The World Cup hockey competition took place for the first time in 1996, when it was introduced as a replacement for the legendary Canada Cup. The next tournaments took place in 2004 and 2016.
While the first two tournaments were held in both North America and Europe, the previous World Cup was held only in Toronto, where Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, the USA, the European team made up of countries not represented in the tournament and the North American U-23 team competed. In the final of the previous tournament, Canada defeated the European team 2-0 in a series of up to two victories.
In August of this year, the NHL announced its desire to hold the World Cup tournament in 2024. It was planned to be held in 15 days and eight national teams would participate in it. They also discussed the possibility of holding a qualification round, as a result of which ten teams would compete in the tournament.
On Friday, the NHL announced that the Hockey World Cup will not take place in 2024. The statement mentions that the organizers wanted to play it in February 2024, but since this is not possible, it was decided to hold the tournament a year later – in February 2025.
Postponing the World Cup by a year could give organizers and players another year to decide what to do with Russia. It is reported that some national teams did not want to participate in the World Cup in case the Russians play in it.
Resources used:
https://www.nhl.com/news/world-cup-…
