hckošice

what a save by Masalskis

Scores after 1st Period A Latvia - Czech Republic 0-2 (0-2, -, -) 03:33 Tomáš PLEKANEC 0-1 06:23 Tomáš PLEKANEC 0-2 B Belarus - United States 0-2 (0-2, -, -) 09:58 Miles WOOD 0-1 13:38 Chris WIDEMAN 0-2

hey guys, can you please stop to excite me with making me false hopes

but this goal what a shame for Reto Berra, but what a moment for Roman Savchenko and btw it was a shorthanded goal, during Switzerland power play

France edges Germany Fleury the shootout hero as French start strong France's Valentin Claireaux #12 celebrates with Florian Chakiachvili #62 and Nicolas Ritz #25 after scoring Team France's second goal of the game during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship. In a hard-fought battle between the two co-hosts of the 2017 IIHF World Championship, France beat Germany 3-2 in a shootout in their Saturday tournament opener. Damien Fleury scored the shootout winner, snapping the puck high to the glove side of German goalie Timo Pielmeier. German captain Marcel Goc got a final attempt, but was pokechecked by France's Cristobal Huet. "It was good for me to score," said Fleury. "I had a lot of pressure since I wasn’t scoring a lot during training camp, so this goal was great for my confidence." Working the kinks out, France prevailed despite taking a whopping three penalties for too many men on the ice. It was a fine goaltending duel between Huet, the first Frenchman to hoist the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, and Pielmeier, a former prospect of the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. Germany outshot France 29-23. In regulation time, Damien Raux and Valentin Claireaux scored for France. Felix Schutz had a goal and an assist, and Tobias Rieder also scored for Germany. Philip Gogulla chipped in a pair of assists. "It was a battle," Rieder said. "We couldn’t get much going early in the game, and made a lot of mistakes, especially in the first. That led to turnovers and odd-man rushes against. We have to clean that up in our game." The Germans are looking to improve on their 10th place finish from last year. France came 12th in 2015. The French have a tight-knit, hard-working team. But they lack scoring depth this year, missing key players like the injured Stephane Da Costa and Antoine Roussel, who's still in the NHL playoffs with the Dallas Stars. So this was a heartening start to the tournament against a traditional rival. The tempo was hot and crazy right out of the gate. France opened the scoring at 3:38 on a nice rush. Jordan Perret exploded down the right side and stickhandled through the faceoff circle before sending the puck over to Raux, who fired it into the half-empty net. "It was good to start with a goal," said Claireaux. "It gives everybody extra energy." Minutes later, Perret and captain Laurent Meunier nearly converted again on a similar play. France’s Sacha Treille nailed top German defender Christian Ehrhoff with a big hit behind the net. The Germans got momentum due to poor French discipline. Huet shone with his aggressive style during four consecutive German power plays, including a late-period 5-on-3. The 40-year-old netminder challenged, sprawled and dove to preserve the early 1-0 lead. Huet couldn’t hold off the Germans indefinitely. Just 26 seconds into the second period, Gogulla’s power play point drive bounced off Huet's right pad straight to Rieder, who had lots of twine to shoot at. It was Pielmeier’s turn to shine during a subsequent French 5-on-3. He came across to stone Teddy Da Costa on a golden opportunity from point blank range. Rough stuff ensued when Pierre-Edouard Bellemare went hard to the net and fell on top of the German goalie. At 16:50, Schutz broke the deadlock when he swooped in, grabbed the puck in the slot and used French defenceman Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel as a screen, firing it past Huet’s left pad. Claireaux tied it up at 19:50 of the second. Gregory Beron floated one from from the blue line and Claireaux raised his stick to deflect it down through Pielmeier’s legs. The play was video-reviewed and the goal stood. In the scoreless third period, Huet stretched out to rob Patrick Reimer from in tight with a stellar right pad save. The Russian crowd at Yubileiny urged on the French during a power play with chants of "Shaibu!" The French got a huge man advantage opportunity in overtime when defenceman Moritz Muller was sent off for closing his hand on the puck at 1:12. But they couldn't capitalize as defenders like Ehrhoff and Denis Reul courageously blocked shots. "It was a tough game," said Claireaux. "We’ve been playing strong defensively, and we were lucky to score a couple of goals, but Huet has been playing really strong in the net. It was good to get a win tonight." This was the tenth World Championship meeting between France and Germany, dating back to 1934, and it’s a very even rivalry. The result improved France’s all-time record to five wins and five losses. The 2017 IIHF World Championship will take place in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany (5-21 May).

