Tournament Format
The preliminary round will be played in 4 groups (A-D) with 4 teams each. The groups A and B form Pool A, the groups C and D form Pool B. The two last-placed teams of the groups A and B and the two first-placed teams of the groups C and D play for 4th place in group A and B to participate in the Play-Offs of Pool A. The losers of the games beetween 4th A and 1st C, 4th B and 1st D play as first place in group C and D to participate in the Play-Offs of Pool B.
The ranking of the groups is based according to the result of the last World Championships performance of the respective countries in the IIHF IN-LINEe Hockey Program and the qualification rounds. Seeded 15 and 16 you will find the qualifier of the Asian/Oceanian Group New Zealand and South Africa as qualifier of the African Group according to their WC´s ranking points.
In the preliminary round the games of group A and C will be played in main Arena, the games of group B and D in small Arena.
The A-Pool World Championship (Play-Offs) will be played in the main ARENA. The World Championship Pool B (Play-Offs) will be played in the small ARENA. Both rinks will be "AXXESS ICE COURT" floors, the official IIHF Championship Floor.
All games in the preliminary and Play-Off rounds will be played with 5-minute sudden victory overtime and a penalty shoot-out in case of a tie. The final games will be played with 12-minute sudden victory overtime and a penalty shoot out competition.
Group A Group B Group C Group D
SWE (1) FIN(2) BRA (9) NZL (10)
AUT (4) GER (3) AUS (12) HUN (11)
SLO (5) USA (6) GBR (13) JPN (14)
