Hockey Canada, on behalf of the IIHF, released the schedule for the 31 games, all of which will be played in WinSport Arena at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

The IIHF announced Calgary as the new host city for the tournament in June, after Nova Scotia's Government pulled out of staging the event in April.

Nova Scotia's withdrawal came less than a month before the event was due to start on May 6.

With Calgary stepping in, this year's event remains the eighth time Canada has hosted the competition.

Dean McIntosh, vice-president of events and properties with Hockey Canada, said: "The excitement has been building ever since Calgary was announced as the new host of the IIHF Women’s World Championship, and this is another reason the excitement continues to build for hockey fans. 

"A tremendous amount of work has gone into hosting this international tournament with the collaborative efforts of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services.

"This tournament would also not be possible without the support of the Province of Alberta, Hockey Alberta, the City of Calgary, Tourism Calgary and WinSport, and we are grateful to be able to showcase the best women’s hockey players in the world as they compete for a gold medal."

Canada are in Group A with Finland, a "neutral" Russian team, Switzerland and the defending champions, the United States.

Group B is comprised of the the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Japan.

The group stage will last for seven days, with three games played on six of those days.

August 28 is the date for the quarter-finals, with the semi-finals on August 30 and the final following the next day.

Canada and the US are the only teams to have won the World Championship, the former leading the US 10 wins to nine.

The Americans have won the last five World Championships, however.

Only once has a team other than the US and Canada competed in the final - Finland losing to the US in 2019.