ESPN broadcast schedule for World Cup of Hockey games announced

The final World Cup of Hockey broadcast schedule has officially been announced with almost the entire slate on ESPN or ESPN2

The only game not on ESPN or ESPN2 is the Canada vs. Czech Republic game on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. eastern which is on ESPNews. This likely has to do with ESPN’s extensive college football broadcast commitments that day.

On Sept. 20, both World Cup games will be on ESPN – Finland vs. Sweden at 3 p.m. eastern and Canada vs. Team USA at 8 p.m. eastern. The NHL released the broadcast schedule Wednesday, one day after the pre-tournament broadcast schedule was announced.

Here is the full schedule.

Overall seven games are on ESPN, nine games on ESPN2, and one game on ESPNews.

ESPN’s return to broadcasting hockey with NHL players has been much hyped since its World Cup deal announced. ESPN, which holds the rights to multiple major sporting events, had a longstanding relationship with the NHL before the league decided to go with Comcast/NBC properties after the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

ESPN has used its properties to push the tournament, including a live announcement of John Tortorella as Team USA’s head coach on SportsCenter. Team USA’s initial 16-man roster was also announced on SportsCenter.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper