Sweden is crowned world champion again! The “Tre Kronor” won the final against the surprise finalists from Switzerland 3-2 after a penalty shootout and thus defended their title. The Scandinavians emerged as world champions of the tournament for the eleventh time. Impressive: Sweden only lost a point in the preliminary round against Slovakia (4:3 nV), finished first in the preliminary round group with 20 points and later eliminated the USA in the semifinals with a 6-0 win.
No wonder that four Swedish players are on the World Cup All-Star team. Goalie Anders Nilsson, defenders Adam Larsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as well as attacker Rickard Rakell made it into the top 6 of the tournament. The All-Star team was completed by the other NHL stars Sebastian Aho (Finland) and Patrick Kane (USA). The latter also secured the title of most valuable player (MVP) and top scorer (8 goals and 12 assists).
A total of 520.481 spectators watched the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship games in Copenhagen and Herning. The host presented itself splendidly at both locations, but their own team ended the tournament after the preliminary round. In the decisive group game against Latvia, the hosts lost 0-1 and placed fifth in the group between the quarter-finalists and the German selection.
Switzerland were the surprise team of the World Cup. The Swiss initially reached fourth place in the preliminary group A and later sealed the World Cup exit of the two co-favorites Finland (quarter-finals) and Canada (semi-finals) with two 3-2 victories. And the Swiss also made life difficult for their opponents in the final. They initially led 1-0 and later 2-1, but the eventual world champions from Sweden equalized twice and won the final in the penalty shootout - despite being further behind.
Belarus and newly promoted South Korea have to move into the second division. They remained pointless in their respective preliminary round groups and consequently took last place in the table, which is synonymous with relegation to Division I.
The results of the knockout round at a glance:
Quarterfinals:
17.05.2018 | 16:15 | Russia – Canada 4:5 aet (0:1, 2:1, 2:2, 0:1)
May 17.05.2018, 16 | 15:3 p.m. | USA – Czech Republic 2:2 (0:0, 2:1, 0:XNUMX)
May 17.05.2018, 20 | 15:3 p.m. | Sweden – Latvia 2:0 (0:1, 1:2, 1:XNUMX)
May 17.05.2018, 20 | 15:2 p.m. | Finland – Switzerland 3:1 (0:0, 3:1, 0:XNUMX)
Semifinals:
May 19.05.2018, 15 | 15:6 p.m. | Sweden – USA 0:1 (0:3, 0:2, 0:XNUMX)
19.05.2018 | 19:15 | Canada – Switzerland 2:3 (0:1, 1:1, 1:1)
3rd place match:
20.05.2018 | 15:45 p.m. | USA – Canada 4:1 (0:0, 1:1, 3:0)
Finish:
May 20.05.2018, 20 | 15:3 p.m. | Sweden – Switzerland 2:1 nP (1:1, 1:0, 0:0, 0:1, 0:XNUMX)
The final rankings of all World Cup participants:
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- USA
- Canada
- Finland
- Russia
- Czechia
- Latvia
- Slovakia
- Denmark
- Germany
- France
- Norway
- Austria
- Belarus
- South Korea