The tournaments ended Sunday and (surprise, surprise) I'm a little late on recapping it. More than likely I'll be doing something for the WJC (and Spengler Cup) soon, so better late then never I guess.
U20 Division 1A
Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Latvia 5W-0L- +18GD
2- Belarus 4W-1L- +9GD
3- Great Britain 3W-2L- +2GD
4- Italy 2W-3L- +5GD
5- Japan 1W-4L- -6GD
6 (Relegation)- Ukraine 0W-5L- -28GD
Latvia earns top spot and a promotion for next year's WJC after beating Belarus 3-1. Both team started the tournament off strong before fading into close wins. Besides a blow-out lost to Latvia early on, Great Britain played close games and could have pulled out an upset if Belarus didn't comeback in their game. Italy and Japan stayed the course and ended up 4th and 5th respectively. Ukraine gets relegated after failing to show up for a game, their...uh..."best" lost was 5-1...TWICE.
U20 Division 1B
Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Denmark 4W-1L- +21GD
2- Slovenia 4W-1L- +17GD
3- Austria 3W-1OTW-1L- +11GD
4- Kazahkstan 2W-3L- -5GD
5- Croatia 1W-1OTL-3L- -19GD
6 (Relegation)- Lithuania 0W-5L- -25GD
This group was tighter than I thought. Along with the win against Slovenia, Denmark advances due to having a greater Goal Difference (funny side note: both Denmark and Slovenia allowed 14 goals). Austria’s chance to advance pretty much ended after needing overtime to beat Croatia (regulation win = 3pts....overtime win = 2pts). Kazahkstan had a standard tournament, win against the weaker team, lost against the stronger ones (although they almost beat Slovenia until a 3rd period meltdown). Croatia’s last-day win against Lithuania keeps them up for another year. Lithuania gets sent back down to Divison II.
U20 Division 2A
Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- France 5W-0L- +44GD
2- Netherlands 3W-1OTL-1L- +3GD
3- Spain 3W-2L- -4GD
4- Belgium 1W-1OTW-3L- -17GD
5- Estonia 1W-4L- -13GD
6 (Relegation)- Iceland 1W-4L- -13GD
France had no challange what-so-ever, so lets skip them. Netherlands and Spain had good tournaments. Belgium stays in Division 2 thanks to an overtime win against the Netherlands, if that didn’t happen, they would have been knocked down. Even though Estonia and Iceland are tied, Estonia won their head-to-head match, bumping Iceland down to Division 3.
U20 Division 2B
Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Poland 5W-0L- +51GD
2- Hungary 4W-1L- +34GD
3- South Korea 3W-2L- -3GD
4- Romania 2W-3L- -8GD
5- Australia 1W-4L- -18GD
6 (Relegation)- China 0W-5L- -56GD
This group was over before it started (almost). Poland and Hungary were dominant throughout the tournament. Poland beat Hungary on the last day to advance. South Korea looked to have struggled against the weaker team, but managed to get the win. Romania and Australia stayed mediocre, which was enough to stay in Division 2. China didn’t stand a chance and will play in Division 3 next year.
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