The 2010 IIHF World Championship gets underway today at 2:00 pm ET with a game between the USA and host Germany before an anticipated crowd of more than 76,000 at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.  The full schedule, and team rosters and statistics are available (or will be shortly) at the tournament web site.

No fewer than eight members of the New York Rangers organization have travelled to Germany to play in this year's tournament.  Team USA will be well represented, with current Rangers Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Gilroy joining 2009 first-round draft pick Chris Kreider on the side.  A pair of defensemen -- 23-year-old Marc Staal and 19-year-old rookie Michael Del Zotto -- will skate for Canada while fellow blueliner Michael Roszival will represent his native Czech Republic.  Goaltender Chad Johnson, who spent most of the season with the Hartford Wolf Pack,  will also represent Canada, though isn't expected to see much playing time.  Artem Anisimov rounds out the Rangers contingent, representing Russia, which will be looking for its third consecutive World Championship title.

Select games of the tournament (primarily those of Team USA) will be broadcast by Universal Sports in the US.  Check for availability in your area here.  Some games will also be available online (see right sidebar here. UPDATE: for a fee).  Universal Sports will also be hosting a Hockey Worlds Blog with the latest news and information from the tournament.

Fans not living in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, USA, China, France, or Germany can also buy individual game broadcasts, team passes, and full tournament broadcast packages here.  TSN will be broadcasting the games in Canada; the broadcast schedule is available at their web site.

I'll be scouring the 'net for online feeds of Russia's games that aren't being broadcast stateside (their opening game vs. Slovakia at 2pm on Sunday will be) so if you're interested (and don't mind not understanding the commentary) follow me on Twitter, where I'll post links to the ones I find.  And Chris Johnson will be covering the tournament for the Canadian Press, so follow him too.

Know of other links that those wanting to follow the World Championship might find useful? Post 'em in the comments.