The groups became known following Canada’s gold medal game win of the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and are based on the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking that was released the same night.

Host Russia will play its games at the newly built Ice Palace in Moscow and will be seeded in Group A with Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and Kazakhstan.

Group B at Yubileiny in St. Petersburg includes defending champion Canada, Finland, the United States, Slovakia, Belarus, France, Germany and Hungary.

The Yubileiny venue in downtown St. Petersburg is expected to draw many Finnish fans. It will be renovated soon and is located farily conveniently for travel, since Russia’s second-largest city is only a three-and-a-half-hour train ride away from Helsinki.

The top-four teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals following the preliminary round. The 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be played from 6-22 May 2016.

Groups 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship