Month: June 2022

A new agreement has been reached on the Baltic Cup tournament, the first tournament in Lithuania in November

By George Da Silva – National Teams of Ice Hockey

Lithuania together with the Estonia, Poland and Latvia Ice hockey federations, reached an agreement on the organization of the Baltic Cup,  during the International breaks in November of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF).

During the IIHF Congress, the four countries decided to continue organizing the Baltic Cup, and representatives of Poland joined the three other federations of the tournament: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. From now on, the tournament will be held annually in one of the four countries that have reached an agreement. Lithuania, Estonia and Poland will be sending their strongest national teams to the tournament, while Latvia will compete with their second team (Latvia B).

Once the agreement was reached, the hosts of the future tournaments were also elected. It has been decided that the first Baltic Cup tournament will be held in Lithuania. The tournament will take place in November of this year.

At the same time, the Federation of Lithuania has reached agreements on international tournaments at the U-20 and U-18 levels. Lithuania, Poland and Estonia and a fourth team will take part in the four nations tournaments in both age groups.  Most likely Hungary and Romania will be the forth team.

The first tournament of the U-20 will also be held in November, and its hosts will also be Lithuania Meanwhile, the U-18 tournament will be hosted by Poland and is scheduled for the IIHF February window.

The cities where all three tournaments will take place will be announced at a later date.

2023 World Ice Hockey Championships Lower Divisions

By Vitaly Nesterov – National Teams of Ice Hockey

The 2023 World Championships lower divisions have became known. The IIHF has decided to add each of the lower division groups to a traditional 6-team Divisions.

Indian national team  will make its World Championships debut next year. General Director of the hockey association of the country Samart Sharma said: “This is a historic step for ice hockey in our country. We hope that at the upcoming championship we will be able to impose a worthy struggle on our rivals and gain a foothold in the world hockey system.”

Division IIA (to be held in Spain from April 16 to 22)
Croatia (3rd place in division IIA in 2022)
Spain (4th place in division IIA in 2022)
Israel (5th place in division IIA in 2022)
Australia (did not participate in 2022)
Iceland (1st place in division IIB in 2022)
Georgia (2nd place in Division IIB in 2022)

Division IIB (will be held in Turkey from 17 to 23 April)
Belgium (3rd place in Division IV in 2022)
Bulgaria (4th place in Division IIB in 2022)
Mexico (5th place in Division IB in 2022)
New Zealand (did not participate in 2022)
UAE (1st place in Division IIIA in 2022)
Turkey (2nd place in Division IIIA in 2022)

Division IIIA (to be held in South Africa from 17 to 23 April)
Turkmenistan (3rd place in Division IIIA in 2022)
Taiwan (4th place in Division IIIA in 2022)
Luxembourg (5th place in Division IIIA in 2022)
DPRK (did not participate in 2022)
South Africa (1st place in Division IIIB in 2022)
Thailand (2nd place in Division IIIA in 2022) 

Division IIIB (to be held in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 14 to 21 April)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (3rd place in Division IIIA in 2022)
Hong Kong (did not participate in 2022)
Kyrgyzstan (1st place in Division IV in 2022)
Iran (2nd place in Division IV in 2022)
Singapore (3rd place in Division IV in 2022)
Malaysia (4th place in Division IV in 2022)

Division IV (to be held in Kuwait from March 10 to 16)
Kuwait (5th in Division IV in 2022)
Philippines (did not participate in 2022)
India (DEBUT)
(Other Countries are possible)

India will make its World Championship debut in 2023.

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