NHL officially announces a World Cup of Hockey for 2016

Doug Weight as part of Team USA in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. (Photo from the MiHockey archives)
Doug Weight as part of Team USA in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. (Photo from the MiHockey archives)

By @MichaelCaples –

The NHL confirmed today that the Detroit Red Wings will be participating in their Stadium Series collection of outdoor games in 2016. They also announced that the World Cup of Hockey will be making a return in 2016.

At a press conference in Columbus during the All-Star weekend festivities, commissioner Gary Bettman officially announced that there will be a two-week, eight-team World Cup of Hockey event taking place in Toronto in September of 2016.

More than 150 NHL players are expected to take part in the World Cup, which will be a collaborative effort between the NHL and the IIHF.

“We are thrilled to partner with the NHLPA in planning and producing what we expect will be the world’s best international hockey tournament,” Bettman said, via NHL.com. “The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will highlight not only our global reach, but also the skill and passion of the world’s best athletes. We would like to thank our international partners – the IIHF and their members – for their cooperation in helping to make this event a reality.”

The tournament will feature teams from six countries – the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden and Finland. Rounding out the field will be two new teams – Team Europe and Team North American Youngsters.

Team Europe will be a collection of players from countries outside of the four European nations mentioned above, giving an opportunity for players hailing from countries like Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany to compete.

Meanwhile, Team North American Youngsters will be comprised of the best young players from Canada and the United States – all ages 23 and under.

It will be the third time the World Cup of Hockey takes place – the other two editions were held in 1996 and 2004. Team USA won gold in the inaugural event, while Canada beat Finland in 2004.

More from NHL.com:

Each of the eight teams will feature 23 players, 20 skaters and three goalies. The teams will be split into two groups and play a round-robin competition before moving on to a one-game semifinal round. The final round will be a best-of-three format between the two semifinal winners. Each national association will select its own team and must announce at least 16 members of its roster, including at least two goalies, no later than March 1, 2016, with the balance of each team’s roster to be announced no later than June 1, 2016.

The NHL and NHLPA will jointly name each of the management teams for Team Europe and Team North American Youngstars. Those management teams will select the rosters for those teams.

The tournament be played on NHL-sized rinks using NHL rules and officiated by NHL officials.

It is anticipated that the initial portion of training camp for each team participating in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey will begin Sunday, September 4. The training camps will be conducted in the location of each team’s choosing, with each team being permitted to host at least one exhibition game at a site of its choice. During the final days of preparation leading up to the opening of the tournament, the teams will be brought together in a more central North American location for a final pre-tournament exhibition game.