Two Carolina Hurricanes players, a prospect and the team’s head coach will represent their respective countries in the 2016 IIHF World Championship, which takes place in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, from Friday, May 6, through Sunday, May 22.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin will don the stars and stripes for Team USA, defenseman Michal Jordan will compete for the Czech national team, forward prospect Sebastian Aho will skate with the Finns, and head coach Bill Peters will man the bench for Team Canada.

On the heels of his rookie season in the NHL, Hanifin will make his first appearance in World Championship competition, having already played for Team USA in the 2015 World Juniors. Hanifin, 19, is the team’s youngest defenseman and second-youngest player. The Boston, Mass., native skated in 79 games with the Hurricanes in 2015-16 and posted 22 points (4g, 18a).

“You’re playing against the top players in the world. I think just playing more games and seeing different guys around the league on your team definitely will be an experience that will help me,” Hanifin said about the tournament in end-of-season interviews. “Just kind of measuring myself against those guys and being in the same locker room as them will help me.”

This marks Jordan’s third consecutive appearance on the Czech national squad in World Championship play. The 25-year-old blueliner scored a goal and recorded an assist in the seven-game preliminary round last year before the Czechs were bested by the eventually gold medal-winning Canadian team in a semifinal match-up.

Aho, a standout Finnish product at 18 years of age, will join the Finnish national team for his first World Championship. As an alternate captain in this year’s World Junior tournament, Aho helped lead the Finns to a gold medal with 14 points (5g, 9a) in seven games.

Peters captured the gold medal as an assistant coach for Team Canada last year, and he’ll have his eye on more hardware this year as the team’s head coach. Peters is joined behind the bench by assistant coaches Dave Cameron, Mike Yeo and Misha Donskov.



Preliminary round action consists of seven games for each team and runs May 6-17. The United States, Finland and Canada are in one group, while the Czech Republic is in the group opposite, and the top four teams in each group will advance beyond round-robin play. Following the quarterfinals and semifinals on May 19 and 21, respectively, medal games will conclude the tournament on Sunday, May 22.

NBCSN will carry four of seven Team USA preliminary round games live, while the other three can be seen live via NBC Sports Live Extra or on NBCSN via same-day delay. NBC Sports Live Extra will also carry the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal games live with television still to be determined.

We’ll keep this blog current as the tournament progresses. Check back for regular score updates and more.

DATE MATCH-UP RESULT/TIME TV MAY 6 USA vs. CANADA 1-5 NBCSN MAY 6 CZECH REPUBLIC vs. RUSSIA 3-0 MAY 6 FINLAND vs. BELARUS 6-2 MAY 7 LATVIA vs. CZECH REPUBLIC

3-4 (SO) MAY 7 BELARUS vs. USA 3-6 LIVE EXTRA (LIVE)

NBCSN (TBD) MAY 8 HUNGARY vs. CANADA 1-7 MAY 8 FINLAND vs. GERMANY 4-1 MAY 9 BELARUS vs. CANADA 0-8 MAY 9 SWEDEN vs. CZECH REPUBLIC

2-4 MAY 9 FINLAND vs. USA

3-2 NBCSN MAY 11 FINLAND vs. HUNGARY 3-0 MAY 12 CZECH REPUBLIC vs. NORWAY 7-0 MAY 12 USA vs. FRANCE 4-0 NBCSN MAY 12 CANADA vs. GERMANY 5-2 MAY 13 CZECH REPUBLIC vs. KAZAKHSTAN 3-1 MAY 13 USA vs. HUNGARY 5-1 LIVE EXTRA (LIVE)

NBCSN (9:45 a.m.) MAY 14 FRANCE vs. FINLAND 1-3 MAY 14 CANADA vs. SLOVAKIA 5-0 MAY 15 DENMARK vs. CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1 (SO) MAY 15 GERMANY vs. USA

3-2 LIVE EXTRA (LIVE)

NBCSN (3:00 p.m.) MAY 15 SLOVENIA vs. FINLAND 0-5 MAY 16 CANADA vs. FRANCE 4-0 MAY 17 CZECH REPUBLIC vs. SWITZERLAND 5-4 MAY 17 USA vs. SLOVAKIA 2-3 (OT) NBCSN MAY 17 CANADA vs. FINLAND 0-4

is the Web Producer for the Carolina Hurricanes.