France - Germany 3-2 after GWS

Hot Dahm! Danish GK stars in win over Norway Denmark's Jesper B. Jensen #41 celebrates at the bench with Nicholas Jensen #48 after a second period goal against Norway during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship. Three goals from two Jensens and a stellar display from Sebastian Dahm between the piping got the Danes off to a flying start with victory over Norway. After waiting 13 years for a World Championship victory over Norway, Denmark enjoyed its second triumph in 12 months against its Nordic neighbour thanks to a fine goaltending display from Sebastian Dahm. The Graz 99ers goalie was in unbeatable form in Moscow as his team weathered a first-period storm before taking control of the game on two goals in the middle frame. Nicklas Jensen and Jesper B. Jensen found the Norwegian net as Denmark justified its pre-tournament talk of pushing for a play-off place. Dahm finished with 44 saves; Denmark won it 3-0 to follow up its status-preserving 4-1 success over the same opponent in Ostrava last season. And after a winning start, Dahm sounded a warning to the rest of Group A. "This is going to be a dynamite group," he said. "Any team can make the quarter finals, and any team could get sucked into the relegation battle. This is a good start for us but we have to build on it. We can't treat it as a pillow and go to sleep." There was a frantic start to the action when Jannick Hansen, one of three NHLers on the first line for Denmark, rattled Lars Haugen’s post in the first minute – but subsequently it was Dahm who had the busier first period. He pulled off 15 saves in that opening stanza, most impressive getting a blocker in the path of Andreas Martinsen’s close-range effort after Mathis Olimb’s diagonal pass sliced through the Danish defence. Even when Dahm was beaten, Norway’s luck was out: captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen unleashed a mighty slapshot from the point only to see the puck slam into the bar and bounce to safety. That saw Denmark through to the intermission on level terms and after going close in the first minute of the game, Jan Karlsson’s team got the perfect start to the middle session with a goal after just 66 seconds. Frederik Storm picked out Nicklas Jensen at the far post and the New York Rangers prospect took his time to force Haugen to commit himself before beating the Norwegian goalie on the stick side. "It was a really good effort and if we play like we did today we have a really good chance," the double goalscorer said. "It was a team effort and our goalie did really well." That goal shifted the momentum: after soaking up so much first-period pressure, Denmark was able to push Norway back. But Dahm still had to be alert and was almost beaten in a scramble around the crease after a Mathias Trettenes shot rebounded off the goalie’s pads and into the danger zone in the 32nd minute. Within two minutes, though, Denmark was celebrating a second goal. Lars Eller found Jesper Jensen at the bottom of the circle and the Jokerit Helsinki D-man produced the kind of wicked wrist shot that would delight the most predatory of forwards to rattle the puck into the top corner. "I don't know how I ended up in front of the net," Jensen said. "I'm a defenceman! I felt I had a lot of space and I got a great pass from Lars Eller. It was a nice goal and important for the team to take a 2-0 lead." In control, but not yet assured of the win, Denmark ran into penalty trouble in the third as the pressure intensified around Dahm's net. The shots continued to rain in, but the 29-year-old found the answers amid glove and pad saves - not to mention the occasional kindly bounce. One of those, as a shot hit the top of Dahm's stick and looped away from danger was a "defining moment" for Dahm. "I never saw that one and it would have been 2-1 with a few minutes to play," he added. "Instead at 2-0 we could play out the last few minutes calmly." Indeed, once the Danes killed a double minor penalty on Eller midway through the third it was clear that there would be no way back for Norway even before Nicklas Jensen fired his second of the night into an empty net to wrap it up.

