The men's under-20 tournament was supposed to be played last December and January in Edmonton and Red Deer and got underway, only for a series of COVID-19 outbreaks to lead to its cancellation.

It has been rescheduled to run from tomorrow until August 20, starting from scratch.

Since the original window, the hosting national body Hockey Canada has been plunged into turmoil and Russia disqualified.

Russia cannot play as the nation is banned from IIHF events over the war in Ukraine, so Latvia have been added to the line-up.

Hockey Canada, meanwhile, has had its access to public funds frozen as it faces harsh criticism over its handling of complaints of sexual assault.

The crisis was triggered when it became known earlier this year that Hockey Canada had settled a case for CAD3.55 million (£2.2 million/$2.7 million/€2.7 million) with a woman who claims she was abused by members of Canada's junior national team in 2018.

The chair of Hockey Canada's Board of Directors, Michael Brind'Amour, resigned last week.

On the ice, Canada will be seeking a record 19th IIHF Junior World Championship title.

The hosts, the United States and Finland have each won three of the last nine editions.

The US won the last completed edition, also in Edmonton, at the end of 2020 and start of 2021.

Rogers Place is the venue for every game and the Czech Republic are due to face Slovakia in tomorrow's opener.