Ostrava 2019: Schedule announced

World Championships to feature quarter finals for first time 25 Mar 2019
Imagen
A group of Para ice hockey players celebrating.

Canada celebrating their gold at the 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships

ⒸSeokyong Lee/POCOG
By World Para Ice Hockey

The competition schedule has been revealed for April’s 2019 World Para Ice Hockey Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Ostrava 2019 will take place from 27 April – 4 May and will feature the top eight teams from around the world. Under a format that follows the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) advisor-recommended and the Women’s Under-18 World Championships, the schedule places the top four teams in Group A; and the next world ranked teams in Group B.

Reigning world champions Canada head Group A, and they will battle with PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic champions USA; PyeongChang 2018 bronze medallists South Korea; and Norway in the preliminary rounds.

Group B will see PyeongChang 2018 fourth-place finishers Italy leading the way; along with Sweden, hosts Czech Republic and Japan.

The top two finishers from Group A head directly to the semi-finals.

Also new in 2019 will be the addition of a quarter final match; the third place finisher from Group A will face the second-place finisher from Group B, while the other quarter final game will pit Group A’s fourth-place team against Group B’s top finisher.

The new format gives the best six teams an equal chance to compete in the quarter finals; and it also groups teams by strength to lessen the discrepancy in goals scored.

The 2019 World Para Ice Hockey Championships schedule is as follows:

Saturday, 27 April

ITA vs. SWE

KOR vs. NOR

CZE vs. JPN

CAN vs. USA

Sunday, 28 April

JPN vs. ITA

NOR vs. CAN

USA vs. KOR

SWE vs. CZE

Monday, 29 April

OFF

Tuesday, 30 April (Last day of preliminaries)

SWE vs. JPN

CAN vs. KOR

USA vs. NOR

ITA vs. CZE

Wednesday, 1 May (7th/8th place, and quarter finals)

Group B 3rd place vs. Group B 4th place

Group A 3rd place vs. Group B 2nd place

Group A 4th place vs. Group B 1st place

Thursday, 2 May

OFF

Friday, 3 May (5th/6th place, and semi-finals)

Loser (A3 vs B2) vs. Loser (A4 vs. B1)

Group A 2nd place vs. Winner (A3 vs. B2)

Group A 1st place vs. Winner (A4 vs. B1)

Saturday, 4 May

Gold and bronze medal games