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Check out our latest World Championship update recapping the quarterfinals and semifinals here: http://www.matchsticksandgasoline.com/2017/5/20/15669932/2017-iihf-world-championship-canada-goes-for-gold-vs-sweden-germany-france-hockey
As the group stage wrapped up yesterday at the 2017 IIHF World Hockey Championships, the tournament shrank from sixteen teams to eight.
Quarterfinal action gets underway on March 18. First, let’s look back at each group and how the round robin went.
Group A:
| Rank | Team | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| 2 | Russia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | Sweden | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| 4 | Germany | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 5 | Latvia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Denmark | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 7 | Slovakia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
This group went pretty much the way it was expected to and the host Germans even got into the playoff round by finishing fourth. Latvia (coached by Bob Hartley) started hot with three straight wins but lost their final four games to just miss qualifying for the playoff round.
Germany and Latvia actually played each other on the final day of the round robin in a game that went to a shootout with Germany winning 1-0 to take the final point.
The biggest upset of the group was Germany’s 2-1 win over the United States on the tournament’s opening day.
Group B:
| Rank | Team | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 | Czech Republic | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| 4 | Finland | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 5 | France | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Norway | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Belarus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Canada finished first in Group B as was expected entering the tournament although they did suffer an OT Loss at the hands of Switzerland. The Swiss made a big jump up to finish second in the group ahead of the Czechs and Finns.
The host France just missed out on making the playoff round by finishing one point behind Finland.
The biggest upset in the group was the already mentioned with the Swiss victory over Canada but an honourable mention should go to France’s 5-1 thumping of Finland.
Leading Scorers
Goals: 6 (Stephane da Costa - France, Johnny Gaudreau - USA, Antoine Roussel - France)
Assists: 10 (Artemi Panarin - Russia, Vadim Shipachyov - Russia)
Points: 13 (Artemi Panarin - Russia) 12 (Nathan MacKinnon - Canada, Vadim Shipachyov - Russia) 11 (Johnny Gaudreau - USA, Nikita Kucherov - Russia)
Flames in the Tournament
- As already mentioned, Johnny Gaudreau finished with 11 points in 7 games for the USA and tied for fourth in tournament scoring through the round robin.
- Chad Johnson was 3-0 in net for Canada with a 1.33 GAA, and a 0.917 SV%.
- Stockton Heat forward Mikkell Aagaard was held pointless in 7 games for Denmark.
- Former Flame David Wolf had a goal in four games for the host Germans.
- Former Flames Roman Horak and Roman Cervenka both had 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games for the Czech Republic
- Former Flame Jonas Hiller had a 0.818 SV% and 5.04 GAA in 71:28 for Switzerland.
Quarterfinals
Game 1: May 18, 8:15am in Cologne, Germany
(1A) United States vs (4B) Finland
Game 2: May 18, 8:15am in Paris, France
(2A) Russia vs (3B) Czech Republic
Game 3: May 18, 12:15pm in Cologne, Germany
(1B) Canada vs (4A) Germany
Game 4: May 18, 12:15pm in Paris, France
(2B) Switzerland vs (3A) Sweden
Canada will have to contend with a raucous German crowd as they attempt to advance. Each quarterfinal game promises to be close and entertaining.
The semifinals will go on Saturday with the Gold and Bronze Medal Games following on Sunday.
We’ll update you after the quarterfinals and each step along the way until a victor is crowned.