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IIHF World Championships: What's Done, and What's Ahead

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This will be a double-up post, acting as both a refresher and a look ahead at the rest of the tournament. It'll also serve as Friday's Open Thread for today's action.

With four games in the books, it's time to start looking at the possibilities for the tournament that's left. Here's your standings:

2012 IIHF World Championships Standings
Rank Helsinki Group Record Pts GD Rank Stockholm Group Record Pts GD
1 Finland 4-0-0-0 12 +11 1 Sweden 4-0-0-0 12 +10
2 Canada 3-0-1-0 10 +6 2 Russia 4-0-0-0 12 +9
3 United States 2-1-0-1 8 +6 3 Czech Republic 2-1-0-1 8 +2
4 Slovakia 2-0-0-2 6 +2 4 Latvia 2-0-0-2 6 +1
5 Switzerland 2-0-0-2 6 +1 5 Norway 1-0-1-2 4 -1
6 Belarus 1-0-0-3 3 -3 6 Germany 1-0-0-3 3 -3
7 France 1-0-0-3 3 -13 7 Italy 0-1-0-3 2 -11
8 Kazakhstan 0-0-0-4 0 -10 8 Denmark 0-0-1-3 1 -7

In general, the favourites are doing as expected this tournament, with a bit of a dogfight going on in the Helsinki Group and an open battle for the final quarterfinal spot emerging in the Stockholm Group with Latvia currently ahead. It's far from over for Denmark, who have been facing the possibility of relegation since their shocking OT loss to Italy in Game 2, but they'll need to get a win quickly. Here's what the schedule is for each team remaining, after the jump:

Schedule By Team
Team Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
Finland Ca_medium
Us_medium
Kz_medium
Canada Fi_medium
Kz_medium
By_medium
United States Kz_medium
Fi_medium
Ch_medium
Slovakia By_medium
Ch_medium
Fr_medium
Switzerland Fr_medium
Sk_medium
Us_medium
Belarus Sk_medium
Fr_medium
Ca_medium
France Ch_medium
By_medium
Ca_medium
Kazakhstan Us_medium
Ca_medium
Fi_medium
Sweden Ru_medium
It_medium
Lv_medium
Russia Se_medium
Cz_medium
It_medium
Czech Rep. It_medium
Ru_medium
De_medium
Latvia No_medium
Dk_medium
Se_medium
Norway Lv_medium
De_medium
Dk_medium
Germany Dk_medium
No_medium
Cz_medium
Italy Cz_medium
Se_medium
Ru_medium
Denmark De_medium
Lv_medium
No_medium

There's a lot to take in, but the battles for first place in each group will essentially be decided on Friday, while the lower spots will be a bigger battleground after that. Denmark has three winnable games to escape the basement, but are still in tough. Heck, if they win all three they could make the quarterfinal. Italy is doubtful to get any more points at this point considering their schedule. I give the edge to Norway for their remaining schedule for 4th place in the Stockholm group, but they need to beat Latvia on Saturday to stand a chance. The Americans are focusing on making the quarterfinals, but they still have an outside shot for first in their group. Slovakia and Switzerland on Sunday as well as USA and Switzerland on Tuesday will be the key games in the Helsinki Group for the final playoff spots. Latvia has to take on Scandanavia for their remaining schedule, while Germany will probably have to beat Denmark and Norway back-to-back to get back to the quarterfinals.

It'll be an exciting finish. Here are today's games presented in normal format:

Game Team 1 Team 2 City CEST Start EST Start
33 Kazakhstan United States Helsinki 3:15 PM 9:15 AM
34 Italy Czech Republic Stockholm 4:15 PM 10:15 AM
35 Finland Canada Helsinki 7:15 PM 1:15 PM
36 Russia Sweden Stockholm 8:15 PM 2:15 PM

Keep up to date in the comments section throughout the day.