Spiky, the official mascot of the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship was announced in Tampere

The city of Tampere welcomes the men's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship back to Tampere, Finland's Home of Hockey, in May 2023. Tampere co-hosts the tournament together with Riga, the capital of Latvia, on May 12-28, 2023. 

Preparations for the games are already underway and the organizers presented the progress at a press conference on Thursday, September 22, at the Deck Arena in Tampere. The theme of 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship highlights togetherness and human emotions, and the tournament runs under slogan We Live the Game. 

It was also revealed that Spiky, the hedgehog, makes a comeback to the tournament as an official mascot, after working at the empty stadiums in 2021 World Championship in Riga. 

Registration for day ticket draw began

The ticket draw for day tickets played in Tampere and Riga began on Thursday, 22th of September, and runs until 12th of October. Single-game tickets are expected to be released in February 2023. 

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has released the groups and the game schedule of the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship earlier on September 8.  Both Tampere and Riga will host one group in preliminary round, and quarterfinals, but from semifinals onwards the games will be played in Tampere.