Norway - Denmark 0-3

Updated as of May 7th, 2016

Updated as of May 7th, 2016

TEAM PRESENTATIONS Germany Home Away Calm before the Sturm Germany follows a new direction Marco Sturm hopes to make his mark on the bench of the German national team at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. After finishing an impressive fourth at the 2010 World Championships, Germany has not reached those heights since. A tenth place finish in the Czech Republic has brought changes, including a new coach. It is now former national team stalwart Marco Sturm to get Germany back on the right path. There are still plenty of familiar faces in the lineup, along with a few reinforcements from the NHL. Goal Germany goaltending is decidedly young. All three goaltenders are in their early to mid-twenties. Mathias Niederberger enjoyed a fine season with Dusseldorfer EG. This is his first time being named to the men’s team. He was named best goaltender at the 2012 U20 World Championships Division I. Felix Bruckmann is also a first timer to the national team at the senior level. Timo Pielmeier is the only member of the group with any experience at this level. He saw action in three games, all without a win, in 2015. Pielmeier was the DEL’s 2014 rookie of the year. Defence At the 2015 World Championship, the Germans did not get much production from its blue line. The entire defence corps did not score a goal and contributed six assists over seven games. Germany will be without the services of Justin Krueger, who has a broken finger. However, 33-year-old Christian Erhoff will add some skill and generate puck movement up the ice. Fresh off the NHL playoffs with the Chicago Blackhawks, Erhoff’s experience should upgrade the German power play and offer stability where it is needed on the blue line. When last he played for the national team at the 2013 World Championships, Erhoff led the way with three goals and five points in seven games. Korbinian Holzer, who saw action in 29 games for the Anaheim Ducks, returns after a five-year international absence. National team returnees include Torsten Ankert, Moritz Muller, Sinan Akdag and Denis Reul. Forward Germany will be without their leading goal scorer from last year's tournament, Michael Wolf. With that in mind, the slack needs to be picked up but other highly skilled players pm the team. Germany is carrying two NHL forwards, and both could make a difference. Leon Draisaitl showed this season why he was the highest German player ever drafted in the NHL. Draisaitl was Edmonton’s second leading scorer with 51 points. In his World Championship debut in 2014, Draisaitl scored a goal and four points. Tobias Rieder joined the team once his NHL season ended with the Phoenix Coyotes. He improved his production in 2015-16 with 14 goals and 37 points. Patrick Reimer was second in scoring and goals for his team last spring in the Czech Republic. After a two-year absence, Phillip Gogulla returns. Gogulla is fresh off an impressive DEL playoff campaign where he led Kolner Haie with 9 goals in 15 games. They reached the semi-finals before losing to eventual champion EHC Red Bull Munich. Coaching It’s Marco Sturm’s time to lead. After years representing Germany as a player, he now moves behind the bench. His time on the ice should serve him well to understand and communicate with players. It will also help build trust among these players who have skated with Sturm or have looked up to him. Sturm spent over a decade in the NHL, mostly with the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins. The Dingolfing native has a lot of work to do. Germany’s power play was not particularly strong in 2015 and their scoring efficiency left much to be desired. Equally, they gave up 24 goals. All of these areas need improvement. Projected Results Germany has little shot at a medal. Making the playoffs would be a big improvement but an uphill battle given the clear competition in St. Petersburg.

Final Results A Norway - Denmark 0-3 (0-0, 0-2, 0-1) 21:06 Nicklas JENSEN 0-1 34:12 Jesper B. JENSEN 0-2 59:45 Nicklas JENSEN 0-3 B France - Germany 3-2 after GWS (1-0, 1-2, 0-0, OT: 0-0, GWS: 1-0) 03:38 Damien RAUX 1-0 20:26 Tobias RIEDER 1-1 36:50 Felix SCHUTZ 1-2 39:10 Valentin CLAIREAUX 2-2 Winning Shootout by Damien FLEURY 3-2

