IIHF announces dates for 2021 World Championship

The 2021 World Championship will take place from May 21 to June 6, the IIHF announced Monday.

The tournament will be split between Minsk, Belarus, and Riga, Latvia. The 16-team field will be divided into two groups. Group A features Belarus, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, and Great Britain. Group B includes Latvia, Canada, Finland, United States, Germany, Norway, Italy, and Kazakhstan.

This year's World Championship was supposed to be held in Switzerland in May but was canceled in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Finland defeated Canada in last year's final to capture gold.