Mark 9 May 2026 in red: that when the IIHF World Championship drops the puck at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, and single-game tickets go on sale 1 October 2025 at 10:00 CET on world2026.hockey. Prices start at 450 SEK for the preliminary round, but the gold-medal block climbs to 2 800 SEK, so reserve before 15 December to lock the early-bird 20 % discount.
Two weeks earlier, from 24 April to 2 May, the Division I tournaments split between Aalborg (Group A) and Bolzano (Group B). Both venues sit within 30 min of international airports, so you can catch the 06:40 SAS hop from Copenhagen to Aalborg and still make the 09:00 face-off. Hotels within walking distance hover around €110 per night, yet Airbnb rooms 3 km out drop to €55; book before 31 January or the winter-sport crowd snaps them up.
Junior fans circle 25 December 2025. The U20 World Junior Championship opens in Gothenburg Scandinavium at 15:00 local time with Sweden–Finland, and the same building hosts the quarter-finals on 2 January 2026. A 13-game strip costs 2 100 SEK, but student passes shave 40 % off if you show a valid ISIC card at the box office.
Women hockey grabs the spotlight 28 August–5 September 2026 in Calgary Canada Olympic Park. The format squeezes 20 games into nine days, so double-headers run at 15:00 and 19:00. A C-Train day-pass is CAD 10.50 and covers the 18-min ride from downtown, letting you bounce between the Fan Fest on Stephen Avenue and the arena without parking hassle.
Outside the headline events, the calendar packs the U18 Worlds (12–19 April, Fuessen, Germany), the inline qualifier in Buenos Aires (6–8 November), and the new 3-on-3 Nations Cup in Prague (28–30 August). Budget carriers release seats 330 days out; set a fare alert on 2 January 2025 for Eurowings’ Cologne–Fuessen route and you’ll often grab €39 legs before they jump to €120.
Men Program & Broadcast Windows
Set three alarms for 3 May 2026: Helsinki opens Group A at 16:00 EEST, Prague follows at 19:00 CEST, and Toronto West ice slots rotate every 30 minutes from 11:00 EST through 23:30 EST–ESPN+ and Viaplay list identical blocks, so pick the feed that carries your team national commentary audio track.
Canada quarter-final window on 14 May is locked to 20:00–23:00 local; if you’re in Asia, that a 07:00 JST Friday morning–record the full three-hour buffer because IIHF now inserts an extra 15-minute VR warm-up segment that won’t appear in the EPG but still counts toward broadcast rights.
IIHF World Championship May 1-17: host cities, ticket release dates, local puck-drop times
Book your beds in Zürich or Geneva before 15 August–the 17 000-room block reserved by the IIHF releases back to public inventory that night and prices jump 40 % on average.
Zürich Hallenstadion hosts Groups A & C plus all quarter-finals; puck drops at 16:20 and 20:20 CEST. Geneva Arena du Lac takes Groups B & D plus two relegation games; face-off is 15:20 and 19:20 CEST. The semi-finals and medal games return to Zürich on 22 and 24 May, both scheduled for 20:20 CEST so Swiss television can simulcast with the NLA playoff finals.
Tickets land in four waves: 3 September (full-tournament passes), 8 October (single-session priority for Swiss Ice Hockey members), 5 November (general single sessions), 3 March 2026 (last-minute returns). Set an alarm for 09:00 sharp; last year the 5 November wave sold 92 % of inventory within 18 minutes and the queue ID, not the payment, secures your seat.
Buy the Zürich day-and-night pass if you land after 10 May–you get both games plus tram day-pass for 39 CHF, cheaper than two separate tickets plus transit. Geneva offers the same for 35 CHF and throws in a 5-CHF food voucher redeemable only during the second game, cutting the arena beer queue by half.
Trains from Geneva Airport to Cornavin every seven minutes at :00, :07, :14 past the hour; the 5-minute ride plus 10-minute walk beats the 30-franc taxi. In Zürich, the 200-meter walkway from the Hauptbahnhof to Hallenstadion is sheltered–no need for coats if you’re coming straight from the train.