TEAM PRESENTATIONS Denmark Home Away Vikings promise ‘havoc’ Extra firepower has Denmark dreaming of QFs Three NHL recruits add some pep to the Danish offence as the country unveils its strongest roster in years. Could a repeat of 2010 be on the cards? With Denmark getting ready to host in 2018, a good showing in Russia would do wonders for the country’s hockey program in the run-up to the big event. The Danes have shown great resilience to remain at the highest level since 2003, but it’s a long time since that QF run in 2010. However, the 2016 roster features some big-name NHL talent, including a WC debut for Nikolaj Ehlers of the Winnipeg Jets, who previously impressed at the 2015 World Juniors and posted 38 points in his rookie NHL campaign. That’s why there’s genuine optimism that Moscow might be the perfect stage for another memorable success. Goalie Sebastian Dahm is likely to be the #1 for Denmark this time around. He got the bulk of the game time in Ostrava a year ago, helping the country rank fourth on SVS for the tournament. With Patrick Galbraith not joining the roster in Moscow the 29-year-old Copenhagen native is the most senior of the three netminders available. He’s just completed his first season with Graz 99ers in the EBEL, maintaining a good save percentage in a struggling team. He’s backed up by Simon Nielsen of Herning Blue Fox and World Championship rookie George Sorensen of Frederikshavn White Hawks. Defence Defence can be a problem for the Danes. One reason for the impressive save percentage in the Czech Republic was the large number of shots on goal allowed: 239 in seven games was the heaviest fusillade endured by any team. Much will depend in Jesper B. Jensen’s performance. He spent the season with Jokerit Helsinki in the KHL and after a year playing at a higher level than his fellow blue-liners, he’ll be expected to lead the team once again here. Mads Bodker and Markus Lauridsen are other men to look out for at the back while Daniel Nielsen is set to play in his 10th World Championship. Forwards The big news is the availability of Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers, Montreal’s Lars Eller and Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen. None of the NHL trio were available last time as Denmark iced an almost entirely European-based roster and there’s real excitement about the extra firepower they can bring in 2016. Hansen, in particular, talked up the team’s chances prior to the competition, pointing out how rare it was for all these Viking stars to assemble on a single roster. After mustering just 10 goals in Ostrava, the additional firepower will be more than welcome here. Kirill Starkov will surely capture plenty of local interest in Moscow. The 29-year-old was born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) where his father Oleg played for Avtomobilist. The family then moved to Esbjerg, where Starkov senior played for the local team and Kirill became a Danish citizen shortly after he turned 18. Now he’s with Red Ice, a team with a strong Russian accent in the Swiss second tier, and will hope to show Russian fans more than he managed in a brief stint at CSKA Moscow in 2009. Kim Staal is the most glaring absentee: now 38, the veteran forward is returning to the Danish league next season but isn’t in his country’s plans here. A shoulder injury rules out Jokerit Helsinki’s Peter Regin while Mikkel Bokren is a free agent and cannot risk injury while he seeks a new club. There are two young prospects taking their World Championship bows: Mikkel Aasgaard (Sudbury Wolves) and Mathias From (Rogle Angelholm). Coaching Head coach Jan Karlsson is promising to “wreak a little havoc” in Moscow after assembling his tournament roster for his fourth Worlds behind the Danish bench. It won’t be his first time working in Russia: he went to Atlant Mytishi in 2011 as assistant to Bengt-Ake Gustafsson and found himself promoted to the top job after Gustafsson’s dismissal early in the season. After finishing in the minor places in the three previous editions Karlsson, who was an assistant coach on Sweden’s Olympic and World Championship-winning 2006 teams, is hoping for a break-out result this time around. Prospects After dodging relegation by a single point last time out, Denmark is hopeful that a stronger roster with more NHLers can lead to a more comfortable campaign in Russia. The presence of the three Canadian-based forwards gives a real lift to the offence and could be enough to steer Denmark into more comfortable waters in Russia and get them battling with Switzerland for a play-off spot. There’s a wealth of experience in the roster as well, from captain Morten Green in his 18th IIHF World Championship and nine other players with more than 100 games for their country. That could make the difference in the clashes with fellow outsiders Kazakhstan, Latvia and perennial rival Norway.

