Sweden will play Latvia in the early game at 16:15 local time at the new 12,000-seat Ice Palace in Moscow, before the host nation faces the Czech Republic at 20:15.

The Group B games will be held at the Yubileiny arena, located in the centre of St. Petersburg. The games at Yubileiny will be played at the same time with defending champion Canada playing the early game against the United States, followed by an evening game between Finland and Belarus.

The remaining participating teams will kick off their 2016 campaign on the following day. In Moscow, Switzerland will play newly-promoted Kazakhstan on 7th May, Norway and Denmark will battle in an all-Scandinavian clash while Latvia and the Czech Republic will play the evening game.

In St. Petersburg, Slovakia will start the Worlds in a neighbouring clash against Hungary, which will compete in the top division for the first time in seven years, followed by another game between two neighbours, 2017 Worlds co-hosts Germany and France, ahead the Belarus-USA evening game.

Moscow and St. Petersburg will each host 28 preliminary-round and two quarter-final games with Russia playing its quarter-final game in Moscow on 19th May at 20:15 if qualified. The semi-finals on 21st May and the medal games on 22nd May will all be played in Moscow.

The ticket sale for the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will start in autumn 2015 with more information to be announced on this website at a later stage. Tickets will be available online from all over the world as well as at kiosks of the official ticket partners in Russia. Click here for more information.

Click here to access the full game schedule.