The Latest: World Cup of Hockey will happen again in 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on the World Cup of Hockey roster announcements (all times local):
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4:01 p.m.
Six months before the World Cup of Hockey returns after a 12-year hiatus, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL Players' Association executive director Don Fehr confirmed there will be another one in 2020.
''There's no doubt about that,'' Fehr said. ''The plan was to establish an ongoing event, establish the brand, establish the identity and go forward with it.''
Fehr said the league and players will do an extensive debrief after the 2016 World Cup and planned to make some conclusions in October and beyond. Daly said future tournaments aren't locked in to having all games in one city such as Toronto, and other factors can be tweaked for 2020.
''We'll learn a lot from this tournament,'' Daly said. ''Longer term we have a vision for what this tournament looks like and how we select teams and how that goes about.''
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3:58 p.m.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hopes hockey fans are just as excited to see the 16-man World Cup of Hockey rosters as he was.
Bettman said after an event at the U.S. Capitol that his reaction to the rosters released Wednesday was ''whoa.'' Russia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden have released their first 16, while the 23-and-under Team North America, Team Europe, Canada and the United States are set to announce theirs later in the day.
Even though the World Cup doesn't start until Sept. 17, Bettman said the rosters make the event more concrete. Teams don't have to name full rosters until June 1, but this was a substantial start toward building anticipation for the World Cup.
''It now takes a concept and makes it real,' Bettman said. ''It gives people something to focus on that's very exciting when you start comparing the rosters.''
