Preview: 2019 IIHF World Championships

Many of the world’s best hockey players come together for the 2019 IIHF World Championships, which open Friday morning in Slovakia. For Buffalo Sabres fans, there are a few players we’ll be keeping an eye on, as Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart suit up for their respective countries. Brandon Montour, one of the Sabres’ newest acquisitions, will also be on the ice, while GM Jason Botterill is in the stands for Team Canada.

Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know for the 2019 IIHF World Championships, starting with the rosters. A player listed in bold indicates a player who spent all or part of last season in the NHL.

Rosters

Canada: Mackenzie Blackwood; Carter Hart; Matt Murray; Thomas Chabot; Dante Fabbro; Brandon Montour; Darnell Nurse; Damon Severson; Troy Stecher; Shea Theodore; Tyler Bertuzzi; Anthony Cirelli; Sean Couturier; Adam Henrique; Mathieu Joseph; Anthony Mantha; Jonathan Marchessault; Jared McCann; Sam Reinhart; Dylan Strome; Mark Stone; Kyle Turris

Note: John Tavares was named to the roster but will not participate due to injury.

Denmark: Sebastian Dahm; Patrick Galbraith; Simon Nielsen; Phillip Bruggisser; Jesper Jensen; Nicholas Jensen; Oliver Larsen; Matias Lassen; Stefan Lassen; Markus Lauridsen; Oliver Lauridsen; Mathias Bau; Joachim Blichfeld; Mikkel Boedker; Lars Eller; Mathias From; Julian Jakobsen; Jesper Jensen; Nicklas Jensen; Morten Madsen; Nikolai Meyer; Nick Olesen; Morten Poulsen; Peter Regin; Jonas Rondbjerg; Frederik Storm

Finland: Kevin Lankinen; Juho Olkinuora; Veini Vehvilainen; Jani Hakanpaa; Henri Jokiharju; Niko Mikkola; Oliwer Kaski; Miika Koivisto; Mikko Lehtonen; Atte Ohtamaa; Petteri Lindbohm; Marko Anttila; Arttu Ilomaki; Kaapo Kakko; Joel Kiviranta; Kristian Kuusela; Juho Lammikko; Eetu Luostarinen; Sakari Manninen; Niko Ojamaki; Harri Pesonen; Toni Rajala; Jere Sallinen; Veli-Matti Savinainen; Juhani Tyrvainen

France: Henri-Corentin Buysse; Florian Hardy; Sebastian Ylonen; Florian Chakiachvili; Pierre Crinon; Olivier Dame-Malka; Hugo Gallet; Kevin Hecquefeuille; Jonathan Janil; Antonin Manavian; Thomas Thiry; Eliot Berthon; Charles Bertrand; Tim Bozon; Valentin Claireaux; Teddy Da Costa; Cedric Di Dio Balsamo; Damien Fleury; Anthony Guttig; Guillaume Leclerc; Jordann Perret; Anthony Rech; Nicolas Ritz; Sacha Treille; Peter Valier

Germany: Mathias Niederberger; Timo Pielmeier; Dustin Strahlmeier; Niklas Treutle; Korbinian Holzer; Bjorn Krupp; Oliver Mebus; Jonas Muller; Moritz Muller; Marco Nowak; Denis Reul; Benedikt Schopper; Yannic Seidenberg; Moritz Seider; Fabio Wagner; Lean Bergmann; Leon Draisaitl; Bernhard Ebner; Yashin Ehliz; Markus Eiscenschmid; Gerrit Fauser; Patrick Hager; Mirko Hoefflin; Dominik Kahun; Nicolas Krammer; Stefan Loibl; Frank Mauer; Marc Michaelis; Marcel Noebeles; Fabio Pfohl; Daniel Pieta; Mathias Plachta; Leonhard Pfoderl; Frederik Tiffels; Sebastian Uvira; Manuel Wiederer

Great Britain: Ben Bowns; Thomas Murdy; Jackson Whistle; Tim Billingsley; Dallas Ehrhardt; Stephen Lee; Evan Mosey; Ben O’Connor; David Phillips; Mark Richardson; Paul Swindlehurst; Oliver Betteridge; Benjamin Davies; Robert Dowd; Robert Farmer; Luke Ferrara; Mike Hammond; Liam Kirk; Robert Lachowicz; Ben Lake; Joseph Lewis; Matthew Myers; Brett Perlini; Jonathan Phillips; Colin Shields

