IIHF World Hockey Championships

[Alberto7]

The World Hockey Championships have started . Here are the different divisions for 2012 with the new relegation/promotion rules:

Elite Division(in Sweden and Finland) May 4-20

FINAL RANKING
1. Russia (Gold)
2. Slovakia (Silver)
3. Czech Republic (Bronze)
4. Finland
5. Canada
6. Sweden
7. USA
8. Norway
9. France
10. Latvia
11. Switzerland
12. Germany
13. Denmark
14. Belarus
15. Italy-relegated to division1A in 2013
16. Kazakhstan-relegated to division 1A in 2013


Division 1A(in Slovenia) April 15-21 FINAL RANKING
Slovenia (promoted to elite division in 2013)
Austria (promoted to elite division in 2013)
Hungary
Japan
Great Britain
Ukraine (relegated to division 1B in 2013)



Division 1B (in Poland) April 15-21 FINAL RANKING
South Korea (Promoted to Division 1A in 2013)
Poland
Netherlands
Romania
Lithuania
Australia (Relegated to Division 2A in 2013)



Division 2A (in Iceland) April 12-18 FINAL RANKING
Estonia (promoted to Division 1B in 2013)
Spain
Croatia
Iceland
Serbia
New Zealand (relegated to Division 2B in 2013)



Division 2B (in Bulgaria) April 2 to 8 FINAL RANKING
Belgium (promoted to Division 2A in 2013)
China
Bulgaria
Mexico
Israel
South Africa(relegated to Division 3 in 2013)



Division 3 (in Turkey) April 15-21 FINAL RANKING
Turkey (promoted to Division 2B in 2013)
North Korea
Luxembourg
Ireland
Greece
Mongolia

[amacpher]

Looks like they changed the format in the elite division this season. This one is much simpler: two groups of 8 with the top 4 in each group advancing to the quarterfinals.

Plenty of stars will be able to participate if the incredible amount of upsets in the NHL playoffs continues at the current rate.

[argh1]

Div 1 Group A highlights of all games can be found here in Slovenian.

http://www.sport-tv.si/contentList/V.../Hokej/SP_2012

[Alberto7]

Just updated the first post with the Division 2A final ranking. The poor Kiwis were relegated after losing 4-0 to Iceland, 7-0 to Spain, 12-3 to Croatia, 19-2 to Estonia and 17-0 to Serbia! Ouch!! Estonia are promoted to Division 1B for next year.

[amacpher]

Slovenia and Austria promoted to the championship. They clinched top 2 before playing their final match (which will be against each other).

[tyler453]

Division 3

If Turkey even loses in OT against Luxembourg in the final game, the hosts will be secured promotion. I think in international hockey though, it comes down to goal differential in a tie, so in the case Luxembourg defeats Turkey and North Korea defeats Ireland, meaning all three teams at 12 points, there's still a good chance Turkey is promoted.

Differential:
Turkey +19 currently 12 points
North Korea +14 currently 9 points
Luxembourg +12 currently 9 points

The loser of the Greece/Mongolia game will be relegated to the qualification pool for 2013 if I'm not mistaken.

Division 1 Group B:

Poland and Korea will face off tomorrow to see who gets promoted. Poland currently sits on 12 points, while Korea has 11. The hosts Poland are the favourite here I think.

Aussies are on course to get relegated to 2A if they lose to Romania tomorrow. They are however only -1 in goal differential with 5th place Lithuania (LTU -11 AUS -12), so in the likely case that Lithuania loses to the Netherlands in their final game, and the Aussies (unlikely) defeat Romania, they will stay in the group.

[Alberto7]

I've updated Division 1A, 1B and 3. All the lower divisions have now completed their championships. It is now up to the big boys to play starting on May 4th

[Alberto7]

So this year's relegation rules at the Elite level are quite different. The bottom team in each group at the end of the preliminary round will be relegated. Who do you think will go down from each group?

Here are the teams for each group:

(Stockholm group)
Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Latvia, Denmark, Italy

I predict Italy will be relegated to Division 1A from this group

(Helsinki group)
Finland, Canada, USA, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belarus, France, Kazakhstan

I predict France will be relegated to Division 1A from this group

Your thoughts?

[argh1]

I'm thinking France is on a bit of a rise at the moment and will stay up. Italy as well. Okay I only feel sorry for Italy...HC Asiago started so low in Continental Cup rounds only to have the wheels fall off in the Super Finals weekend.......like something good to happen for Italian hockey.
But France, Italy, Latvia, Denmark, Kazakhstan really are almost in a yo-yo group with recently promoted Austria and Slovenia. In this tourney I'm looking to see if Switzerland can make that break through and make the top 4. Belarus ehhhhhhhhhh never know how to read them. Germany should have a good WC top 8 maybe.
Top 9 in this WC automatically qualify for Sochi. The other 3 spots are open to qualifying tourneys starting this Nov. There's romours that one of the early qualifiers will be in England this fall.
EDIT:
This traditionally is an event that the 2 Olympic finalists USA and Canada give a meh we were there attitude towards.
Might be some scalps taken?

[Toje]

I think Norway will go down, and Kazakhstan. Really nothing more than a guess though

Wouldn't surprise me to see the Czech Republic struggle.