World Hockey Championship 2026 Knockout Bracket Schedule and Predictions

Canada will get a chance at redemption for losing the Olympic gold medal in February in the quarterfinals of the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championships.

The United States and Canada face off on Thursday with a trip to the 2026 World Cup semifinals on the line.

Team USA will look to defend their 2025 title, while Canada will seek redemption from last year’s quarterfinals upset by Denmark.

Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule and predictions for each quarterfinal as Worlds heads into the knockout round in Switzerland.

Quarterfinal 1: 10:20 AM ET

Quarterfinal 2: 10:20 AM ET

Quarterfinal 3: 2:20 PM ET

Quarterfinal 4: 2:20 PM ET

Semifinal 1: 9:20 AM ET

Bronze Medal Match: 9:30 a.m. ET

Championship Match: 2:20 PM ET

This rivalry matchup could come down to American goaltending and Canadian special teams.

Canada ended the preliminary round with a difference of more than 20 goals, while Team USA defeated their opponents by a total of four goals.

That level of offense could prove difficult to handle for the United States, which finished the preliminary round with a team save percentage of .871.

Canada has had its own offensive struggles on the power play. Despite the star power on their top unit, the Canadians entered the preliminary round final in eighth place in the tournament with a 21.4 percent success rate on the man advantage.

The play of American goaltender Devin Cooley and whether Canada can turn around their power play against the United States could both determine whether Macklin Celebrini gets a chance to lead his team to the semifinals.

This matchup will test whether a strong Swedish defense can stop the tournament’s highest-scoring offense.

Sweden scored 27 goals in its own preliminary round, finishing fourth in the tournament with the highest score.

That was partly thanks to Detroit Red Wings star Lucas Raymond, who scored five goals and 11 points in seven preliminary round games.

The Swedes also held their opponents to just 122 shots in seven games, the third fewest in the tournament through the preliminary round.

Sweden posted a save percentage of .869 during those seven games. A strong quarter-final from a goaltending tandem of Arvid Soderblom and Magnus Hellberg could help Sweden get past one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

Switzerland enters the knockout round after a historical preliminary round.

Thanks to the tournament-high production of Sven Andrighetto (13 points in six games) and the dominant play of goaltender Leonardo Genoni (.970 save percentage and 0.50 goals against average), the Swiss are on an undefeated path to the knockout round.

Sweden will be tasked with solving Genoni, who has eliminated two teams in his four tournament appearances so far.

The Swedish defense will also have to find a way to contain an attack that led the preliminary round with 39 goals.

The Czech 2024 world champion will have to contain Finland’s Aleksander Barkov to return to the championship match after finishing sixth in last year’s tournament.

The Czech Republic will look to build on their good start in Tuesday’s preliminary round final against Canada, which saw the team jump to an early 2-0 lead.

Finland, meanwhile, will be hoping to capitalize on the Czech Republic’s struggles with special teams. The Czech Republic were among the least successful teams in the preliminary round in terms of both the penalty kill and the power play.

Finland’s shot at a semi-final spot will come from Barkov, who missed the entire 2025-26 NHL season with a knee injury but has made his return to competitive play with a dominant tournament so far.

Barkov showed his ability to take over a game on Tuesday when he answered Switzerland’s early two-goal lead by scoring twice in the space of three minutes.

In addition to limiting Barkov, the Czech Republic will also be tasked with taking on some of the best special teams in the tournament on Finland’s power play and penalty kill (success rates of 36.4 percent and 92.9 percent respectively ahead of Tuesday’s preliminary round final).

Norway may need to take fewer penalties to limit time in the defensive zone and pass Latvia.

The Norwegians struggled with penalties in the preliminary round and were in second place in the tournament in seven games with 70 penalty minutes.

Norway also had one of the best penalty-killing units in the tournament (88.5 percent success rate). This was partly due to strong play from goalkeeper Henrik Haukeland, who finished the preliminary round with a save percentage of 94.74.

The Norwegian offense will be tasked with solving Latvian netminder Kristers Gudlevskis, who recorded two shutouts in six preliminary round games.

Gudlevskis’ best performance of the opening round came during his 45-save performance against the United States.

Latvia will now lean on Gudlevskis and captain Rudolfs Balcers, who set a single-tournament scoring record for his country with seven goals in six matches, to build on that upset win and lead their team to the semi-finals.