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Ice hockey world championship live - this is how you can watch it for free

Ice hockey fans are surely looking forward to May, when the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship starts. With a little trick you can watch the ice hockey world championship live stream for free. You just need a reliable VPN like NordVPN and you need to know which channels are broadcasting the event on free TV. In this post I will show you step by step how to watch the Ice Hockey World Cup online.

The Ice Hockey World Championship will be held from May 12 to 28 and the host countries are Finland and Latvia.

These channels will show the World Cup ice hockey live stream for free

Let's very briefly clarify the question of which channels are broadcasting the tournament at all. That clears up a few more questions.

  • ORF in Austria
  • SPORT1 in Germany. You can watch 34 matches on free TV. All matches with German participation and the knockout rounds are broadcast. The remaining games can be watched on the paid channel SPORT1+.
  • YouTube channel of the IIHF. You can watch the games in countries without exclusive TV rights.

You can also watch the Ice Hockey World Cup online for free via Match TV in Russia. However, this is only possible with CyberGhost, as the provider provides servers in Russia. However, I have tested this and it works flawlessly.

Because of the so-called geoblocking, however, it is not possible to access the streaming providers just like that. To stream Sport1, you have to be in Germany. For ORF you have to be in Austria and so on. You can, of course, digitally move to these countries with a VPN by connecting to a server in Germany or Austria. In the past, the Swiss broadcaster SRF has also broadcast various games of the Ice Hockey World Championship, but there is no further information on this at the moment.

With ORF, it's usually the case that you can stream the games via the ORF TVthek as a replay. So if you miss a game, you can watch it relive.

Watching the World Cup of Hockey online - step by step

I will now briefly explain to you how you can stream the Ice Hockey World Championship on free TV from anywhere for free. It's not hard and you don't need any special technical knowledge for it.

Total Time: 10 minutes

Get a streaming VPN

A good place to start is by getting yourself a VPN that is known for high streaming quality. NordVPN is our all-purpose provider that has served us great so far. But CyberGhost is also known for its streaming qualities and is a great alternative. The important thing is that your VPN delivers sufficiently high speeds so that you can stream in HD or even Ultra HD / 4k.

Install the app on your device

The two VPNs mentioned above offer apps and clients for all popular operating systems: Android, Windows, iOS, macOS, and even Linux. So you can watch on your Android TV, with your Fire TV Stick and so on. Consider on which device you want to watch the Ice Hockey World Cup live stream for free and install the VPN app on it.

Connect to the right server

Here it depends on which channel you want to watch the Ice Hockey World Cup online. Then you connect to the appropriate server. For example, if you want to watch via ORF, you have to connect to a server in Austria.

Ice hockey world championship free of charge on free TV

That's all you have to do. I hope that there will be many exciting games. Have fun!

That's not hard, is it? VPN apps are now so user-friendly that anyone can use them.

Which teams will participate in the 2023 World Ice Hockey Championship

There are 16 teams in total. They are divided two groups (A and B) - so eight teams per group. The top four teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will continue in a knockout system. The winners qualify for semifinals and then the final follows.

Group A:

  • Germany
  • Austria
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • France
  • USA
  • Denmark
  • Hungary

Group B:

  • Switzerland
  • Canada
  • Norway
  • Czech Republic
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Latvia
  • Kazakhstan

In the preliminary round, everyone plays against everyone in their respective group. The best teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals. The two teams in the last places, on the other hand, are immediately relegated. If the teams have the same amount of points, the direct comparison counts.

If a team wins in regular playing time, it gets three points. If it is tied after the normal playing time (three thirds a 20 minutes), there is the Overtime or overtime. Here is now played a maximum of ten minutes and it is a sudden death mode. This means that the team that scores the first goal wins.

Overtime is special because there are only three field players and a goalkeeper on each side. If there is still no winner after the overtime, the match is decided by penalty shootout. The winner then gets two points and the loser at least one.

FAQ - frequently asked questions

Let's briefly summarize what questions you might have about this topic

Can I watch the Ice Hockey World Championship with a free VPN?

Probably not. There are several problems with free VPNs. There are many dubious providers where you end up paying with your data. They collect your data and sell it to third parties. The services often do not work well.
Of course, there are also reputable free VPNs, but they all have major limitations. Many only offer a low data volume and with that you can't even stream a full game. Others throttle the speeds severely or don't offer servers in the relevant countries. You are much better off with a cheap premium VPN.

Is bypassing geoblocking legal to stream the World Cup of Hockey for free?

I guess it depends on the country. In some countries it is legal, in others it is a gray area. Laws can change and please inform yourself what is allowed and what is not in your country. It may even be that a VPN itself is illegal in your country. There are not many countries where VPNs are illegal, but it is possible.
However, bypassing geoblocking may violate the usage policies of individual streaming providers. Usually, there are no serious consequences here, though. If the streaming provider detects a VPN, it usually only blocks the stream and/or asks you to deactivate the VPN or proxy.

Where can I watch World Ice Hockey Championship online?

There are several channels that show all games or many games in livestream. These include ORF and SPORT1, possibly also SRF. However, the broadcasts are subject to geoblocking and you need an IP address from the corresponding country. The best VPNs offer servers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, so you can stream the Ice Hockey World Cup live.

By: Michael Miller
Michael is the CEO of VPN Online, one of the fastest-growing media companies in the cyber-security space. VPN Online was started in 2019 after Michael consulted with many Fortune 500 companies and saw the lack of understanding about cybersecurity many of their employees had.