Canada opens world championship against Latvia on TSN
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Canada begins play at the 2023 IIHF World Championship against host Latvia in Riga on Friday.
Tampere, Finland, is co-hosting the tournament which runs from May 12 through to the gold-medal match on May 28.
TSN will deliver all 64 games live from Riga and Tampere. The complete broadcast schedule is available here.
Watch Canada vs. Latvia LIVE Friday at 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT on TSN1, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Canada’s roster features top prospect Adam Fantilli and a trio of Calgary Flames in Milan Lucic, Tyler Toffoli, who was named team captain and Mackenzie Weegar.
Devon Levi (Buffalo Sabres), Joel Hofer (St. Louis Blues) and Sam Montembeault (Montreal Canadiens) will serve as the netminders for Canada.
Levi, 21, has a shot to be the starter in Canada’s opening match. The Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., native made his NHL debut this season and went 5-2-0 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
“It’s always a great feeling to get the call. It’s so special to wear the Maple Leaf,” Levi told TSN 1050 earlier this week. “The feeling you get out there when you wear it is like none other. It’s a huge honour to be able to put it on again.
“I was fortunate to have a chance to prove myself in Buffalo, which gave me this chance here. I’m really excited to get things going.”
Guided by bench boss Andre Tourigny (Arizona Coyotes), Canada will be looking to improve upon its silver-medal finish last year as the runner up to Finland.
Canada and Finland have met in the final the past three tournaments, with Finland finishing at the top of the podium in 2019 and Canada taking gold in 2021.
Canada is in Group B along with Slovenia, Latvia, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Norway and Kazakhstan.
Group A consists of France, Denmark, United States, Austria, Germany, Finland, Hungary and Sweden.
The United States will face Finland in the first game of the tournament on Friday. Czechia takes on Slovakia and Germany will go up against Sweden to round out the action on opening day.