Sunday, January 25, 2015
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
The World Cup of Hockey is making a long-awaited return in 2016.
And the NHL intends to host it every four years.
“We decided that bringing back the World Cup was vitally important,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Saturday during the league’s All-Star game weekend festivities.
“We’re going to let this evolve. We believe after giving the event such a good start that we’re going to build off it.”
To begin with, the 2016 tournament will feature eight teams with all games played in Toronto.
The tournament will start Sept. 17 and end with a best-of-three final series, with the last possible date set for Oct. 1.
The World Cup will overlap training camps, and push back the start of the regular season to the second week of October.
The players’ union is on board as a full partner.
“We have an opportunity here to build this game, and build this culture and create something that everybody on both sides can be immensely proud of,” NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said. “We view this is a first step, although a very important one.”
The league also announced the Bruins and Canadiens will play in the Winter Classic next year on Jan. 1 at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots.
The return of the World Cup was the highlight announcement.
It will feature a new wrinkle, with two of the teams made up of multinational players. One team will consist of North American-born players 23 and younger. Another will consist of European-born players whose countries aren’t represented.
The other six teams will be Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland. Teams will be split in two divisions.
The World Cup and its predecessor, the Canada Cup, have been held seven times since 1976 through 2004.
Bettman foresees holding the World Cup every four years and adding more countries.
The timing of the 2016 World Cup comes two years before the Winter Olympics will be held in South Korea. The NHL has not yet determined whether it will allow its players to compete in the Pyeongchang Games because of concerns over travel and time differences.