Slovakia opens with a win Jurco goal at end of first period seals it Slovakia's Tomas Jurco #13 celebrates with Libor Hudacek #79 after scoring Team Slovakia's second goal of the game during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship. Slovakia faced a plucky and tenacious competitor in Hungary but were able to withstand the challenge. Led by Tomas Jurco and Andrej Sekera, Slovakia held on for a 4-1 win over Hungary in the opening game on the second day of the IIHF World Championships at Yubileiny Arena. Jurco’s goal in the closing minutes of the first period would be the difference maker. After going scoreless in five games at the 2015 World Championships, Jurco's game winner was his first ever senior men's goal. Jurco, Sekera and Martin Marincin all has two points each in the game. Hungary was competitive in their first appearance in seven years in an IIHF top division World Championship game. Hungary made a game of it and fan support in the arena certainly helped. Hungarian fans were in attendance offering full-throated enthusiasm for their team in this opening game at Yubileiny Arena in St. Petersburg. "It was not an easy game." Martin Reway said. "We didn’t expect that, but of course we should have played better. Especially in the third period, we focused only on the defence. It’s not a good effort, I think." Despite being called for a tripping penalty very early on, Hungary was aggressive on the kill. Balint Magosi had a shorthanded chance but couldn’t quite tee up the puck. Still, the Slovaks had the most quality chances in the period and were able to get on the scoreboard first. Tomas Marcinko scored for the Slovaks at 7:07. Vladimir Dravecky sent a shot on goal that was saved but off the rebound and with the traffic in front, the puck bounced around like a ping pong ball finally landing on Marcinko’s stick for the put away. Slovakia may have had the best chances in the period but Hungary got a few of their own. Tomas Hrnka took an interference penalty at 12:19 when he wiped out Bence Sziranyi. The play occured as Hrnka was near the Slovak bench coming off a shift. On the power play, Istvan Bartalis rushed the puck into the Slovak zone, behind the net looking for a wraparound. The puck rebounded off Branislav Konrad’s pads in the slot to Vilmos Gallo whose shot hit Frank Banham’s skate and in. The Calahoo, Alberta born Banham leveled the game and further ignited the crowd. As a junior player in 1995-96 Banham scored 83 goals for his junior club the Saskatoon Blades, which was the most of any player in North America or Europe. Jurco enjoyed a strong game, perhaps his best in his limited World Championship play. He had a scoring opportunity with five minutes remaining but Miklos Rajna was there to stop him. Two and a half minutes later, Jurco converted an Andrej Sekera slapshot with a redirection that found the back of the net. Sekera scored off a give and go with Jurco to give Slovakia a two goal lead and it stood there until Patrik Lusnak added an empty net goal in the final two minutes with Hrnka adding an assist. The goal came with 2:17 remaining in the period. Though they tried, Hungary could not get another goal to bring them back in the game. Rajna was admirable in goal in dealing with the skilled Slovakia attack. For his effort on the day, Sekera was named Slovakia's best player of the game. Gallo would take those honors for Hungary. Slovakia hopes to maintain their winning ways when they take on France tomorrow. Hungary deals with yet another challenge, also tomorrow, when they face Canada. After the post game on ice ceremony and Slovakia left the ice, Hungary was treated to their many fans in attendance singing the national anthem. It was a demonstration of the love and respect Hungarian fans have for their team. "Our fans do that for us whether we win or lose." said team captain Marton Vas. "It is a proud nation and I think we have their support all the time and especially the way we played tonight. They don't care about the result, they are happy to see us working hard and giving all we've got in these games."