Swiss residents can resell tickets on the official IIHF.CH exchange until two hours before face-off; foreign cards are blocked, so swap with a local friend or use Twint. If Switzerland reaches the quarter-final, expect 300-plus CHF on the secondary market; otherwise prices collapse to face value the morning of the game.
NHL Global Series October 2026: participating teams, European venues, national TV slots
Circle 8 October on your calendar and book the Eurostar: Colorado and Toronto open the fortnight at Paris-Bercy, then Detroit, Boston, Vegas and the Rangers rotate through SAP Arena (Mannheim), O2 Arena (Prague) and Avicii Arena (Stockholm) on 10, 13 and 17 October. Swedish fans can lock SVT1 at 19:00 CET for the Stockholm double-header; German viewers get ProSieben free-to-air feed at 20:15 CET, while Czech TV holds the same slot on ČT Sport. UK subscribers switch to Premier Sports at 18:00 BST for every game; in the U.S. ESPN+ carries every face-off live at 1 p.m. ET, and Sportsnet does the same at 10 a.m. PT across Canada.
| Date | Matchup | Venue | Local TV | Face-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Oct | Colorado vs Toronto | Paris-Bercy | DAZN France | 20:00 CET |
| 10 Oct | Boston vs Detroit | SAP Arena | ProSieben | 20:15 CET |
| 13 Oct | Vegas vs NY Rangers | O2 Arena Prague | ČT Sport | 19:30 CET |
| 17 Oct | Colorado vs Toronto | Avicii Arena | SVT1 | 19:00 CET |
Grab standing-room tickets the moment each arena releases its allotment–usually 10 a.m. local time exactly four weeks before puck-drop–and use the league official resale portal, not street scalpers, to avoid counterfeits. If you want autographs, wait by the players’ bus dock 90 minutes pre-game; security keeps the queue tight but lets the first 40 fans through. Pack light: Paris and Stockholm venues enforce 14-litre bag limits, Prague and Mannheim allow 20-litre backpacks but no professional cameras with detachable lenses.
Winter Olympics February 6-22: qualification brackets, group stage order, quarter-final gap day
Book flights to Milano on 4 Feb; the women qualification round-robin starts 6 Feb at 11:00 CET in Cortina and every ticket grants same-day access to the adjacent fan fest where rosters are posted within minutes of IIHF approval.
Men qualification brackets lock at 18:00 CET on 5 Feb once the pre-tournament world ranking snapshot is taken; if Germany slips below 9th, they drop into the early group with Switzerland instead of gaining the bye that Denmark would inherit.
Group stage order follows a strict A-B-C rotation: women play triple-headers 6, 8, 10 Feb, men follow 7, 9, 11 Feb, both genders alternate venues between Milan and Cortina to give ice crews exactly 22 hours for resurfacing and advertising swap-outs.
The quarter-final gap day, 14 Feb, is a hard break with no games; use it to snag last-minute standing-room tickets for the short-track finals in the same building–they release 500 extras at 08:00 local on the Olympic app and queues form by 06:30.
Seeding rules reward regulation wins first, then goal differential inside the group; if three teams finish tied on points, the tiebreaker is fewest total penalty minutes, so expect coaches to yank agitators late in the third even when the score is lopsided.
Broadcast windows for North America are 14:00–22:00 CET, meaning 08:00 ET and 05:00 PT; TSN and NHL Network share feeds, but the IIHF YouTube stream remains geoblock-free in Mexico and Brazil if you VPN to São Paulo.
Team buses leave the main Olympic village every 90 minutes starting 5 Feb at 05:30; if you hold a day pass instead of a full tournament ticket, board the 07:00 departure to Cortina–security there processes single-game tickets in a separate lane that rarely exceeds ten minutes.
Print your QR code and a paper backup: mobile networks around the Forum di Milano drop to 3G when 14,000 fans post simultaneously, and gate staff will not manually type confirmation numbers after 60 minutes to puck drop.
