Showing Some International Love: World Junior Championship - Division I Group B Review

I...I don't want to talk about it. Just look down.

Note: Most data from the IIHF website.

Standings

1 (Promotion) - Poland       4W - 1L - 12PTS - +11GD
2 - Kazakhstan                  3W - 1OTW - 1L -11 PTS - +7GD
3 - Italy                             3W - 2L - 9PTS - +9GD
4 - Ukraine                        2W - 1OTW - 1OTL - 1L - 9PTS - +1GD
5 - Great Britain                1W - 1OTL - 3L - 4PTS - -10GD
6 (Relegation) - Croatia      0W - 5L - 0PTS - -18GD

Results

December 10
Poland 6 vs. Kazakhstan 3
Croatia 0 vs. Italy 3
Ukraine 2 vs. Great Britain 1 (SO)

December 12
Kazakhstan 5 vs. Croatia 0
Great Britain 2 vs. Poland 6
Italy 3 vs. Ukraine 1

December 13
Great Britain 4 vs. Croatia 0
Kazakhstan 2 vs. Italy 1
Ukraine 2 vs. Poland 0

December 15
Italy 6 vs. Great Britain 0
Poland 5 vs. Croatia 0
Kazakhstan 2 vs. Ukraine 1 (SO)

December 16
Italy 2 vs. Poland 3
Great Britain 1 vs. Kazakhstan 4
Croatia 1 vs. Ukraine 2

Recap

Poland wins the tournament, and therefore earns a promotion to Group A. They convincingly beat Kazakhstan, Great Britain, and Croatia. What was surprising was there shutout loss again Ukraine. Poland needed a comeback against Italy to solidify their promotion.

Kazakhstan's tournament was a little more standard than Poland. Their only loss was against the top team (Poland), but was able to win out against the other teams. Along with Poland, Kazakhstan got surprised by Ukraine, as the Kazakhs were pushed to a shootout - which they handily won.

Despite ending up in third again, Italy did improve from last year. They did play tough against the top teams (Poland and Kazakhstan), keeping the games very close. They also had a challenged against Ukraine but pulled through in the end. Italy had no problem shutting out Great Britain and Croatia.

Something must be wrong with Great Britain. They went 0-5 last year in Group A, being knocked down, then almost got knocked down again this year. They challenged Ukraine in the opener, were they end up losing in a shootout. Outside of a shutout win against Croatia, Great Britain couldn't managed to challenge the other teams. They get to stick around in Group B, but will need to re-group after another dismal tournament.

Ummmm, I don't want to talk about Croatia. After mustering two wins last year, they were only able to get one goal this year. Croatia will have to get better in order to get back into Division I.