Slovakia - Hungary 4-1

“Canakhstan” stuns Swiss Dawes goals in shootout the difference Kazakhstan's Roman Savchenko #2 celebrates a second period goal against Switzerland with Dustin Boyd #41, Alexander Lipin #46 and Brandon Bochenski #27 during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship. Nigel Dawes scored twice in the shootout to give Kazakhstan a stunning 3-2 win over Switzerland to start the World Championship for both teams. Dawes scored in the round-robin portion with a great deke to his right and then in the sudden-death with an equally great deke left to give Kazakhstan three goals to Switzerland's two in the penalty-shot shootout. It was the first win for the Kazakhs in WM history against the Swiss after three losses. "It's an historic moment for us," goaltender Vitali Kolesnik said jubilantly after the game. Ironically, Dawes missed a penalty shot in the first period as well. "I was a little frustrated with my penalty shot in regulation," Dawes admitted. "I kinda rushed it, and I wanted to be more patient in the shootout. He's a big goalie; he takes up a lot of the net, so I wanted to get him moving, and I did that. It was good to kinda redeem myself." The win spoiled the first game at the World Championship for incoming Swiss coach and former national Patrick Fischer, but the result was a great start for the North American-born forward line of Kazakhstan made up of Canadians Dawes and Dustin Boyd, and American Brandon Bochenski. The first four players of the shootout all scored and the last two missed, and in the first round of the sudden death Dawes scored again. Goalie Vitali Kolesnik didn't even have to make a save for the win as Lino Martschini, who also scored in the round robin, lost control of the puck and didn't even get a shot. The Kazakhs got the first great chance of the game midway through the opening period. Dawes was hooked from behind on a clear break and awarded a penalty shot, but he blasted a shot wide with the free shot to keep the game scoreless. A few minutes later the Swiss scored two quick goals, but only the second counted. Sven Andrighetto ripped a shot over the glove of Vitali Kolesnik at 14:21, but video review showed a teammate in the crease, nullifying the score. Undaunted, the Swiss continued to press, and 35 seconds later they were awarded with a goal that stood. Raphael Diaz took the puck around the Kazakh net and tried to stuff it in the far side. Kolesnik made the stop, but the puck came right to Samuel Walser who eluded a check from Ilya Lobanov to swat the puck in. The second period was as entertaining a period of hockey as you are about to see early in a big tournament. Kolesnik was the early star, making several big saves to keep it a 1-0 game, notably on a Swiss power play. Then, at 10:57, Roman Savchenko tied the game on a goal as bizarre as Vladimir Koat’s against Tommy Salo at the 2002 Olympics. Playing short-handed, the Kazakhs intercepted the puck at their blue line. Savchenko rifled a long shot down the ice that floated like a knuckleball, eluding Reto Berra some 120’ away. Berra made up for the gaffe a little later, robbing Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev from in close with a right-pad save. The Kazakhs stunned Switzerland by taking the lead at 10:30 of the final period during a four-minute power play after a Felicien de Bois high-sticking call. On a nice give-and-go from in close, Yevgeni Rymarev fed captain Roman Starchenko in front, and Starchenko snapped a quick shot over Berra's glove. Less than two minutes later, though, the Swiss tied the game on a man advantage of their own when Denis Hollenstein poked his own rebound past Kolesnik from a bad angle. It was not the kind of goal to give up at such a critical moment of the game. That set the stage for overtime and Dawes's heroics in the shootout. Both teams are right back at it tomorrow. The Kazakhs play Russia in the early game while Switzerland plays Norway in the afternoon.

Switzerland - Kazakhstan 2-3 (GWS)

Becuse the tie breaker in Ice Hockey is the head to head confrontation, if 2 or more teams has the same number of points, we use the head to head confrontation to rank them and for this each match must have a winner.

Final Results A Switzerland - Kazakhstan 2-3 after GWS (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, OT: 0-0, GWS: 0-1) 14:56 Samuel WALSER 1-0 30:57 Roman SAVCHENKO 1-1 50:30 Roman STARCHENKO 1-2 52:01 Denis HOLLENSTEIN 2-2 winning shoot out by Nigel DAWES 2-3 B Slovakia - Hungary 4-1 (2-1, 1-0, 1-0) 07:07 Tomáš MARCINKO 1-0 13:30 Frank BANHAM 1-1 17:43 Tomáš JURČO 2-1 35:09 Andrej SEKERA 3-1 57:43 Patrik LUŠŇÁK 4-1

