The Karjala Cup is held in Finland in November and kicks off the national team tournaments that are sprinkled throughout the European hockey seasons.
Usually, there are four teams: Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic. They form teams made up of their players on European teams and they play a simple round-robin format of three games each. They go on to play in Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic at various times of the year.
It’s a great chance for the teams to prepare their national squads for the World Championships and to try out new and younger players.