World Championship website, schedule and ticket info released at Press Conference

19 Aug 2014 | Derek O’Brien

A press conference was held in Prague to announce certain details about the 2015 IIHF World Championship. Topics included the game schedule, tickets and website. Minutes of the press conference are available here.

PRAGUE - A press conference was held at the Clarion Congress Hotel in Prague on Monday to announce information about the 2015 IIHF World Championship, which will be held in Prague and Ostrava 1-17 May. The main topics covered were the game schedule, tickets, and the release of the official tournament website.

All games will be scheduled to be played at either 12:15, 16:15 or 20:15 local time in the Czech Republic (Central European Summer Time). The opening two games, which will start on Friday, 1 May at 16:15, will feature Canada-Latvia in Prague and USA-Finland in Ostrava. The group stage will end on Tuesday, 12 May, with quarter-finals on Thursday, semi-finals on Saturday, and medal games on Sunday, 17 May.

The next topic was ticket pricing.

"We've had to learn from the problems in Sweden and Finland," said Czech Ice Hockey Association Presiden Tomas Kral. At the tournaments shared between Stockholm and Helsinki in 2012 and 2013, high ticket prices were one of the reasons blamed for poor ticket sales. "Of course, we also can't charge next to nothing, as the cost of running the tournament is around 15 million Euros. I think these ticket prices are acceptable, and compared to other World Championships, certainly better."

For a complete recap of the press conference, read the minutes from the meeting here.