Should Tomas Hertl get the chance to represent his country again in best-on-best competition, he will get the chance in his home country.
The Vegas Golden Knights center’s home country of Czechia was selected Monday as one of the hosts for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.
The NHL-sanctioned best-on-best tournament will return in February 2028, 12 years after its last installment.
“Czech Republic, we love hockey,” Hertl said Monday. “If I make it, you never know, it’ll be a cool thing. I think it’s exciting, especially for our country. We don’t have many hockey players, but I would say in Europe, we’re one of the biggest loves for hockey.”
The three prior tournaments served as precursors to the NHL’s regular season. This one will take place instead of the All-Star Game, much like the Winter Olympics in Milan in February.
Prague joins Edmonton and Calgary as the host cities. Calgary and Prague will host seven games — six round-robin games and one elimination game.
The semifinals and championship game will take place in Edmonton.
Two pools of four teams each will play in the round robin. The top three teams in each pool advance to the knockout stage. The top teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.
The other two teams will play in an elimination game with the winners advancing to the semifinals.
Twenty-eight cities worldwide placed bids to host, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday. Las Vegas was one of those cities to place a bid, Knights president of business operations John Penhollow confirmed in December.
The 2016 World Cup was the last best-on-best tournament before NHL players returned to Olympic competition this year. Canada won that year, as well as in 2004.
The United States won the first tournament in 1996.
It could be another opportunity to grow the intense rivalry between Team USA and Canada. The two nations have gone to overtime in the last two best-on-best championships, with Canada winning the 4 Nations in February 2025 and the United States winning gold in the Olympics this year.
The 2024 IIHF World Championships provided a glimpse of what the atmosphere will be like in Prague.
The total attendance throughout the tournament was 797,727, a tournament record, according to the IIHF.
O2 Arena was sold out, with 17,413 watching the hometown team defeat Switzerland in the gold medal game.
“It’s one of the best (atmospheres),” Hertl said. “I even tell guys when they play in the world championships, the atmosphere for every game is just electric. People love it. The most-watched event if the hockey in Czech. People can just take a break from the world just watching big games like that.
“They’re probably really excited about it. They can see the best players in Prague. And other people like to drink beer, you know? There’s chemistry between the hockey and the beer.”
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
