Finland, Latvia to land 2023 hockey worlds taken from Russia

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Finland is expected to host the men’s hockey world championship two years in a row after teaming up with Latvia in a bid to stage the 2023 tournament that was stripped from Russia because of the war in Ukraine. The Finnish city of Tampere is bidding with the Latvian capital city of Riga. Latvia hosted in 2021. An IIHF congress will confirm Finland and Latvia as hosts on Friday. Russia was supposed to stage the 2023 tournament in President Vladimir Putin’s home city of St. Petersburg but the IIHF removed it as host on April 26.