World Cup of Hockey 2016: Dates, TV Schedule, Live Stream and Predictions

The World Cup of Hockey promises to be a wonderful treat for hockey fans who are not used to seeing the best players in the world compete against each other in any event beside the Olympics.

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association have joined forces to back this event, which will see eight teams compete for the title. The Czech Republic, United States, Canada and Team Europe will compete in Group A, while Finland, Sweden, Russia and Team North America—a group of the top under-23 players from the United State and Canada—will compete in Group B.

The teams in each division will compete against each other in a round-robin format, and the top two teams in each group will move onto the medal round, which will see the second-place finisher in Group A play the first-place team in Group B and vice versa.

The two winners of those semifinal games will meet in a best-of-three series, commencing September 27, with the second game scheduled for September 29 and the finale, if necessary, coming October 1.

The tournament will start Saturday with the United States meeting Team Europe and Canada facing off against the Czech Republic. All games in the tournament will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and televised by the ESPN family of networks.

Team	Team	Date	Time (ET)	TV
Europe	USA	Sept. 17	3:30 p.m.	ESPN2
Canada	Czech Republic	Sept. 17	8 p.m.	ESPNNews
Russia	Sweden	Sept. 18	3 p.m.	ESPN
Finland	North America	Sept. 18	8 p.m.	ESPN2
Czech Republic	Europe	Sept. 19	3 p.m.	ESPN2
North America	Russia	Sept. 19	8 p.m.	ESPN2
Finland	Sweden	Sept. 20	3 p.m.	ESPN
Canada	USA	Sept. 20	8 p.m.	ESPN
North America	Sweden	Sept. 21	3 p.m.	ESPN
Canada	Europe	Sept. 21	8 p.m.	ESPN2
Finland	Russia	Sept. 22	3 p.m.	ESPN
Czech Republic	USA	Sept. 22	8 p.m.	ESPN2
A1 (Semifinal 1)	B2	Sept. 24	7 p.m.	ESPN2
B1 (Semifinal 2)	A2	Sept. 25	1 p.m.	ESPN
Semifinal 1 winner (Finals)	Semifinal 2 winner	Sept. 27	8 p.m.	ESPN
Semifinal 1 winner (Finals)	Semifinal 2 winner	Sept. 29	8 p.m.	ESPN2
Semifinal 1 winner (Finals)	Semifinal 2 winner	Oct. 1*	7 p.m.	ESPN2
*If necessary

While Sweden and Russia have solid teams, it seems quite likely the United States and Canada have the two best teams at the World Cup and will likely meet in the final.

It will be harder for the team that loses to the other in the round-robin competition, but both Canada and the United States appear significantly better than the Czech Republic or Team Europe.

Canada has seen a number of injuries that will keep stars such as Duncan Keith, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Jeff Carter from playing, but the Canadians still have plenty of greatness on their roster. Start with Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, Brent Burns, Steven Stamkos and Claude Giroux, and that combination of firepower and skill will make them difficult to beat.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Goaltender Carey Price is healthy after an injury-plagued 2015-16 season, and he may be the best goalie in the world.

The United States doesn't have anything close to the goal-scoring ability Canada has. The U.S. is a tough, grind-it-out kind of team that is going to try to assert itself with physical play. 

The Americans will be led by Zach Parise, Joe Pavelski, David Backes and Blake Wheeler, but they'll need goalies Jonathan Quick and Cory Schneider to be at their best if they are going to defeat Canada.

The Russians may be the class of Group B, as they are led by Alex Ovechkin, Artemi Panarin, Evgeni Malkin and Vladimir Tarasenko. All four of those players can put the puck in the net, but the Russians may be a bit shaky on the blue line.

Chris Szagola/Associated Press

The Swedes have a brilliant goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist, and they have stars on the blue line in Erik Karlsson, Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman, but they may not have enough scoring on their forward lines.

Team Finland has a pair of excellent goaltenders in Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask, and both are likely to see action. 

The young Finnish team has some excellent talent up front in Aleksander Barkov, Teuvo Teravainen and Joonas Donskoi, but it would be an upset were the Finns to make it to the semifinals.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Predictions

Look for Canada to win Group A with the United States second. Sweden is the likely winner of Group B, and Russia should finish in second place.

The U.S. will have a brutal assignment in trying to beat Sweden, but look for Parise to score the game-winning goal past Lundqvist to propel the United States into the championship round.

Ovechkin will score a couple of goals for Russia against Canada, but Crosby, Stamkos and Burns will also score, and Canada will win on home ice.

The United States will draw first blood in the best-of-three championship series, as Backes scores in overtime, but Canada will bounce back with a one-sided win in Game 2.

Much like the 2010 Olympic final, the third game will go into overtime. But this time, the United States will get the upset when Pavelski nets the championship goal.