The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the Preliminary Round. The top four ranked teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals that will be played in a cross-over format on May 18. The first-place team in each preliminary-round group will play the fourth-place team in the other group, while the second-place team plays the third-place team of the other group. The winning teams advance to the semifinals, which will be held on May 20, and the gold-medal game will be played on May 21. NHL Network and NBCSN will televise and stream (NBCSports.com and NBC Sports app) all United States games in the tournament, as well as all quarterfinal, semifinal and medal-round games.
Group A will play its Preliminary Round games at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. The arena will also host two quarterfinal games, along with the semifinals, and bronze and gold-medal games. AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France, will host Group B Preliminary Round games and two quarterfinal contests.
Canada defeated Finland in the gold-medal game last year and Russia defeated the United States in the bronze-medal contest.
