Groups confirmed for the U20 World Cham­pi­onship 2023

There will be no relegated team, as planned, at the U20 World Championship 2022, which is currently being made up in Edmonton. This had already been envisaged due to the coronavirus crisis when the tournament was subsequently abandoned at the end of December 2021.

Although the rescheduled IIHF World Junior Championship 2022 is still in full swing, the groups for the upcoming U20 World Championship 2023 have already been drawn. The results of the past five tournaments were used, resulting in the following groups:
 
Group A, Halifax: Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, Austria
Group B, Moncton: USA, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia
 
Roger Bader, ÖEHV Men's Sporting Director: "Canada, Sweden and Czechia have all reached the semi-finals at the current U20 World Championship. That already shows the level of quality awaiting us in December. Germany have also caused a bit of a surprise, but they are still the nation closest to our level. We have two chances to stay in the top division: the first is to finish above Germany in the standings. The second is to win a potential best-of-three relegation round."
 
While this August Philipp Pinter led Austria's U20 players into the World Championship as interim head coach, Marco Pewal will be behind the bench at the turn of the year as planned.

In his role as General Manager, ÖEHV Men's Sporting Director Roger Bader will also accompany the national team to Canada.
 
According to the IIHF, the final schedule will be published in the coming weeks. Tickets are expected to be available shortly. All games of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship will be broadcast live on TSN and RDS.