Group A
Team
|
Win
|
OT/SO Win
|
OT/SO Loss
|
Loss
|
Points
|
Goal Differential
|
Sweden
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
11
|
+11
|
Czech Republic
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
+2
|
Switzerland
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
6
|
+2
|
Finland
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
5
|
0
|
Latvia
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
-15
|
The defending champs didn't have too much trouble ending up first (and this was a team missing 3 of it's top 4 defensemen). They started with a win against the Czechs but then hit a Swiss wall. Sweden was pushed to a shootout against Switzerland, which they eventually won. After that, it was smooth sailing for the Swedes, as a win against Latvia and Finland cemented their first place finish in the group and a bye in the playoffs.
Czech Republic started with a loss against Sweden, but that was the low point for them in the group stage. Back-to-back 2 goal wins against Latvia and Finland helped them get into the playoffs. An overtime against the Swiss ended their group games.
Switzerland did just enough to get through to the playoffs. They started off with a win against Latvia. The rest of the tournament, the Swiss kept it close against the other three teams, pushing Sweden and Finland to a shootout (both times they lost) and a lost against Czech Republic in overtime. The Swiss squeezed into the playoffs with a help of a Finnish lost to Sweden. And speaking of Fins...
What the hell was with Finland? The pre-tournament favourites started with a win against Latvia but a lost in scoring power, as Miro Aaltonen went down with what could be considered the most gruesome injury of the tournament. After that, a lost against the Czech Republic and a shootout win against Switzerland put Finland in a win-and-get-in situation against Sweden. Unfortunately, Finland came up short, losing 7-4 and being sent to the Relegation Round.
Latvia was...um....Latvia? They made little noise against the other four teams, finishing last in the group and an easy pass to the relegation round.
Group B
Team
|
Win
|
OT/SO Win
|
OT/SO Loss
|
Loss
|
Points
|
Goal Differential
|
Canada
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
+13
|
Russia
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
+6
|
USA
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
6
|
+12
|
Slovakia
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-9
|
Germany
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
-22
|
Canada ended up first, but it was more trouble than necessary for them.They stated out slow in games against Germany and Slovakia and had trouble hanging on against USA. Canada's game against Russia might have been the only game this tournament were Canada seemed to find a comfort zone.
Russia had trouble too, as they started the tournament with two very close wins against Slovakia and USA. In both games, Russia took a stupid penalty near the end, and escape with just Slovakia capitalizing on that. They had an easy time beating Germany, and finished the tournament with a lost against Canada.
The USA's results where basically what you would expect from the eventual winner. An easy win against the lower teams (Slovakia and Germany), and two losses that could have easily been wins (Russia and Canada). In this tournament, the third place group finished seemed more like an anomaly than the norm.
Slovakia fought a good fight, pushing Russia to overtime before losing and having a one period lead against Canada before losing. But it went all downhill from there. A closer-than-it-needed-to-be win against Germany set them up for an important match against USA. The wheels fell off the Slovakian bandwagon, as a 9-3 lost sent them to the Relegation Round.
Germany went as expected in this group. The thing that should give them something to build on is that they ended up with one point in the standings.
Relegation
Team
|
Win
|
OT/SO Win
|
OT/SO Loss
|
Loss
|
Points
|
Goal Differential
|
Finland
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
+19
|
Slovakia
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
-4
|
Germany
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
-6
|
Latvia
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
-9
|
Finland, for how disappointing this tournament was for them, easily got pass this round. Slovakia did suffer a bad loss against Finland, but still had no problem here. It came down to the Germany-Latvia game, were the Germans ended up winning 5-2. Latvia moves down to Division I, making way for Norway to take their place in next year's tournament.
Playoffs
Quarter-Finals
Russia 4 - Switzerland 3 (SO)
Czech Republic 0 - USA 7
Semi-Finals
Sweden 3 - Russia 2 (SO)
Canada 1 - USA 5
5th Place
Czech Republic 4 - Switzerland 3
Bronze Medal
Canada 5 - Russia 6 (OT)
Gold Medal
Sweden 1 - USA 3
Final Ranking
1 (Gold) - USA
2 (Silver) - Sweden
3 (Bronze) - Russia
4 - Canada
5 - Czech Republic
6 - Switzerland
7 - Finland
8 - Slovakia
9 - Germany
10 (Relegated) - Latvia
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