Canada to play U.S. on Boxing Day at 2016 world junior hockey championship
Canadians will face Sweden on New Year's Eve
The immensely popular Canada-United States world junior hockey showdown on New Year’s Eve has been shelved, at least for the 2016 tournament.
Instead, the longtime rivals will meet at 1 p.m. ET on the tournament’s opening day on Dec. 26, 2015 at Helsinki Ice Hall in Finland.
Canada will play all four of its preliminary-round games at the 8,200-seat arena, where world junior games were contested in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 2004.
Canada's world junior schedule
- Dec. 26: vs. United States, 1 p.m. ET
- Dec. 28: vs. Denmark, 1 p.m.
- Dec. 29: vs. Switzerland, 1 p.m.
- Dec. 31: vs. Sweden, 1 p.m.
The defending champion Canadians will meet Denmark on Dec. 28, Switzerland the following afternoon and Sweden on New Year’s Eve day at 1 p.m.
Ticket info for <a href="https://twitter.com/iihf_wjc">@IIHF_WJC</a> in Finland will be announced in April, ticket sales start end of April. <a href="http://t.co/svobaRg3Em">http://t.co/svobaRg3Em</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/artigascruz">@artigascruz</a>
—@iihf_wjcThe other world junior venue is Hartwall Arena, with a capacity of 13,665, where the host Finns, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Belarus will play their games.
Helsinki Ice Hall will also host two quarter-final games (top four teams from each group) and best-of-three relegation while two quarter-final contests, both semifinals and the medal games will be contested two kilometres down the road at Hartwall Arena.
Canada won its first world junior title since 2009 on Jan. 5, holding on for a thrilling 5-4 victory over Russia before a crowd of 19,004 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
The 2017 world junior tourney returns to Montreal and Toronto.