TEAM PRESENTATIONS Switzerland Home Away Swiss go local No Canadian coach, but results expected El Nino led a magical run in 2013, but can Nino Niederreiter take the Swiss to the gold-medal game (or bronze, even) again? The Swiss won only two of eight games last year, and that poor showing cost Glen Hanlon his job. This year, the team is a blend of age and youth looking to rebound under a new – and Swiss! – coaching staff. The team has four NHLers to complement a roster of Swiss-league players, but one is never quite sure which Swiss team will show up on any given day. Goal Colorado Avalanche goaltender Reto Berra is back. He played in five of eight games last year but didn’t post a single win all tournament. This is his fifth straight World Championship, though, and he will be given the lion’s share of the work in goal this year. Last year’s third goalie, Robert Mayer, is also on the team as well as newcomer Sandor Zurkirchen, whose only experience in IIHF tournaments was the 2008 U18 Worlds. Defence Yannick Weber of the Vancouver Canucks will anchor the defence along with several familiar faces in the form of Eric Blum, Raphael Diaz, Felicien Du Bois, Patrick Geering and Robin Grossmann. But coach Fischer has also added three new players: Christian Marti, a 23-year-old who played at the 2011 U18 Worlds and the 2012 and ’13 World Juniors and Noah Schneeberger, who has played for HC Davos the last four years.. Forward Although the players are familiar, so is the problem – scoring. Last year the Swiss qualified for the quarter-finals thanks to wins over Austria, 4-3, and Germany, 1-0. They scored just 12 goals in seven games. The other quarter-finalists in their group scored 49, 34, and 27 goals, highlighting the disparity in offence. In the playoff game they lost to the U.S., 3-1. Damien Brunner led the team in points last year with only five, and he’s not here in Moscow due to an injury he suffered in the Swiss finals. No player scored more than two goals. This year, it’s up to the likes of Andres Ambuhl, Sven Andrighetto, among others, to put the puck in the net. Fortunately, Nino Niederreiter is back. He was instrumental in that silver-medal run in 2013, so hopefully he can work his magic again. Coaching Patrick Fischer is the first non-Canadian to coach the Swiss since Simon Schenk in 1997. Ralph Krueger got the team back into the top division the next year, and Sean Simpson, more famously, took the team to the gold-medal game in 2013. But a disappointing 8th-place result with Glen Hanlon last year got the Swiss to thinking about their own, and who better than Fischer, a 40-year-old who had a long and successful career with the team as a player and who was an assistant to Simpson three years ago? The catch, though, is that he is on a short leash. Qualify for the quarter-finals, and his contract is automatically renewed for two years. Fail to do so, and, well, things are less certain. He will be assisted by two other former Swiss stars, Felix Hollenstein and Reto von Arx. Projected Results The Swiss can certainly be grouped with Czech Republic, Russia, and Sweden more favourably than Denmark, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Norway. As a result, that quarter-finals placing looks pretty good. But winning that key elimination game against a top-eight opponent has generally proved difficult for the Swiss, so a middle-of-the-pack finish might be the expected result from Russia. 2016.

SCHEDULE DAY 2 Saturday, May 7th, 2016 12:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP A Switzerland vs Kazakhstan Referees: Roman GOFMAN (RUS), Brett IVERSON (CAN) Linesmens: Nicolas CHARTRAND-PICHE (CAN), Vit LEDERER (CZE) Line Ups Link, Ice Palace, Moscow 12:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP B Slovakia vs Hungary Referees: Timothy MAYER (USA), Marc WIEGAND (SUI) Linesmens: Roman KADERLI (SUI), Judson RITTER (USA) Line Ups Link, Yubileiny, St. Petersburg 16:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP A Norway vs Denmark Referees: Stefan FONSELIUS (FIN), Tobias WEHRLI (SUI) Linesmens: Henrik PIHLBLAD (SWE), Peter SEFCIK (SVK) Line Ups Link, Ice Palace, Moscow 16:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP B France vs Germany Referees: Martin FRANO (CZE), Antonin JERABEK (CZE) Linesmens: Jon KILIAN (NOR), Sakari SUOMINEN (FIN) Line Ups Link, Yubileiny, St. Petersburg 20:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP A Latvia vs Czech Republic Referees: Jozef KUBUS (SVK), Aleksi RANTALA (FIN) Linesmens: Alexanser OTMAKHOV (RUS), Nikolaj PONOMARJOW (GER) Line Ups , Ice Palace, Moscow 20:15 (GMT +3) PRELIMINARY ROUND - GROUP B Belarus vs United States Referees: Linus OHLUND (SWE), Konstantin OLENIN (RUS) Linesmens: Nicolas FLURI (SUI), Miroslav LHOTSKY (CZE) Line Ups, Yubileiny, St. Petersburg * The streams will be geo-blocked in some countries. ** Referees and Line-Ups will be announced usually 3-4 hours before the first match, will be added in the schedule later.

