Winter Games New Zealand organisers have added two ice hockey tests for Dunedin between transtasman rivals Australia and New Zealand to the programme.
The ice hockey tests open the nine-day event, which runs from August 22 at venues around Otago.
Organisers have billed the line-up as the world's largest winter sports event outside the Olympics.
It is predicted the games will attract about 800 elite athletes, who will contest 20 different disciplines of ice and snow sports.
Winter Games chief executive Arthur Klap said building the programme had been a complex exercise but the support of the various national sporting bodies around the world, together with the FIS, had been exceptional.
The only "disappointment" had been missing out on securing a short track speed skating World Cup event, he said.
However, the "really strong" programme would provide winter sports in New Zealand with a significant boost a year out from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Otago venues include Dunedin (figure skating, ice hockey), Queenstown skifields Coronet Peak and the Remarkables (alpine ski racing, freeskiing, snowboarding) and Wanaka's Cardrona Alpine Resort and Snow Farm (cross-country skiing, freeskiing, snowboarding), while Naseby will host a week-long curling tournament.
Winter triathlon - at the Snow Farm - will also feature as a demonstration sport in the programme.
Spectators will have free access to all the events, including the opening and closing ceremonies, and the games would be broadcast on television to international audiences, Klap said.
The programme had been designed to provide a strong representation for all sports, including adaptive snow sports, and to give athletes an opportunity to gain valuable competition experience in an elite environment prior to Vancouver in 2010, he said.
Winter Games: Key dates
August 22, 23: New Zealand v Australia ice hockey, Dunedin.
August 23-29: Curling, Naseby.
August 24, 25: Nordic skiing, Snow Farm, Wanaka.
August 25, 27: Alpine ski racing, Coronet Peak.
August 25, 26: Freeski and snowboard halfpipe, Cardrona skifield.
August 28, 29: Figure skating, Dunedin.
August 30: Snowboard, freeski big air and closing ceremony, Coronet Peak.
