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Hlinka Gretzky Cup gets underway Friday with pre-tournament games

Jul 28, 2022 | 4:07 PM

The 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup gets underway Sunday in Red Deer.

All games are scheduled to be played at the Peavey Mart Centrium at Westerner Park.

Group A
Canada
Slovakia
Sweden
Switzerland

Group B
Czechia
Finland
Germany
United States

A full schedule is available at hlinkagretzkycup.ca.

Day one is Sunday, July 31, with Czechia playing Finland (11 a.m.), Germany hosting the U.S. (3 p.m.) and Canada the visitors to Switzerland (7 p.m.).

There is also a pre-tournament game scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, July 29 at the Penhold Multiplex.

Three more pre-tournament games take place in Red Deer on July 29, with U.S. facing Slovakia (11 a.m.), Sweden taking on Czechia (3 p.m.), and Canada battling Finland (7 p.m.), all from the Centrium.

The Hlinka Gretzky Cup was hosted in Red Deer and Edmonton in summer 2018, and was slated to return in summer 2020, but that edition was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Edmonton was awarded the entirety of the make-up 2022 World Juniors tournament instead of co-hosting with Red Deer as originally planned, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup was then transitioned to being hosted all in Red Deer.

The tournament’s most recent winner is Russia, which was victorious in 2021 when it was played in Czechia and Slovakia. Russia won the tournament in 2019 in the same location. Canada won in Edmonton/Red Deer in 2018.

Russia and Belarus were barred from the 2022 tournament earlier this year following their involvement in the war with Ukraine.

READ MORE: Rebels’ Kalan Lind to play at Hlinka Gretzky Cup