Ukraine's ice hockey team is preparing for Lake Placid 2023 with matches in Canada ©Getty Images

Ukraine's men's ice hockey team are to tour Canada as a tune-up for the Lake Placid 2023 International University Sports Federation (FISU) Winter World University Games.

Four matches are to be played before the team heads to New York State, with the games also aiming to raise money for refugees in Ukraine.

Vadym Shakhraichuk's team are one of 12 in the men's tournament in January, along with Canada, Czech Republic, Japan, Latvia and Sweden in Group A.

Group B consists of Britain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Slovakia and hosts United States.

Russia and Belarus are not competing at the Games due to the ongoing sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine.

"The positive thing is that other hockey players will get the experience of playing with North American teams," said Shakhraichuk, according to Ukrainian publication sport.ua.

"Thanks to partnership relations with the Canadian Hockey Federation and Canadian Friends of Ukrainian Hockey, we will have a unique opportunity to play with university teams from the homeland of our sport. 

Russia and Belarus will not be at the Winter World University Games ©Getty Images
Russia and Belarus will not be at the Winter World University Games ©Getty Images

"The tour of Canada will be a good prologue to the performance at the Universiade. 

"Four matches against university teams will allow us to better adapt to the specifics of small courts, a more contact and faster game than the one our hockey players are used to in the domestic championship. 

"In addition, these two weeks will allow acclimatisation and getting used to new time zones.

"We will do everything in our power to represent the country in the most dignified manner at such competitions. 

"I will be able to say something more substantial already during the Canadian tour, when we will see what we are capable of in those conditions and when the opponents' line-ups will become known. 

"We currently have verbal intelligence from our North American representatives."

The top four teams in both groups advance to the playoffs at the Games.

These matches are to be played against the Universities of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Calgary.

The first of these matches are set to take place on Friday (December 30), with the last on January 9.

The Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games are scheduled to take place from January 12 to 22 2023.