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With the entire Flames organization finished playing hockey after the elimination of the Stockton Heat on Tuesday, we now look ahead to the 2017 IIHF World Hockey Championship beginning tomorrow.
This year’s tournament will be shared among two nations, with France and Germany co-hosting the tournament. Games will be played in Paris and Cologne respectively. For those fans in Calgary wishing to watch the games, Paris and Cologne are both eight hours ahead of mountain time.
Team Canada has won the last two tournaments and will be looking for a third this year. This year’s roster is highlighted by players such as Mitchell Marner, Wayne Simmonds, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Mark Scheifele. Chad Johnson is one of three goaltenders suiting up for Canada.
Speaking of Johnson, there are a few other Flames connections in this year’s tournament:
- Johnny Gaudreau will be playing for the United States
- Former Flame David Wolf will be playing for Germany
- Former Flame Roman Cervenka will be playing for the Czech Republic
- Former Flame Roman Horak will be playing for the Czech Republic
- Former Flame Joni Ortio will be playing for Finland
- Former Flame Jonas Hiller will be playing for Switzerland
- Former Flame Raphael Diaz will be playing for Switzerland
The groupings for this year’s tournament are as follows:
| Group A | Group B | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Rank | Team |
| 1 | Russia | 1 | Canada |
| 2 | USA | 2 | Finland |
| 3 | Sweden | 3 | Czech Republic |
| 4 | Slovakia | 4 | Switzerland |
| 5 | Germany | 5 | Belarus |
| 6 | Latvia | 6 | Norway |
| 7 | Denmark | 7 | France |
| 8 | Italy | 8 | Slovenia |
While we’ll be providing regular updates on how Johnny Gaudreau is doing in the tournament, as a site for a Canadian team, we’ll be doing recaps for every Team Canada game. Every three or four days we’ll do a whole tournament update as well.
Here is Canada’s schedule:
| Team Canada Round Robin Schedule | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date: | Opponent | Time (MT) |
| Friday May 5 | Czech Republic | 12:15pm |
| Sunday May 7 | Slovenia | 4:15am |
| Monday May 8 | Belarus | 8:15am |
| Thursday May 11 | France | 12:15pm |
| Saturday May 13 | Switzerland | 12:15pm |
| Monday May 15 | Norway | 8:15am |
| Tuesday May 16 | Finland | 12:15pm |
Canada’s toughest matchup in the group will be the finale against Finland but other than that, they shouldn’t have too tough of a time.
Quarterfinals begin May 18, and the tournament concludes with the Gold and Bronze medal games on May 21.
Check back here for updates over the course of the tournament as Canada goes for Gold and Johnny Gaudreau looks to build on his international resume for the United States.