Qualification, Relegation Round Schedule

Just a simple post to update you all on the games that are to come at the IIHF World Championships.

Technically, the new groups are now Group E and Group F, but I'll simply refer to them by the city they're playing in.  Group E is the Bratislava Group, Group F is the Koisce Group.  Teams carry forward the record against teams that advance, so each team's games against teams that are now in the relegation round do not count.

Bratislava Group

Rank	Country	Record	Pts	GDF
1	Czech Rep.	2-0-0-0	6	+7
2	Germany	2-0-0-0	6	+3
3	Finland	1-0-0-1	3	+3
4	Russia	1-0-0-1	3	-1
5	Slovakia	0-0-0-2	0	-2
6	Denmark	0-0-0-2	0	-10

With three games remaining, you can see that things look great for the Czechs and Germans, who carry forward a perfect record.  It is quite possible that either team could lose the rest of their games and still make the quarterfinals, as they just need to finish in the top 4 of their group to do so.  Denmark and Slovakia will likely have to try and drag Finland or Russia down with them in order to make it.  It's not over yet by any means.  Here's the schedule:

• May 5:  Russia vs. Denmark (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 6:  Germany vs. Finland (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 6:  Czech Rep. vs. Slovakia (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 7:  Denmark vs. Germany (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 7:  Finland vs. Slovakia (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 8:  Czech Rep. vs. Russia (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  Slovakia vs. Denmark (12:15 PM local, 6:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  Russia vs. Finland (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  Germany vs. Czech Rep. (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)

Kosice Group

Rank	Country	Record	Pts	GDF
1	Canada	1-1-0-0	5	+9
2	Sweden	1-0-1-0	4	+3
3	Switzerland	0-1-1-0	3	0
4	United States	1-0-0-1	3	-2
5	Norway	0-1-0-1	2	-1
6	France	0-0-1-1	1	-9

With only four points separating first from sixth, this group is much more wide open heading into the second round of games.  However the top four teams currently are the top four teams in the world ranking for the group, so the lower ranked teams will have to pull off some upsets if they want to make a move into the quarterfinals (unlike Germany in the Bratislava Group).  In all honesty, I don't think this group is as strong collectively as the Bratislava one, although I do believe Canada is the favourite for gold right now.  Here's the schedule for the remaining group:

• May 5:  Switzerland vs. Norway (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 6:  Canada vs. United States (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 6:  Sweden vs. France (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 7:  Norway vs. Canada (4:15 PM local, 10:15 PM EST)
• May 7:  USA vs. France (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)
• May 8:  Sweden vs. Switzerland (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  France vs. Norway (12:15 PM local, 6:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  Switzerland vs. USA (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST)
• May 9:  Canada vs. Sweden (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST)

Relegation Round

Not much to say here.  It's a round robin tournament where each team plays 3 games in order to try and survive for next year's tournament.  It'd be a disaster for either of Belarus or Latvia to be relegated, but it'd be a success for either of Austria and Slovenia to survive.  Their records are all wiped clean right now...  Latvia doesn't get to keep their shootout loss point from the Denmark game.  Here's their schedule:

• May 5:  Slovenia vs. Latvia (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST) - Bratislava
• May 5:  Belarus vs. Austria (4:15 PM local, 10:15 AM EST) - Kosice
• May 7:  Austria vs. Slovenia (12:15 PM local, 6:15 AM EST) - Bratislava
• May 7:  Belarus vs. Latvia (12:15 PM local, 6:15 AM EST) - Kosice
• May 8:  Slovenia vs. Belarus (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST) - Bratislava
• May 8:  Latvia vs. Austria (8:15 PM local, 2:15 PM EST) - Kosice