Schedule Announced for 2023 World Junior Championship
9/8/2022 9:44:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Rand Pecknold Set to Serve as Head Coach of the 2023 US National Junior Team
Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold and the 2023 US National Junior Team will see their first action in the preliminary round on Monday, Dec. 26 vs. Latvia (5:00 PM AST).
USA Hockey returns on Wednesday, Dec. 28 vs. Slovakia, plays again vs. Switzerland on Thursday, Dec. 29, then faces off with Finland on Saturday, Dec. 31 to round out the opening round of action.
Full 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship Schedule: CLICK HERE
Pecknold recently completed action at the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp in Michigan (July/August 2022) – which serves as an initial evaluation heading into competition in December.
ABOUT TEAM USA SCHEDULE
Team USA will compete in Group B along with Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and Switzerland during preliminary round action at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick. Group A includes Austria, Canada, Czechia, Germany and Sweden, who will compete at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
All of the U.S. National Junior Team's four preliminary-round games will take place at 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET). The team begins the tournament with a matchup against Latvia on Dec. 26 before games against Slovakia (Dec. 28) and Switzerland (Dec. 29). Team USA closes the preliminary round with a showdown against Finland on Dec. 31.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinal round, which is set for Jan. 2. The Avenir Centre in Moncton, N.B., will feature games starting at 12 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) and 5 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) local time. The Scotiabank Centre will play host to the other two quarterfinal matchups, set for 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) and 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) local time.
The winners of the quarterfinal games will advance to the semifinals, which will be held at Scotiabank Centre on Jan. 4 at 3:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET) and 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) local time.
The final day of competition will take place the following day, Jan. 5, at Scotiabank Centre. The bronze-medal game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET) local time, with the gold-medal finale set for 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET) local time.
Broadcast information for U.S. fans will be announced at a later date.
ABOUT PECKNOLDRand Pecknold recently finished his 28th season as head coach of the Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey program and guided his team to a 32-7-3 overall record in 2021-22, the school's eighth NCAA tournament appearance and its sixth ECAC Hockey regular-season title. Pecknold, who was the Spencer Penrose Award recipient as the top coach in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey in 2016, has a record of 581-333-100 and ranks third among active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
He has twice been part of U.S. coaching staffs, including for the U.S. Men's National Team that competed in the 2017 IIHF Men's World Championship and for the U.S. Under-18 Men's National Team that earned a silver medal in the 2018 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship.
Pecknold began his storied career at Quinnipiac in 1994-95 when the team competed at the Division II level. He shepherded the school into its Division I era in 1998-99, leading the Bobcats to a then school-record 26 victories, with 18 additional 20-plus win campaigns to his credit since and also three seasons with 30 or more wins.
The four-time ECAC Hockey Tim Taylor Coach of the Year played hockey collegiately at Connecticut College (1986-90) where he earned both a bachelor's degree in economics and master's degree in education. He went on to serve three seasons (1991-94) as an assistant hockey coach for the school before taking over the head coaching reins at Quinnipiac.
For more information regarding USA Hockey, visit teamusa.usahockey.com
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