boss Radim Rulik then surprised everyone with his World Cup squad, for which he selected three NHL strikers: Tomas Nosek, Radim Zohorna and Jakub Vrana. The Czech Republic enters the tournament with eight NHL players, including three goalkeepers.
Switzerland also feels like a medal candidate, having recently finished the group stage as number one twice, but has not made it past the quarter-finals since 2018. “In recent years we have improved our athleticism, improved our duel behavior, found a good balance tactically and remained active when leading. In my opinion we are now in the final phase. We are now among the favorites. “Succeeding as favorite under the greatest pressure is the most difficult step,” explained team boss Patrick Fischer, who has been in office since December 2015.
