The 2017 IIHF World Championships are taking place in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany.
The Championship is made up of 16 teams divided into two groups.
Group A includes Germany, Russia, Sweden, United States, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark and Italy.
Group B contains Canada, Finland, Belarus, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, France and Slovenia.
The top four ranked teams from each group following the preliminary round advance to the single-elimination quarterfinal.
The overall bottom ranked two teams will be relegated to the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A.
The 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will consist of 16 teams including the team of the organizing member national association, thus Denmark cannot be among the two relegated teams.
The teams promoted to the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be the top two teams of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A.
Venues: AccorHotels Arena – Paris France and Lanxess Arena – Cologne, Germany
Mascots: Asterix and Obelix – main characters in the French comic book series, The
Adventures of Asterix.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are well represented at the World Championships with eight players and coach Jon Cooper taking part.
Team Canada has rookie Brayden Point and Alex Killorn skating for Jon Cooper.
Team Russia features goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, forwards Nikita Kucherov, Nikita Gusev and Vladislav Namestnikov.
Team Sweden boasts a solid blueline with Norris Trophy Finalist Victor Hedman and the always reliable Anton Stralman.
Sweden 4 – Slovakia 2
The Tre Kronor can still hope for second place in Group A after wrapping up the first phase with victory over Slovakia. Sweden proved too strong for Slovakia, maintaining its hopes of a second-place finish in Group A. This 4-2 success means the Swedes will take the runner-up spot – and possibly avoid a trip to Paris – unless the USA gains at least a point in this afternoon’s game against Russia.
Whoever finishes second, though, must wait for the result of the Germany – Latvia qualification showdown this evening before confirming its travel plans. If the Germans win, they will stay in Cologne for a QF match-up with Canada, meaning the second and third-placed teams from the group would head to France. A Latvian victory would enable the second-placed team to remain in Cologne to prepare for Thursday’s playoff action.
Anton Stralman was held pointless despite having five shots on goal in 23:01 of ice time.
Victor Hedman fired two shots on goal in 22:56 of ice time.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72qDw8V9Ws&w=560&h=315]Sweden ended the preliminary round with a 5-0-1 record.
USA 5 – Russia 3
The Americans didn’t hold back as they started the game taking the attack to the Russians, knowing they would have to win in regulation to win Group A. Perhaps for the first time in the tournament Russia was facing a team that could skate with them and match their creativity.
Team USA notched its biggest win of the World Hockey Championship on Tuesday, knocking off previously undefeated Russia 5-3.
This was the first setback of the tourney for Russia. The team had previously run roughshod through the preliminary round, largely on the strength of its “big three” — forwards Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin and Vadim Shipachyov. The trio had combined for 36 points but went silent on Tuesday. Shipachyov was the only one to find the scoresheet, registering an assist.
Nikita Gusev led Russia with two goals. Nikita Kucherov was held off the scoresheet. He managed four shots in 13:04 of ice time. Vladislav Namestnikov had one shot in 14:36. Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals in 35 shots.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soDV4t-LQak&w=560&h=315]Canada 5 – Finland 2
The win gives Canada six wins and an overtime loss to conclude the round robin while the loss leaves the Finns with a 2-2-1-2 record.
Teams combined for three goals in an 80-second span early in the first, after which Canada settled down and controlled play the rest of the night.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist in 10:53 of ice time. Alex Killorn had three shots n goal in 15:35 on ice.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twTzp5MtEyo&w=560&h=315]Teams will have Wednesday off and the quarterfinals begin on Thursday morning.
Standings
Preliminary Round
| R | Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF:GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group A | ||||||||
| 1 | USA |
7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 31:14 | 18 |
| 2 | RUS |
7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 35:10 | 17 |
| 3 | SWE |
7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 29:13 | 16 |
| 4 | LAT |
7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14:18 | 10 |
| 5 | GER |
7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 20:23 | 11 |
| 6 | DEN |
7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13:22 | 7 |
| 7 | SVK |
7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 12:28 | 4 |
| 8 | ITA |
7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6:32 | 1 |
| Group B | ||||||||
| 1 | CAN |
7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32:10 | 19 |
| 2 | SUI |
7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 22:14 | 15 |
| 3 | CZE |
7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 23:14 | 13 |
| 4 | FIN |
7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 20:22 | 11 |
| 5 | FRA |
7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 23:19 | 10 |
| 6 | NOR |
7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 13:19 | 8 |
| 7 | BLR |
7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 15:27 | 7 |
| 8 | SLO |
7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 13:36 | 1 |
Statistics
Scoring Leaders
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PANARIN Artemi | |
F | 6 | 3 | 10 | 13 |
| MACKINNON Nate | |
F | 7 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| SHIPACHYOV Vadim | |
F | 7 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| GAUDREAU Johnny | |
F | 7 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| KUCHEROV Nikita | |
F | 7 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| da COSTA Stephane | |
F | 6 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| NYLANDER William | |
F | 7 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| GUSEV Nikita | |
F | 7 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| MARNER Mitch | |
F | 7 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| LARKIN Dylan | |
F | 7 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
You can find all the team and individual statistics at the IIHF website here.
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