World Cup 2004 Site Announced

World Cup 2004 - Toronto, Canada
NHL.com article

The tournament, a joint effort staged by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation, will feature the national teams from the top eight hockey-playing nations in the world. Tournament organizers discussed many of the preliminary details of the tournament during Wednesday afternoon's press conference at the Air Canada Centre, which will host the final game Sept. 14, 2004. "It's a real honor for us to be the host of the championship game for the World Cup of 2004," Ken Dryden, Toronto Maple Leafs President, said. "We are very pleased to have preliminary round games here, a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and the final game of the 2004 World Cup." According to organizers, the tournament's final will be a one-game affair, as opposed to the best-of-three format that was used in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and also in several Canada Cups. Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia and Germany are scheduled to take part in the tournament.