A is for adrenaline this weekend as there’s plenty of exciting Ice Hockey, PGA and COD action in store!

Ice Hockey World Championships 2022

If you’re missing that winter sports adrenaline buzz in the wake of the incredible Winter Olympics in February, the Ice Hockey World Championships has your back! This year, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will be hosting the Championships in Finland, where teams, including the home team Finland vs Norway, will face off from 13th May.

Before we look at what can be expected from the World Championships, let’s step back in time to look at how the competition used to run. The IIHF was created in 1908, and the first World Championship competition was held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The first individual event was held in 1930 for 12 nations, and in 1951 the general format of the tournament was established: after the preliminary round robin, the top 7 teams played for the title, and the other 6 played for position. Today, over 40 countries compete in several different divisions. Similarly, the teams in the championship will play a preliminary round, before the top 8 teams battle it out and the winning team is crowned champion.

Like all major sporting events, the Ice Hockey World Championships will hold a much-anticipated opening ceremony at the Nokia Arena, Finland, just before the home team play their first match. The event director Petteri Hietanen has kept the specifics of the event under wraps but revealed the general theme: “Making Miracles”. Petteri shared that the ceremony encapsulates the miracles of the Finnish nature and landscape, as well as the sporting miracles that will take place in the rink. The ceremony also aims to bring forth the importance of making small miracles happen every day. It will use music, lights, video and ‘modern technology’ to showcase the best of Finland to an international audience.

Last week, Lithuania defied all expectations as they collected a bronze medal in the Division I Group A tie against Romania, leaving Romania to be relegated this year. Lithuania recovered from a bad first period to secure the third-place position in Division I this year, and 19th overall in the 2022 World Championship programme. Surprising results like these have spiced up the game and got us in the mood for an exciting Championship competition next week.

Canada, who have the best overall record since 2012, and in fact have won the most gold medals, including last year's, are certainly the top contenders and are expected to dominate Group A. After their shock exit from Beijing 2022 in the quarter finals, they will be keen to bounce back. Out of the teams in Group B, Finland will surely come out on top after finishing in 2nd place in 2021 and being able to exploit home advantage. What’s more, it was the Finns who knocked Canada out in Beijing, where they won their first ice hockey Olympic gold, and they will be keen to repeat the triumphant experience. However, Sweden have also experienced relative success in recent times, and a competitive Nordic derby could produce an interesting result.

Who do you think will bag gold this year? Whichever team manages to clinch gold, it’s bound to go right down to the wire, and you won’t want to miss it!

USA PGA Championship

Those of you who enjoy a slower pace of life might prefer to tune into the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) championship competition, starting on 19 May 2022, at the Southern Hills Country Club. The competition, which used to be held in the summer months, is currently held in May, the weekend before Memorial Day, and is the second major event of the golfing season, following the Masters Tournament in April.

The purse for this competition is $12,000,000. The PGA tour designates a specific percentage of the tournament purse for each place in the standings from 1st to 70th. The winner of the Championship will win an outstanding 18%, and the player in 70th place will win 0.2%.

The current defending champion is Phil Mickelson. Mickelson stepped out of the limelight early this year due to his controversial opinions about the fact that the league is backed by Saudi Arabia, and his views of it. He apologised for his choice of words but noted that golf still needs to change. The champion is set to return, after missing out on the Masters, and he will attempt to become the eighth golfer to successfully defend his title, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka.

The real battle at the top, however, will be between Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm. Scheffler, who began the year outside of the top 10, is currently the highest-ranking player in the world and will aim to claim his third title in five. Rahm, coming off the back of a win at the Mexico Open earlier this month, will be keen to reclaim top spot in the world of golf.

Will Rahm bounce back? Or will Mickelson step up to reclaim his title? Whatever happens, one this is for certain, there will be an outstanding and exciting display of golf throughout! Don’t miss out!

Call of Duty League. Toronto Ultra: Major III

Calling all you COD fans out there! Press “F” to place your bets as qualifying for the forthcoming Toronto Ultra: Major III, which will see Canada host a Call of Duty League major for the first time ever, gets underway this Friday!

The anticipation ahead of the first week of qualifiers is already hitting fever-pitch proportions in the wake of last weekend’s Pro-Am Classic in which New York Subliners defied all the odds to bring home the bacon after cruising home to a 3-1 win in the grand final against LA Thieves and fans will no doubt be eager to see if they can make their presence felt again in this tournament.

They’ll have their work cut out for them this time around, however, as they lock horns with Atlanta FaZe who are currently sitting top of the table. Hell hath no fury like a wounded animal, as they say, and the top dogs will be keen to get back to winning ways after a disappointing showing at the Pro-Am classic, which saw them crash out at the quarter-final stage after slipping to a narrow 3-2 defeat to bitter rivals OpTic Texas.

Speaking of OpTic, they’ll also be keen to lay down a marker Los Angeles Guerrillas in their quest to oust FaZe from top spot in the rankings. The same could also be said of London Royal Ravens, who’ll also be eager to gain some winning momentum ahead of this tournament to keep pace with the top 2.

However, picking up a win against LA Thieves won’t be a cakewalk as their opponents will no doubt be spurred on by their strong showing at last week’s Pro-Am Classic.

Whatever happens, one thing’s for certain, we’re in for a very intriguing weekend of esports action!