Hockey World Championship 2026 Knockout Bracket Schedule and Predictions

Canada will get a shot at redemption from February's Olympic gold medal loss in the quarterfinals of the 2026 IIHF Men's World Championships.

The United States and Canada are set to face off Thursday with a trip to the 2026 Worlds semifinals on the line.

Team USA is looking to defend their 2025 title, while Canada will seek redemption from last year's quarterfinals upset by Denmark.

Here's a look at the upcoming schedule and predictions for each quarterfinals matchup as Worlds heads into the knockout round in Switzerland.

Quarterfinals matchups

Canada vs. United States

Switzerland vs. Sweden

Finland vs. Czechia

Norway vs. Latvia

---

Knockout Round Schedule

Thursday, May 28

Quarterfinal 1: 10:20 a.m. ET

Quarterfinal 2: 10:20 a.m. ET

Quarterfinal 3: 2:20 p.m. ET

Quarterfinal 4: 2:20 p.m. ET

---

Saturday, May 30

Semifinal 1: 9:20 a.m. ET

Semifinal 2: 2 p.m. ET

---

Sunday, May 31

Bronze medal game: 9:30 a.m. ET

Championship game: 2:20 p.m. ET

---

Predictions

Canada vs. USA

This rivalry matchup one could come down to American goaltending and Canadian special teams.

Canada finished the preliminary round with a plus-20 goal differential, while Team USA outscored opponents by a total of four goals.

That level of offense could prove difficult to handle for the United States, which finished the preliminary round with a .871 team save percentage.

Canada has had its own offensive struggles on the power play. Despite the star power on their top unit, the Canadians went into the preliminary round finale ranked eighth in the tournament with a 21.4 percent success rate on the man advantage.

The play of American goaltender Devin Cooley, and whether Canada can turn their power play around against the United States, could both determine whether Macklin Celebrini will get a chance to lead his team into the semifinals.

---

Switzerland vs. Sweden

This matchup will test whether a strong Swedish defense can hold back the tournament's highest-scoring offense.

Sweden did rack up 27 goals through their own preliminary round to rank as the fourth highest-scoring team in the tournament.

That was in part thanks to Detroit Red Wings star Lucas Raymond, who scored five goals and 11 points in seven preliminary-round games.

The Swedes also held opponents to just 122 shots against through seven games, the third-fewest in the tournament through the preliminary round.

Sweden recorded a .869 save percentage through those seven games. A strong quarterfinal from a goaltending tandem of Arvid Soderblom and Magnus Hellberg could help push Sweden past one of the tournament's strongest teams.

Switzerland is heading into the knockout round after a historic preliminary-round run.

Thanks to tournament-high production from Sven Andrighetto (13 points in six games) and dominant play from goaltender Leonardo Genoni (.970 save percentage and 0.50 goals against average), the Swiss are on an undefeated run to the knockout round.

Sweden will be tasked with solving Genoni, who shut out two teams in his four tournament appearances so far.

The Swedish defense will also need to find a way to contain an offense that led the preliminary round with 39 goals.

---

Finland vs. Czechia

The 2024 Worlds champions from Czechia will need to contain Finland's Aleksander Barkov to make it back to the championship game after a sixth-place finish in last year's tournament.

Czechia will look to build on their hot start in Tuesday's preliminary-round finale against Canada, during which the team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.

Finland will meanwhile hope to take advantage of Czechia's struggles on special teams. Czechia ranked among the least successful teams in the preliminary round on both the penalty kill and power play.

Finland's shot at a semifinal berth will be driven by Barkov, who missed the entire 2025-26 NHL season with a knee injury but has made his return to competitive play with a dominant tournament so far.

Barkov showed off his ability to take over a game Tuesday when he answered Switzerland's early two-goal lead by scoring twice in a span of three minutes.

In addition to limiting Barkov, Czechia will also be tasked with taking on some of the best special teams in the tournament in Finland's power play and penalty kill (36.4 percent and 92.9 percent success rates, respectively, heading into Tuesday's preliminary-round finale).

---

Norway vs. Latvia

Norway may need to take fewer penalties in order to limit defensive zone time and make it past Latvia.

The Norwegians struggled with penalties in the preliminary round, ranking second in the tournament with 70 penalty minutes through seven games.

Norway also ran one of the best penalty-killing units in the tournament (88.5 percent success rate). That was in part thanks to strong play from goaltender Henrik Haukeland, who finished the preliminary round with a 94.74 save percentage.

Norway's offense will be tasked with solving Latvian netminder Kristers Gudlevskis, who recorded two shutouts in six games of the preliminary round.

Gudlevskis' best performance of the opening round came during his 45-save performance against the United States.

Latvia will now lean on Gudlevskis and captain Rudolfs Balcers, who has set a single-tournament scoring record for his country with seven goals through six games, to build on that upset win and lead their team into the semifinals.