The 2023 Stanley Cup playoff may still be in full swing, but there's another massive hockey tournament going on.

your free trial now!

The 2023 IIHF World Championship is set to get underway in Europe. There are 16 countries competing at the event, with the goal of a gold medal in mind.

Finland enters this year as the defending champions. The country defeated Canada 4-3 in overtime of the 2022 gold-medal game to earn its fourth first-place finish at the tournament.

It has been Finland and Canada competing in the championship game of the event for the last three consecutive years. Will that trend continue in 2023, or will a new country contend for gold?

The Sporting News has everything you need for the 2023 IIHF World Championship.

MORE: Watch the 2023 IIHF World Championship live with fuboTV (free trial, U.S. only)
2023 IIHF World Championship standings

There are 16 countries competing at the 2023 IIHF World Championship. The group is split up into two pools of eight.

Teams will play seven preliminary games in a round-robin format within their group, followed by a three-round playoff.

In the group stage, teams earn three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss and no points for a regulation loss.

The top four teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals. The winners of quarterfinal games advance to the semis, while the losers will play in a 5th-place game for seeding purposes. The victors of the semifinals will face off in the gold medal game, and the semis losers will play for bronze.