Slovakia: Marek Ciliak; Denis Godla; Patrik Rybar; Michal Cajkovsky; Erik Cernak; Marek Daloga; Martin Fehervary; Mario Grman; Christian Jaros; Patrik Koch; Martin Marincin; Andrej Sekera; David Bondra; David Buc; Samuel Bucek; Marko Dano; Libor Hudacek; Robert Lantosi; Adam Liska; Mario Lunter; Tomas Marcinko; Ladislav Nagy; Richard Panik; Marian Studenic; Matus Sukel; Tomas Tatar; Tomas Zigo

United States: Thatcher Demko; Cayden Primeau; Cory Schneider; Adam Fox; Noah Hanifin; Quinn Hughes; Alec Martinez; Brady Skjei; Ryan Suter; Christian Wolanin; Alex DeBrincat; Jack Eichel; Johnny Gaudreau; Luke Glendening; Jack Hughes; Patrick Kane; Clayton Keller; Chris Kreider; Dylan Larkin; Derek Ryan; James van Riemsdyk; Frank Vatrano; Colin White

Austria: Lukas Herzog; David Kickert; Berhard Starkbaum; Dominique Heinrich; Philipp Lindner; Alexander Pallestrang; Patrick Peter; Markus Schlacher; Martin Schumnig; Steven Strong; Clemens Unterweger; Raphael Wolf; Benjamin Baumgartner; Alexander Cijan; Manuel Ganahl; Lukas Haudum; Raphael Herburger; Fabio Hofer; Thomas Hundertpfund; Konstanin Komarek; Patrick Obrist; Michael Raffl; Thomas Raffl; Alexander Rauchenwald; Peter Schneider; Dominic Zwerger

Czech Republic: Patrik Bartosak; Simon Hrubec; Jakub Kovar; Radko Gudas; Filip Hronek; Jan Kolar; Michal Moravcik; David Musil; Jan Rutta; David Sklenicka; Petr Zamorsky; Filip Chytil; Michael Frolik; Robin Hanzl; Dmitrij Jaskin; Jan Kovar; Dominik Kubalik; Ondrej Palat; Michal Repik; Dominik Simon; David Tomasek; Jakub Voracek; Jakub Vrana; Hynek Zohorna; Tomas Zohorna

Italy: Andreas Bernard; Marco De Filippo Roia; Gianluca Vallini; Armin Helfer; Armin Hofer; Roland Hofer; Stefano Marchetti; Ivan Tauferer; Alex Trivellato; Jan Pavlu; Sean McMonagle; Luca Zanatta; Raphael Andergassen; Anthony Bardaro; Ivan De Luca; Markus Gander; Peter Hochkofler; Marco Insam; Diego Kostner; Simon Kostner; Alex Lambacher; Angelo Miceli; Giovanni Morini; Joachim Ramoser; Marco Rosa

Latvia: Janis Auzins; Gustavs Grigals; Kristers Gudlevskis; Uvis Balinskis; Oskars Cibulskis; Ralfs Freibergs; Guntis Galvins; Janis Jaks; Arturs Kulda; Edgars Siksna; Kristaps Sotnieks; Kristaps Zile; Rodrigo Abols; Toms Andersons; Rudolfs Balcers; Oskars Batna; Teddy Blueger; Rihards Bukarts; Roberts Bukarts; Lauris Darzins; Martins Dzierkals; Emils Gegeris; Miks Indrasis; Ronalds Kenins; Rihards Marenis; Gints Meija

Norway: Jonas Arntzen; Henrik Haukeland; Henrik Holm; Alexander Bonsaksen; Christian Bull; Stefan Espeland; Jonas Holos; Johannes Johannesen; Christian Kasastul; Erlend Lesund; Mattias Norstebo; Kristian Forsberg; Michael Haga; Tommy Kristiansen; Tobias Lindstrom; Andreas Martinsen; Sondre Olden; Mathias Olimb; Mats Rosseli Olsen; Thomas Olsen; Alexander Reichenberg; Niklas Roest; Martin Roymark; Patrick Thoresen; Mathias Trettenes

