The NHL announced its next best-on-best tournament on Monday. It will be another edition of the World Cup, with host cities in Europe and Canada. However, no games will be played in the United States, which has enraged NHL insider Paul Bissonnette.
The 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, held in 2025, featured Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland. For its next best-on-best venture, the NHL confirmed that a World Cup will be played in February 2028.
READ MORE: Paul Bissonnette hilariously mocked on live TV
World Cup of hockey 2028
The World Cup is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held in 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1991. The World Cup itself has taken place in 1996, 2004, and 2016. Canada has won the tournament twice, in 2004 and 2016, while the United States won in 1996.
The eight participating countries have not yet been announced. Russia’s war in Ukraine has led to its disqualification from Olympic competition, which means it could also be banned from a World Cup tournament. If Russia were to participate, other European countries might boycott the event in support of Ukraine, making the situation highly complex.
World Cup 2028 host cities
The 2028 World Cup will be played in Czechia and Canada. Calgary and Prague will host six round-robin games and one elimination game each. The semifinal games and the gold medal game will take place in Edmonton. Given the recent success of Team USA in international tournaments, insider Paul Bissonnette finds it strange that no games will be played in the United States.
Paul Bissonnette enraged
“I loved the Four Nations setup because the U.S. and Canada deserve representation. I believe Europe should be included as well, but at the next best-on-best hosted by the NHL. Considering Europe just had the Olympics and will get it again in 2030, I think America should have had one or two host cities in the 2028 World Cup. They just had a clean sweep. I’m looking forward to Canada beating them next time around, but I think having no U.S. host city is ridiculous,” Bissonnette wrote on X after the news broke.
His Spittin’ Chiclets podcast co-host, Ryan Whitney, feels the same way.
“Like all hockey fans, I’m fired up for the World Cup of Hockey to return, but after winning the gold medal in everything, it’s insane to me that no games will be played in the United States of America,” he wrote on X.
READ MORE: World Cup of Hockey 2028: Everything you need to know