Spengler Cup December 26-31: Davos schedule, roster deadline, streaming geo-blocks
Lock 26 Dec 15:00 CET on your calendar for Canada vs HC Davos opener at Vaillant Arena, then circle 31 Dec 12:00 for the final; every roster must be faxed to IIHF by 20 Dec 17:00 CET with no late adds, and Swiss viewers can stream every second on https://sportnewz.click/articles/will-power-sees-england-through-at-t20-world-cup-and-more.html while North-American IP ranges hit a paywall–grab a VPN set to Zurich, pay CHF 25 for the MySports pass, and you’re in.
Group A runs 26-28 Dec with three-game round-robins (rest day 29 Dec), semifinals 30 Dec at 15:00 and 20:00, bronze 31 Dec 09:00; single-ticket strips start at CHF 39 for upper-bench ends, sell out by 10 Dec, so snag mobile tickets through the official HC Davos app and screenshot the QR–mountain 4G drops inside the rink. If you need English commentary, BBC Radio 5 Live carries the final only; otherwise use the arena free Wi-Fi and pull up the Swiss radio overlay. Parking opens 08:00 daily, fills by 11:00, so ride the 1A bus from Davos Platz station–free match-day pass printed on your ticket. Bring cash: only PostFinance and TWINT work at food stalls, and the merch kiosk caps cards at CHF 50.
Women & Junior Pathways
Book your flights to Kamloops for 5–11 January 2026 before 15 August 2025; the IIHF Women U18 World Championship qualifier caps roster size at 20 skaters and 3 goalies, and Hockey Canada releases its long-list only to provinces that submit travel manifests by that deadline.
Sweden runs a joint camp for U18 and senior women in Linköping from 14–20 June, charging 2 800 SEK per player and guaranteeing four intra-squad games plus two against SDHL clubs. Coaches grade every shift on a 1–5 puck-battle scale; players who average 3.8 or higher receive automatic invites to the December selection camp for the senior world roster, bypassing the usual 120-player September evaluation.
USA Hockey splits its U18 path into two closed festivals: 24–30 March in Plymouth, Michigan, and 6–12 July in Biddeford, Maine. Skaters born 2008–2010 must attend at least one festival to stay eligible; goalies must attend both. Bring your own Catapult GPS vest–USA Hockey stopped supplying them in 2025 and will yank ice time from athletes who show up without live data streaming to the bench iPad.
Finland and Switzerland share a three-game U20 challenge series every odd year; 2026 dates are 4–6 December in Vierumäki. Swiss coach Thomas Zwahlen publishes line charts 48 h in advance and welcomes opposing coaches to sit behind his bench, a rare open-book approach that lets junior staffs steal set face-off plays. Entry costs 50 € per observer, payable by Twint at the rink door, and includes post-game access to the teams’ ShiftChart XML files.
IIHF Women Worlds June 5-21: arena capacity, family-ticket bundles, mobile app push alerts
Book Section 108 in Helsinki Ice Hall first; its 1 832 teal seats sit above the zamboni tunnel, so kids high-five Team Canada during warm-ups. The rink caps at 8 200, yet only 6 700 tickets hit public sale after IIHF holds blocks for broadcast and sponsors. Week-day preliminary games drop to 5 400 capacity when curtains cover the upper tier, so grab Cat-3 rows 5-9 for 19–same view as Cat-1 for half price.
Family-ticket bundles hide inside the Finnish Ice Hockey Association web shop, not the main ticketing page. One adult plus two U-16s costs 55 total; add a third child for 5 more. The system auto-applies the discount once you select "perhe" in the drop-down, but you must show children passports at the door–no exceptions. Strollers park free behind Gate C; tag yours with the provided NFC sticker so staff can locate you if nap-time ends early.
- Mobile app push alerts arrive in English, Finnish and Swedish; toggle them under Settings > Notifications > IIWF.
- Enable Bluetooth for arena-mode messages: gate changes, last-minute seat upgrades, and the 30-second warning for the t-shirt cannon.
- Star your team once the schedule locks on 2 March; the app pings you when pre-sale opens for that specific bracket game.
- Data caps? Download the offline map before you leave the hotel–Wi-Fi clusters only near Sections 104 and 118.
