World Cup of Hockey sets pre-tourney games, camp sites

The NHL and the players' union announced Wednesday that the eight teams in next year's World Cup of Hockey will play a slate of 12 pre-tournament games Sept. 8-14.

The games will be played in Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Washington; Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City; Prague; Gothenburg, Sweden; Helsinki; and St. Petersburg, Russia.

The U.S. will hold its camp in Columbus, home of coach John Tortorella's Blue Jackets. Canada will hold its training camp in Ottawa and play exhibition games there, as well as Columbus and Pittsburgh.

Team North America, made up of players 23 and younger from Canada and the United States, will hold camp in Montreal and Quebec City along with Team Europe.

The tournament opens group play on Sept. 17. A best-of-three final is set for Sept. 27, Sept. 29 and, if necessary, Oct. 1.

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NHLPA, NHL details: http://www.nhlpa.com/news/world-cup-of-hockey-2016-exhibition-training-camp-schedules-released and http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=793114&navid=nhl:topheads