Victory over USA: Czech Republic reach quarter-finals

The Czech Republic celebrates entering the quarter finals.
imago/lehtikuwa

On Monday, the Czech Republic won 1-0 against the USA at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland and are the third team in Group B to reach the quarter-finals after Olympic champions Finland and Sweden. On Tuesday (3.20 pm) the United States needed just one point in the final group game against Norway to secure their fourth ticket to the knockout stages.

Germany can win the group

Thanks to Denmark’s surprise victory over Canada, the German national team was able to finish the preliminary round as group winners for the first time in history by defeating leaders Switzerland on Tuesday (11.20 AM). World number ten Denmark won 3–2 against the record world champions.

Nevertheless, the defending champions have already qualified for the quarterfinals, for which the Danes can still hope. One point on Tuesday (3.20 pm) against Slovakia is enough to give Denmark a go-ahead. If the German team loses against Switzerland after regulation time and Canada (against France) and the Danes have won their game, the DEB team will move to fourth place in Group A and top Group B in Thursday’s quarter-finals. will play against

Italy and Great Britain exiled

Italy and Great Britain both lost their games on Monday and are thus certain to be relegated. The Italians suffered a 5–2 loss to Kazakhstan in the deciding game. Great Britain took the long lead, before Austria extended the heat and won 5–3 after two goals each. The two national teams that were relegated now have to fight for promotion to Division I the following year.

On the other hand, Slovenia and Hungary have already been promoted from Division I, hence taking 16 places in the top division after promotion. Following the exclusion of Russia and Belarus from the 2022 World Cup, there is still uncertainty as to how the world federation IIHF will treat national teams in the future.