PHOTO: Bildbyrån
After some back and forth, the groups for next year’s Ice Hockey World Cup in Sweden and Denmark are now ready.
Tre Kronor is pitted against Finland and Canada, among others.
At the beginning of the week, it was announced that the WC groups were ready – but needed to be redone. That’s because the two organizing countries, Sweden and Denmark, ended up in the same group.
The next hockey World Cup
As the host nation, you get to play at home, which for the Danish part means Herning and for the Swedish part Stockholm.
– The draw is basically based on the world ranking, and based on that, the teams are divided into groups. After all, the world ranking changes, most recently after the WC in Prague, and based on that, Sweden and Denmark ended up in the same group, says Tony WirehnCEO of the WC organization in Stockholm.
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In order to get to the WC groups, Sweden and the USA, which are equivalent in ranking, switched places. In addition, Sweden, as the main organizer, got to choose a team to play in the same group.
Three Crowns meet
The choice fell on Finland, which thus switches places with Switzerland.
– It is mainly because we believe that having Finland in the same group will contribute to the folk festival in Stockholm, says Wiréhn.
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That this problem occurs with the WC group draw is not unusual.
– It happens almost every year that there is a move between the groups, says Wirehn, who states:
– We feel happy and satisfied with the group we got in Sweden and we think that Denmark is also satisfied, there are conditions for a good group stage.
READ MORE: Armand Duplantis reveals which country he cheered for in the hockey World Cup – and it’s not at all what the Swedes had hoped for
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