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.
Russia 3 – Czech Republic 0
Aside from Vasilevskiy’s heroics, Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist. Nikita Gusev had two shots on goal and Vladislav Namestnikov suffered a lower body injury early in the first period and did not return.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaIK0-Ye4T4&w=560&h=315]Sweden 3 – Switzerland 1
William Nylander‘s incredible breakaway goal broke a 1-1 tie midway through the middle period, propelling Sweden to victory and another semi-finals berth.
Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman were held off the score sheet.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmQ73zybYIk&w=560&h=315]Canada 2 – Germany 1
Jon Cooper’s Team Canada kept its dream of a three-peat alive, but Germany proved to be a pesky opponent in front of a partisan crowd in Cologne.
Brayden Point and Alex Killorn went pointless.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niecsIrhoP0&w=560&h=315]Semifinals
| Nr | Group | Date | Time | Phase | Venue | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61 | 20 May, Sat | 15:15 GMT+2 | SF | LANXESS arena | CAN vs RUS | |
| 62 | 20 May, Sat | 19:15 GMT+2 | SF | LANXESS arena | SWE vs FIN |
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