Russia: Alexandar Georgiev; Ilya Sorokin; Andrei Vasilevskiy; Artyom Blazhiyevsky; Vladislav Gayrikov; Dinar Khafizullin; Bogdan Kiselevich; Nikita Nesterov; Dmitry Orlov; Mikhail Sergachev; Alexander Yelesin; Nikita Zaitsev; Artyom Zub; Sergei Andronov; Artem Anisimov; Alexander Barabanov; Evgenii Dadonov; Mikhail Grigorenko; Nikita Gusev; Kirill Kaprizov; Ilya Kovalchuk; Nikita Kucherov; Evgeny Kuznetsov; Evgeni Malkin; Alex Ovechkin; Sergei Plotnikov; Ivan Telegin

Sweden: Jhonas Enroth; Henrik Lundqvist; Jacob Markstrom; Lukas Bengtsson; Mattias Ekholm; Oliver Ekman-Larsson; Erik Gustafsson; Robert Hagg; Philip Holm; Adam Larsson; Marcus Pettersson; Jesper Bratt; Loui Eriksson; Patric Hornqvist; Adrian Kempe; Mario Kempe; Marcus Kruger; Anton Lander; Oskar Lindblom; Elias Lindholm; Joakin Nygard; William Nylander; Elias Pettersson; Dennis Rasmussen; Anton Wedin

Switzerland: Reto Berra; Leonardo Genoni; Robert Mayer; Rafael Diaz; Michael Fora; Lukas Frick; Joel Genazzi; Roman Josi; Romain Loeffel; Janis Moser; Yannick Weber; Andreas Ambuhl; Alessio Bertaggia; Christoph Bertschy; Kevin Fiala; Gaetan Haas; Nico Hischier; Gregory Hofmann; Philipp Kurashev; Lino Martschini; Simon Moser; Vincent Praplan; Damien Riat; Noah Rod; Tristan Scherwey

Schedule (All Times ET)

*Asterisk denotes that game is televised on NHL Network.

Friday, May 10:

10 am: Finland vs. Canada*, Russia vs. Norway

2 pm: United States vs. Slovakia*, Czech Republic vs. Sweden

Saturday, May 11:

6 am: Denmark vs. France*, Switzerland vs. Italy

10 am: Germany vs. Great Britain*, Latvia vs. Austria

2 pm: Slovakia vs. Finland*, Norway vs. Czech Republic

Sunday, May 12

6 am: United States vs. France*, Russia vs. Austria

10 am: Denmark vs. Germany, Italy vs. Sweden*

2 pm: Great Britain vs. Canada*, Latvia vs. Switzerland

Monday, May 13

10 am: United States vs. Finland*, Russia vs. Czech Republic

2 pm: Slovakia vs. Canada*, Norway vs. Sweden

Tuesday, May 14

10 am: Great Britain vs. Denmark*, Italy vs. Latvia

2 pm:  Germany vs. France, Switzerland vs. Austria*

Wednesday, May 15

10 am: United States vs. Great Britain*, Switzerland vs. Norway

2 pm: Germany vs. Slovakia*, Russia vs. Italy

Thursday, May 16

10 am: Canada vs. France*, Sweden vs. Austria

2 pm: Finland vs. Denmark*, Czech Republic vs. Latvia

Friday, May 17

10 am: France vs. Slovakia*, Austria vs. Norway

2 pm: Finland vs. Great Britain, Czech Republic vs. Italy*

Saturday, May 18

6 am: Denmark vs. United States*, Latvia vs. Russia

10 am: Canada vs. Germany*, Italy vs. Norway

2 pm: Great Britain vs. Slovakia, Sweden vs. Switzerland*

Sunday, May 19

10 am: Germany vs. United States*, Austria vs. Czech Republic

2 pm: France vs. Finland, Switzerland vs. Russia*

Monday, May 20

10 am: France vs. Great Britain, Sweden vs. Latvia*

2 pm: Canada vs. Denmark*, Austria vs. Italy

Tuesday, May 21

6 am: Finland vs. Germany, Czech Republic vs. Switzerland*

10 am: Slovakia vs. Denmark*, Norway vs. Latvia

2 pm: Canada vs. United States*, Sweden vs. Russia

Thursday, May 23

Four quarterfinal games - 10 am and 2 pm; one at each time slot on NHLN

Saturday, May 25

9 am - Semifinal 1*

1 pm - Semifinal 2*

Sunday, May 26

9:30 am - Bronze-medal game*

2 pm - Gold-medal game*