World Cup of Hockey 2016 previews: Puck Daddy breaks down the teams

TORONTO – The World Cup of Hockey will officially get underway at 3:30 p.m. eastern time Saturday when the United States takes on Team Europe at the Air Canada Centre.

This is the first World Cup since 2004 when Canada defeated Finland. Since then the league has gone to three Olympics with Canada winning twice (2010 an 2014) and Sweden once in 2006. This tournament is sanctioned by the NHL and NHLPA while the Olympics were not.

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The semifinal round — following the round robin preliminary round — starts next Saturday. The final round is a best-of-three and starts Sept. 27.

We broke down every team in the tournament and tried to take a look at where which squad will have the edge. Canada is the favorite, but it’s conceivable that another team could jump up and win. Every team in the World Cup has some level of star power.

Puck Daddy picks the World Cup champs
Czech Republic
Canada
Team North America
Finland
Sweden
USA
Team Europe
Russia

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