Canada hosts the annual international under-18 hockey tournament Hlinka Gretzky Cup 2022. This year the tournament takes place in Red Deer, on the ice of Peavey Mart Centrium.

The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is the most prestigious international tournament among the strongest national teams in hockey under-18. Team Canada leads the tournament in terms of the number of victories - more than 20 times. The tournament is not sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which instead hosts the U18 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships each April. Despite this, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is considered a significant event in junior hockey.

Traditionally, eight national under-18 hockey teams take part in the tournament. This year, the Hlinka Gretzky Cup will be held without the participation of the Russian team, instead of it, the German team was invited to the tournament. U18 Teams participating in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup 2022: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.

Like every year, the information partner in the Baltic region «Hockey on Pribalt.info» follows the tournament online. On the https://en.pribalt.info/hlinka-gretzky-cup you will find a calendar of games, teams rosters, online results and match reviews, standings and the latest news.

At the group stage, teams play one match with each in their group. Teams that took 1st and 2nd places in their groups cross-match in the semi-finals, the winners of which play in the final of the tournament, and the losers in the match for 3rd place. The tournament runs from July 31 to August 6.

The competition dates back to 1991 and used to be called the «Pacific Cup», «Nations Cup», «U-18 Junior World Cup», «Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament». In 2018, the name of another famous hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, was added to the name of the tournament, and it was decided to alternate the venue between the Czech Republic/Slovakia and Canada.

Ivan Hlinka - Czech hockey player and coach, Olympic champion, three-time world champion as a player and once as a coach. He is one of the first Czechoslovakian hockey players to play in the NHL - Vancouver Canucks in the 1981-1982 season, in 2002 inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Ice Hockey Federation.