World championships hockey schedule, TV, scores as USA defends gold medal
Mike BrehmThe United States will look to repeat as world championships gold medalist when the tournament opens on Friday, May 15.
The Americans, who won for the first time since 1933, will have to play 10 games in order to do that.
The International Ice Hockey Federation world championships feature 16 teams split into two groups. The USA, which is in Group A, and every other team will play one game against the other seven teams in its group in the preliminary round.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals, which is a crossover round. The first-place team in each group plays the fourth-place team of the other group, while the second-place team plays the third-place team of the other group.
The winners advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners play in the gold medal game on May 31 while the losers will play for bronze earlier in the day.
Here is the USA and overall schedule for the hockey world championships in Fribourg and Zurich, Switzerland:
USA world championships schedule
All times ET
- May 15: Switzerland 3, USA 1
- May 17: USA 5, Great Britain 1
- May 18: vs. Finland, 10:20 a.m.
- May 20: vs. Germany, 2:20 p.m.
- May 23: vs. Latvia, 6:20 a.m.
- May 25: vs. Hungary, 10:20 a.m.
- May 26: vs. Austria, 10:20 a.m.
Overall world championships schedule
All times ET
May 15
May 16
May 17
Austria vs. Hungary, 10:20 a.m.
Denmark vs. Sweden, 10:20 a.m.
Germany vs. Latvia, 2:20 p.m.
Norway vs. Slovenia, 2:20 p.m.
May 18
Finland vs. USA, 10:20 a.m.
Canada vs. Denmark, 10:20 a.m.
Germany vs. Switzerland, 2:20 p.m.
Sweden vs. Czechia, 2:20 p.m.
May 18
Latvia vs. Austria, 10:20 a.m.
Italy vs. Norway, 10:20 a.m.
Hungary vs. Great Britain, 2:20 p.m.
Slovenia vs. Slovakia, 2:20 p.m.
May 20
Austria vs. Switzerland, 10:20 a.m.
Czechia vs. Italy, 10:20 a.m.
USA vs. Germany, 2:20 p.m.
Sweden vs. Slovenia, 2:20 p.m.
May 21
Latvia vs. Finland, 10:20 a.m.
Canada vs. Norway, 10:20 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Great Britain, 2:20 p.m.
Denmark vs. Slovakia, 2:20 p.m.
May 22
Germany vs. Hungary, 10:20 a.m.
Canada vs. Slovenia, 10:20 a.m.
Finland vs. Great Britain, 2:20 p.m.
Sweden vs. Italy, 2:20 p.m.
May 23
Latvia vs. USA, 6:20 a.m.
Denmark vs. Slovenia, 6:20 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Hungary, 10:20 a.m..
Slovakia vs. Czechia, 10:20 a.m.
Austria vs. Germany, 2:20 p.m.
Norway vs. Sweden, 2:20 p.m.
May 24
Great Britain vs. Latvia, 10:20 a.m.
Denmark vs. Italy, 10:20 a.m.
Finland vs. Austria, 2:20 p.m.
Slovakia vs. Canada, 2:20 p.m.
May 25
USA vs. Hungary, 10:20 a.m.
Czechia vs. Norway, 10:20 a.m.
Germany vs. Great Britain, 2:20 p.m.
Slovenia vs. Italy, 2:20 p.m.
May 26
Hungary vs. Latvia, 6:20 a.m.
Norway vs. Denmark, 6:20 a.m.
USA vs. Austria, 10:20 a.m.
Sweden vs. Slovakia, 10:20 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Finland, 2:20 p.m.
Czechia vs. Canada, 2:20 p.m.
May 28
Quarterfinals (2 games at 10:20 a.m. and two at 2:20 p.m.)
May 30
Semifinals (games at 9:20 am. and 4 p.m.)
May 31
Bronze medal game, 9:30 a.m.
Gold medal game, 2:20 p.m.
How to watch the world championships
NHL Network will air all of the U.S. games, plus select others in the preliminary round. It will air the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal games.
Watch world championships on FuboHow to stream the world championships
Fubo and certain tiers of Sling carry NHL Network.
Standings points
Team receive three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for a overtime or shootout loss and zero points for a regulation. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition.
World championships overtime rules
If the teams are tied after 60 minutes in the preliminary round, a five-minute sudden-death overtime will be played at 3-on-3. Unlike the NHL, teams don't change ends for overtime.
Overtime in a playoff game, including the bronze medal game, lasts a maximum of 10 minutes. It's also 3-on-3, as opposed to 5-on-5 in NHL playoff games.
World championships shootout rules
If overtime doesn't settle a game outside of the gold medal game, there will be a shootout. The winner of a coin toss gets to choose whether their team shoots first or second.
The format differs from the NHL, with five shooters per team instead of three. If nothing is settled after five rounds, then each round is sudden death as in the NHL. But there's another difference. Olympic teams can use the same shooters multiple times during the sudden death rounds (think back to TJ Oshie in the 2014 Olympics). They also can change goaltenders.
In the sudden death round, the team that shot second in the first five rounds will shoot first. The rounds continue until one team finishes with one more goal than the other. That team is declared the winner.
Our editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.