IIHF World Championship Update

With the Prelim Round now over-with. The Qualifying & Relegation Rounds get underway today. One of the biggest shockers has been the shocking performance of Denmark as they were able to shock both the United States and Finland before losing to Germany in their final 1st Round Loss.

With for the most part many of the big names out of this year's tournament, this event has been one of the more unpredictable in recent years. In addition to Denmark, Norway was able to pull off an OT win over the Czech Republic.

Switzerland was able to go unbeaten in the Group Win after wins against Italy and Latvia. It was de javu of the 2006 Prelim Round Game as Switzerland was able control the game against Canada 4-1 to finish on top of Group B.

The big disappointment has to be the USA. After losing to Germany in the tournament opener in front of a crowd of over 77,000. That turned into a bad vibe as they had another OT loss to Denmark and a one goal loss to Finland. That means that the Americans finished last and will play France, Italy and Kazakhstan in the Relegation Round.

Despite the ability that should be these 3 teams easily, the desperation of lower ranked teams looking to stay up will show and it will be much harder then you think. It should be nothing short of 3 wins to stay up and finish 13th, but after a year that the USA had basically medaled in every major international event this season, including gold medals at both the WJC & U18 World Championships. USA Hockey will not be very happy about this.

As for the rest of the relegation Round, it should be a three way battle between Italy, France and Kazakhstan. The Italians look to be in the best shape as they were at least able to stay in all 3 of their games, while Kazakhstan tends to be in trouble after coming out of a very tough group against Russia, Slovakia and Belarus from Group A.

Qualification Round Group E will have Russia, Belarus, Slovakia from Group A. Joining them will be Finland, Germany and Denmark from Group D. Can a team like Denmark continue their strong showing, or will the stronger competition eventually cool them off.

Qualification Round Group F will have Canada, Switzerland, Latvia from Group B. While from Group C will have Sweden, Czech Republic and Norway. This is expected to be the tougher of the 2 Groups.

Will we see some unlikely matchups come the Quarterfinals, or will the cream of the power nations eventually rise to the top?

Also for the rest of the tournament, look for Game Recaps on the road to this year's Ice Hockey World Championship.

Here's a look at the Prelim Round Results.

Group A (RUS, BLR, SVK, KAZ)

5/9: Belarus 5 Kazakhstan 2 (0-0, 2-2, 3-0)

5/9: Slovakia 1 Russia 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)

5/11: Russia 4 Kazakhstan 1 (1-0, 2-0, 1-1)

5/11: Belarus 2 Slovakia 4 (2-0, 0-2, 0-2)

5/13: Russia 3 Belarus 1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1)

5/13: Kazakhstan 1 Slovakia 5 (0-1, 0-2, 1-2)


Group A Standings

1. Russia 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 10-3

2. Slovakia 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-6

3. Belarus 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 8-7

4. Kazakhstan 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 4-14


Group B (CAN, SUI, LAT, ITA)

5/8: Canada 5 Italy 1 (2-1, 2-0, 1-0)

5/8: Switzerland 3 Latvia 1 (1-0, 1-0, 1-1)

5/10: Switzerland 3 Italy 0 (0-0, 1-0, 2-0)

5/10: Latvia 1 Canada 6 (0-2, 0-4, 1-0)

5/12: Italy 2 Latvia 5 (1-1, 0-1, 1-3)

5/12: Canada 1 Switzerland 4 (1-2, 0-1, 0-1)


Group B Standings

1. Switzerland 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 10-2

2. Canada 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 12-2

3. Latvia 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 7-10

4. Italy 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 3-13


Group C (SWE, CZE, NOR, FRA)

5/9: Czech Republic 5 France 2 (0-0, 2-2, 3-0)

5/9: Norway 2 Sweden 5 (0-2, 1-0, 1-3)

5/11: Czech Republic 2 Norway 3 (0-1, 1-1, 1-1)

5/11: Sweden 3 France 2 (1-0, 2-0, 0-2)

5/13: France 1 Norway 5 (1-0, 0-1, 0-4)

5/13: Sweden 1 Czech Republic 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0)


Group Standings

1. Sweden 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 9-5

2. Czech Rep. 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 9-6

3. Norway 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-8

4. France 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 5-13


Group D (FIN, USA, GER, DEN)

5/7: USA 1 Germany 2 (OT) (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1)

5/8: Finland 1 Denmark 4 (1-2, 0-1, 0-1)

5/10: USA 1 Denmark 2 (OT) (0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)

5/10: Germany 0 Finland 1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)

5/12: Denmark 1 Germany 3 (1-1, 0-2, 0-0)

5/12: Finland 3 USA 2 (0-1, 1-0, 2-1)


Group D Standings

1. Finland 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 5-5

2. Denmark 1-1-0-1 5 PTS 7-5

3. Germany 1-1-0-1 5 PTS 5-3

4. USA 0-0-2-1 2 PTS 4-7


Here's a look at the Qualfiying & Relegation Round Groups which started today.

Qualifiying Round

Group E: (RUS, FIN, SVK, DEN, BLR, GER)

Group F: (SUI, SWE, CAN, CZE, LAT, NOR)


Relegation Round: Kazakhstan, Italy, France USA