Astana 2023: Competition schedule released for World Championships B-Pool

World Para Ice Hockey has released the competition schedule for the World Championships B-Pool, which will take place from 6-11 October in in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The event, hosted by the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Kazakhstan at Terlan Arena, will feature Slovakia, Sweden, Japan, Finland, Great Britain and the host nation. The tournament will be in a round-robin format with the top two finishers being promoted to the 2024 A-Pool and the last placed team relegated to the 2024 C-Pool.

This will be the ninth edition of the World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-Pool and the third time it is being hosted in Asia. None of the six teams taking part have ever won the B-Pool title. Great Britain won bronze in 2013, Japan took silver in 2013 and 2017, Slovakia won silver in 2019 and bronze in 2017 and 2015, and Sweden won silver in 2015, 2012, 2009 and bronze in 2021.

Competition begins on 6 October with a high-stakes matchup between Scandinavian nations Sweden and Finland. The former claimed bronze at the last World Championships B-Pool in while the latter finished fifth. The two teams faced each other in the opening day of the last edition of the event, with Sweden recording a 6-0 shutout.

Another matchup to keep tabs on will be the host nation’s opener against Slovakia. It will mark the first time Kazakhstan — which started its programme only five years ago —  competes in the event after finishing second at the World Championships C-Pool last season. Slovakia, meanwhile, has been relegated from the A-Pool and will enter as the No. 1 seed after gaining experience at their first Paralympic Winter Games last year.

The competition will conclude with a rematch of the C-Pool gold-medal game, as Kazakhstan tries to exact revenge on Great Britain. 

Here is a look at the complete competition schedule*. 

Friday, 6 October 
11:00 Finland vs. Sweden
15:00 Great Britain vs. Japan
19:00 Kazakhstan vs. Slovakia

Saturday, 7 October
11:00 Sweden vs. Great Britain 
15:00 Slovakia vs. Finland 
19:00 Japan vs. Kazakhstan 

Sunday, 8 October 
11:00 Slovakia vs. Great Britain 
15:00 Sweden vs. Japan
19:00 Kazakhstan vs. Finland

Monday, 9 October 
Rest Day

Tuesday, 10 October
11:00 Japan vs. Slovakia 
15:00 Finland vs. Great Britain 
19:00 Sweden vs. Kazakhstan 

Wednesday, 11 October 
11:00 Japan vs. Finland 
15:00 Slovakia vs. Sweden 
19:00 Great Britain vs. Kazakhstan

*The schedule is based on local time in Astana (UTC +6).