TEAM PRESENTATIONS Hungary Home Away Hungary back in elite Magyars look to surprise at this year's Worlds Experienced goaltending, veteran defenders, skilled forwards and coaches familiar with domestic and international hockey is what the Hungarian team looks like. The Hungarians have the ingredients to possibly surprise at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. The last time Hungary competed in the top division in 2009 they faced off against half of the teams in Group B this year. In Switzerland they had a last-minute loss against Slovakia, 4-3, along with losses to Belarus (4-2) and to Canada (9-0), all teams that they will play against in St. Petersburg as well. A lot has changed since 2009 though. Hungarian hockey is on the rise and this time around they have a nice mix of veterans and youth with players coming from some of the top leagues in Europe. The Hungarian team is made up of players playing in eight different countries. Goal Hungary has two experienced goaltenders to pick from. Zoltan Hetenyi was the go to guy in three World Championships events and played in three of the games in the top division in 2009. Miklos Rajna backstopped Hungary to promotion last year in Krakow. Rounding out the goaltenders is 22-year-old Adam Vay, who in his first year of professional hockey was named goalie of the year in the Hungarian-Romanian MOL Liga. Defence On the blueline there has been a natural turnover. For a better part of 20 years Hungary had a core group of six defencemen and this turnover started in 2013 when team captain Marton Vas was moved from forward to defence. Joining Vas on the blue line is a peculiar group of seven player. There are three naturalized Canadians in Kalvin Sagert, Kevin Wehrs and Jesse Dudas. who has Hungarian roots. Bence Sziranyi has become an experienced and reliable defender who scored the winning goal against Poland last year. Rounding out this group are 1997-born Bence Stipsicz and Zsombor Garat. Along with Vas, Sagert and Dudas bring size and Wehrs has speed along with the two young defenders. Forwards Like on the back end the Hungarian team up front has both youth and experience with the oldest forward being Frank Banham at the age of 41 and the youngest Vilmos Gallo, 19. These two players will likely be playing on one line. The top-two lines have some skill and size. Daniel Koger, Andrew Sarauer and Istvan Sofron will build the first line with Balazs Sebok rounding out the second line. Look for Csanad Erdely so also get some shifts on that line. The bottom two lines have more grit as well as experience. Csaba Kovacs, Janos Vas, Gergo Nagy and Andras Benk were all on the 2009 World Championship team. The first three will play together with Istvan Bartalis rotating in. This tournament will be extra special for Bartalis, who suffered a knee injury on the day before the team was supposed to leave for Krakow before last year’s World Championship Division I Group A. Playing together now for almost two years is the trio of Benk, Krisztian Nagy and Balint Magosi. This line goes all out and they play an aggressive but clean style of hockey that can cause problems to other teams. Coaching Rich Chernomaz is the skipper of this ship. This will be his fourth World Championship with Hungary. He has spent his coaching career in Germany but his personality is reflected on the team as they are hard-nosed and will fight until the end. Chernomaz has tried to bring in recently retired Hungarians onto his coaching staff. Gergely Majoross will be joining him on the bench with Tamas Sille and Viktor Tokaji also helping out. Rounding out the staff will be fellow Canadians Diego Scandella and goalie coach Gary Clark. Scandella was on the coaching staff under Pat Cortina when Hungary won promotion in 2008 and on the 2009 team with Majoross, Sille and Tokaji who were players at that time. Projected results The safe bet would say that Hungary will most likely be relegated back to Division I Group A. Fans in Hungary would not be surprised with that considering that it took seven years to get back to the top division – and even 70 years to get back for the 2009 Worlds. The next step in the development in the Hungarian national team would be to become an “elevator” team like Kazakhstan or Slovenia that is up one year and down the next. Picking up points against Slovakia, Germany or France will be the immediate goal but that hasn’t happened for a while. The last time Hungary was ranked better than any of these teams was in 1983 when Hungary beat France 3-1 on home ice, but that game was in the World Championship C-Pool. Still, people should not underestimate the Mighty Magyars, who will be followed on-site and at home by many passionate hockey fans.

Finland - Belarus 6-2 HIGHLIGHTS

Czech Republic - Russia 3-0 HIGHLIGHTS

United States - Canada 1-5 HIGHLIGHTS