There will be eight Blackhawks players and three prospects competing in the quarterfinal round Thursday at the World Championship in Slovakia.
The winners will advance to Saturday’s semifinals, when the matchups will be determined by seeds instead of a traditional bracket. The top-seeded semifinalist will play the lowest-seeded one, and the other two teams will face off for a spot in the gold-medal game.
The day opens with the Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane (United States) taking on Artem Anisimov (Russia). The other early quarterfinal matchup will see Dylan Strome (Canada) face off against forward prospect Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland).