Other events in Baltic States

At a conference call the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Council has approved the groups for the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, informs LETA.

The tournament will start in May 2021 and will be co-hosted by Minsk and Riga under the slogan - Passion. No borders.

Latvia will be host to one of the group stages and two quarter-final games. Group B will also include Canada, Finland, the United States, Germany, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, Group A, which will be played in Minsk, will be made up of hosts Belarus, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark and Great Britain. Minsk will host two quarter-final games, both semi-finals and the medal games. 

According to the IIHF rankings, Russia was supposed to play in the Riga group and Canada in the Minsk group next year, but the two countries were switched because of hosting rights.

It is also believed that the tournament itself will begin two weeks later than previously scheduled - on May 21, instead of May 7, but this is yet to be confirmed.