If Finland reaches the 16 June semi-final, expect 45-minute entry queues; the venue adds a second magnetometer line at Gate A but keeps the rest closed. Arrive 90 minutes early, use the Rautatientori tram stop, not the central rail station, and buy your 3 day-pass with the HSL tab inside the same IIHF app–one less queue to stand in.
Q&A:
Which exact weekends in February 2026 are blocked for the men Olympic qualification final round, and will any NHL games be moved because of that?
The final qualification window is locked to 12-15 February 2026. The NHL has already shifted its All-Star break to 9-16 February, so no regular-season games clash with those qualifiers.
I’m planning a trip to see the Women Worlds in Canada; when do single-game tickets normally go on sale, and what cities are hosting the preliminary groups?
Ticketmaster pre-sale for the Women Worlds opens 7 October 2025, public sale starts 14 October. Groups A and C play in Calgary, B and D in Ottawa; quarter-finals swap venues on 1 September 2026.
My son plays U-18; how does the new Division IIA tournament date overlap with the North American high-school playoffs, and is there an appeals process if his team makes both?
Division IIA runs 4-11 April 2026, clashing with most provincial finals. Each national federation can name two extra standby players; appeals for late roster changes are reviewed by the IIHF events committee within 48 hours.
We want to combine the Winter University Games with skiing how far are the hockey arenas from the nearest Alpine venues, and is there a shuttle?
The main rink in Turin Palasport Olimpico is 28 km by car from Sestriere ski slopes; organizers run a free shuttle every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the Games.
Are streaming rights for the 2026 IIHF tournaments bundled globally, or does each country sell its own package, and where in the U.S. can I watch games that aren’t on NHL Network?
IIHF keeps the rights and sublicenses by region. In the U.S., ESPN+ carries every game not picked by NHL Network; replays stay up for 30 days without blackout.
Which exact weekends in February 2026 will host the women final-qualification tournaments, and how many berths are at stake in each?
The three women last-chance events are fixed for 12–15 Feb in Shenzhen (China), 19–22 Feb in Aalborg (Denmark) and 26 Feb–1 Mar in Luleå (Sweden). Only the winner of each six-team round-robin books a ticket to the top division; the other five go home, so three of the eight places at the 2026 Women Worlds are still up for grabs.
Reviews
IronVex
Another calendar? Really? Same recycled logos, same bloated "VIP" packages, same three cities hogging every slot. They cram fifty meaningless friendlies in October, then cram the players into a three-in-three in February. By April half the rosters are in walking boots, but sure, let hype the "tune-up" for worlds nobody will risk a knee for. Broadcast windows? Midnight here, dawn there, blackout everywhere. Tickets drop during payroll week, surge like crypto, and still force you through a sketchy third-party cartel that adds 27 % "service" for a PDF. Try rescheduling 客服 ghosts you faster than a goalie on a breakaway. But hey, the graphics glow, so the league can brag about "growth" while every grassroots rink nearby shutters because ice costs doubled. Save the date better yet, save the cash and watch it freeze in your account instead.
MoonBreeze
Another calendar bloated with cash-grab friendlies masquerading as "tournaments." Same nations, same stale rivalries, no relegation drama, just VIP boxes stuffed with federations swapping handshakes and champagne while ticket prices jump twenty percent. They squeeze women fixtures into awkward noon slots, bury streams on paywalls, then wonder why casual fans yawn. My daughter asked if her team will ever host; I said only if we buy a rink for them first.
Penelope
Darling, you’ve inked the arenas and face-off times, but where do I stash my mother-in-law birthday cake when Finland and Canada collide at 3 a.m. in Tampere will the hostel mini-fridge survive a three-tiered strawberry dream, or must I bribe the goalie grandma for freezer space?
Silas Roe
Guys, my calendar just synced and I’m already sweating flights. If anyone landing in Helsinki for the May opener, I’ll trade a six-pack of local porter for a ride to the rink. Let not replay last year taxi saga my goalie pads still smell like burnt clutch.
CobaltEdge
Ah, 2026 ice hockey calendar because nothing screams "thrill" like memorizing fifty cold arenas and identical Tuesday 7 p.m. face-offs six months ahead. My fridge magnet already trembling with anticipation.