Ice hockey-World Cup of Hockey

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Facts about the Sept. 17-Oct. 1 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto: * The tournament is a joint effort of the National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association, in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation. * The World Cup, which is the successor to the Canada Cup that ran from 1976 to 1991, occurred twice before, with the United States winning in 1996 and Canada winning in 2004. * It was rebooted this year as the NHL seeks a potential alternative to having its players compete in the Olympics, given concerns over travel spending, insurance and having to shut down its regular season for nearly three weeks. * The eight teams competing in the World Cup are Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Team North America and Team Europe. * Team Europe will comprise a pan-European roster of players who were born outside the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden. * Team North America will feature the top hockey players from Canada and the United States who will be under the age of 23 as of Oct. 1. * Teams are divided into two Groups of four and will play a three-game round-robin format. The top two finishers in Group A and Group B advance to the semi-finals, where the first-place team from each Group will face an elimination game against the second-place team from the other Group. The winners advance to a best-of-three final series. * All games will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, home of the NHL's Maple Leafs. (Compiled by Frank Pingue; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)