Mape and Choco get to see the best of the best battle it out in their hometowns , I went to see them in 96 at Madison Square Garden. The quality is so much better than at the world championships cuz the teams are the A squads with all the NHL stars !

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Hockey Federations from the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Germany will make up the European Pool, while Russia and Slovakia will join defending 1996 World Cup of Hockey Champion United States and 2002 Olympic Champion Canada in the North American Pool. The battle between the U.S. and Canada will be at center-stage early in the tournament when the rivals meet Aug. 31 (ESPN2) in Montreal. The countries have exchanged significant victories in recent memory with the U.S. beating Canada, 5-2, to win the World Cup of Hockey 1996 and Canada snatching gold from the U.S. in 2002 at the Winter Olympics also with a 5-2 victory.



The World Cup of Hockey 2004 will open with round-robin play from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5 when competition within the European and North American groups begins. All eight teams qualify for the single-elimination quarterfinal playoffs, which begin Sept. 6. The two quarterfinal winners from the European Pool will travel to North America to compete against the two North American qualifiers. The semifinal rounds (ESPN2) will take place in St. Paul Sept. 10 and in Toronto Sept. 11. The championship game (ESPN) will be played Sept. 14 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.



Three North American and four European venues will host games: Air Canada Centre in Toronto (Sept. 4, 5, 8, 11 & 14); Bell Centre in Montreal (Aug. 31 & Sept. 1); and Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (Sept. 2, 3, 7 &10); Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland (Aug. 30 & Sept. 4); Globe Arena in Stockholm (Aug. 31 & Sept. 1); Cologne Arena in Cologne, Germany (Sept. 2) and Sazka Arena in Prague, Czech Republic (Sept. 3).