The contest will be the first clash of the competition on the opening day on April 23 before hosts Britain go up against Croatia.

Estonia and Lithuania then take to the ice in the third and final game on day one in Northern Ireland.

On April 24, Japan play Croatia, Lithuania entertain The Netherlands, who were promoted from Division II Group A in 2016, and Britain do battle with Estonia.

Following a scheduled rest day, action resumes with Japan versus Estonia, while the Dutch face Croatia and Britain play Lithuania on April 26.

The players then get another day off before the fourth round of matches on April 28, which sees Lithuania play Japan, Croatia try to overcome Estonia and Britain bid for a win against The Netherlands.

The tournament, the first IIHF World Championships event to be held in Britain for a quarter of a century, concludes with the hosts’ encounter with Japan, which comes after matches between Lithuania and Croatia and Estonia and The Netherlands respectively.

Britain has finished as runners-up in consecutive years of Division I Group B competition.

At this year's tournament in Zagreb, Britain missed out on promotion to Division I Group A when they lost 2-1 to Ukraine having gone into the match needing only a point to finish top.

The 2017 event at the SSE Arena in Belfast, the home venue for Elite Ice Hockey League side the Belfast Giants, is seen as a key opportunity for Britain to earn promotion in front of a home crowd.

It has the backing of the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Brian Kingston.

“This is another exciting moment in the build-up to the tournament with the announcement of the schedule,” Ice Hockey UK general secretary Andy French said.

“A lot of hard work is already going on behind the scenes to make sure this event is a great success.

“This is going to be a massive event for ice hockey in the UK and there is already so much interest in the tournament.”