Only one day left until the beginning of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Both Slovak venues, the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, and the Steel Arena in Kosice, are ready one day before the official beginning of the championship. The organizing committee and representatives from the International Ice Hockey Federation are more than satisfied. 

Slovakia is hosting the Ice Hockey World championship again, after eight years. It will take place at the same sites as in 2011, the Ondrej Nepela Ice Rink in Bratislava, and the Steel Arena in Kosice. The last cleaning of the arena in Bratislava and final meetings and controls were scheduled for Thursday. There is a directorate meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon where the official tournament documents, including the rosters of all countries, will be approved. 

“The World Championship is 99,9 % ready. To reach 100%, we need to finalize a few small adjustments. We have not had any bigger complications that would disturb a problem-free start of the World Championship. We are ready to give our best in the following 16 days,” said the Organization Committee Chairman, Igor Nemecek. 

Readiness of the championship was also praised by the General Secretary of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Horst Lichtner. “I am happy to announce to all fans that Bratislava and Kosice are ready for the World Championship. I am glad that we have not had any negative response, which is not usual. After the first impressions from both venues, all national teams that have come to Slovakia have been satisfied. We are looking forward to a fantastic championship, completed by strong line-ups containing some NHL stars,” said Horst Lichtner. 

14 out of 16 national teams were present at the 2019 IIHF WM venues on Wednesday evening. The national teams from Austria and Latvia arrived in Bratislava on Thursday. The two teams could come later as their first game is scheduled on Saturday. The World Championship will take off with the opening ceremony, which will take place before the Friday evening game between Slovakia and the United States in Kosice. The World Championship is in the spotlight all over the world. There will be 30 video cameras producing television signals to 151 countries.