World Cup of Hockey: Many Canadian cities, others to share in lead-up to tourney

While Toronto will be the host of the World Cup of Hockey, plenty of other cities will get a chance to be part of the lead-up to the tournament.

Canada will hold its training camp in Ottawa and play exhibition games there, as well as Columbus and Pittsburgh. Hockey Canada chief operating officer Scott Smith called the nation's capital a "natural fit."

"When we looked at the tight time frames and the demands from a schedule point of view and respecting the players and the coaches and the preparation process, we thought that Ottawa was the best location for us because of its proximity to other exhibition games that we would play and also proximity to where the full tournament will be played in Toronto," Smith said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Team North America, made up of players age 23-and-under from Canada and the United States, will hold camp in Montreal and Quebec City along with Team Europe. Smith said the NHL and NHL Players' Association were in charge of picking those sites.

Quebec City is the only North American city involved in the World Cup that doesn't have an NHL team, though it could get one in the near future as part of the league's expansion process.

Team North America will play Team Europe, made up of all-stars from countries not represented by their own teams, at the brand-new Videotron Centre in Quebec City on Sept. 8.

Canada will open exhibition play against the United States at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Sept. 9 and face the Americans again at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Sept. 10. Ottawa was also where Hockey Canada hosted the 2009 world junior championship.

The final exhibition game could feature Sidney Crosby versus Evgeni Malkin when Canada faces Russia at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on Sept. 14. Smith said Hockey Canada got to pick the location of one exhibition game, USA Hockey got one choice and the NHL and NHLPA got one, too.

The U.S. will hold its camp in Columbus, home of coach John Tortorella's Blue Jackets, and then spend some time in Washington where it will play Finland in exhibition action at Verizon Center. Columbus hosted all-star weekend in January.

"It's a tremendous city with passionate hockey fans who will be treated to what we think is the best international rivalry in hockey," USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said in a statement.

Sweden will have camp in Goteborg, Finland in Helsinki and the Czech Republic in Prague. Russia's location is still to be determined, though it will play its first exhibition game in St. Petersburg.

In total there are 12 exhibition games before the World Cup gets underway at Air Canada Centre on Sept. 17.