Canada, U.S. in action on first day of 2015 Worlds

Canada and the United States will be in action on the first day of the 2015 IIHF World Championship, which will be held May 1-17, 2015 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Canada, which lost to Finland in the quarterfinals and finished fifth at the 2014 Worlds, opens play against Latvia at O2 Arena in Prague 10:15 a.m. ET on May 1 in the first game of Group A.

Also in Group A are Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria.

The first game for the U.S. will be against Finland, which won the silver medal at the 2014 Worlds, while the U.S. finished sixth after a loss to the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. The game, the first in Group B, will be played at 10:15 a.m. ET at CEZ Arena in Ostrava.

Also in Group B are Russia, Slovakia, Norway, Belarus, Slovenia and Denmark.

The quarterfinals will be played May 14, the semifinals May 16 at O2 Arena. The bronze- and gold-medal games will be May 17 at O2 Arena.

Russia beat Finland 5-2 to win the gold medal at the 2014 Worlds, in Minsk, Belarus.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Preliminary round; all times ET

May 1

Canada vs. Latvia, 10:15 a.m.

U.S. vs. Finland, 10:15 a.m.

Czech Republic vs. Sweden, 4:15 p.m.

Russia vs. Norway, 4:15 p.m.

May 2

Switzerland vs. Austria, 6:15 a.m.

Slovakia vs. Denmark, 6:15 a.m.

France vs. Germany, 10:15 a.m.

Belarus vs. Slovenia, 10:15 a.m.

Latvia vs. Czech Republic, 2:15 p.m.

Norway vs. U.S. 2:15 p.m.

May 3

Austria vs. Sweden, 6:15 a.m.

Russia vs. Slovenia, 6:15 a.m.

Canada vs. Germany, 10:15 a.m.

Belarus vs. Slovakia, 10:15 a.m.

France vs. Switzerland, 2:15 p.m.

Denmark vs. Finland, 2:15 p.m.

May 4

Latvia vs. Sweden, 10:15 a.m.

Russia vs. U.S., 10:15 a.m.

Canada vs. Czech Republic, 2:15 p.m.

Norway vs. Finland, 2:15 p.m.

May 5

Switzerland vs. Germany, 10:15 a.m.

Denmark vs. Belarus, 10:15 a.m.

Austria vs. France, 2:15 p.m.

Slovakia vs. Slovenia, 2:15 p.m.

May 6

Switzerland vs. Latvia, 10:15 a.m.

Russia vs. Denmark, 10:15 a.m.

Sweden vs. Canada, 2:15 p.m.

Slovakia vs. Norway, 2:15 p.m.

May 7

Czech Republic vs. France, 10:15 a.m.

U.S. vs. Belarus, 10:15 a.m.

Sweden vs. Germany, 2:15 p.m.

Finland vs. Slovenia, 2:15 p.m.

May 8

Czech Republic vs. Austria, 10:15 a.m.

Slovenia vs. Norway, 10:15 a.m.

U.S. vs. Denmark, 2:15 p.m.

Germany vs. Latvia, 2:15 p.m.

May 9

France vs. Canada, 6:15 a.m.

Belarus vs. Russia, 6:15 a.m.

Austria vs. Latvia, 10:15 a.m.

Finland vs. Slovakia, 10:15 a.m.

Sweden vs. Switzerland, 2:15 p.m.

Denmark vs. Norway, 2:15 p.m.

May 10

Germany vs. Czech Republic, 10:15 a.m.

Slovenia vs. U.S., 10:15 a.m.

Switzerland vs. Canada, 2:15 p.m.

Slovakia vs. Russia, 2:15 p.m.

May 11

Germany vs. Austria, 10:15 a.m.

Finland vs. Belarus, 10:15 a.m.

Sweden vs. France, 2:15 p.m.

Slovenia vs. Denmark, 2:15 p.m.

May 12

Canada vs. Austria, 6:15 a.m.

Norway vs. Belarus, 6:15 a.m.

Latvia vs. France, 10:15 a.m.

U.S. vs. Slovakia, 10:15 a.m.

Czech Republic vs. Switzerland, 2:15 p.m.

Finland vs. Russia, 2:15 p.m.