2012 IIHF World Championship

  • Thread starter Carbonox
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Carbonox

Carbonox

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Finland
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Carbonox
It's approaching once again! The first of the two shared championships in Finland and Sweden are less than a month away and it definitely looks like it'll be a big-time party again. Last year Finland took Sweden down in the finals spectacularly, but what's going to happen this time around?

16 countries are competing like before, but this time, there are changes. Instead of 4 groups, there are now 2 consisting of 8 teams, who all play each other once. The leading 4 teams in all groups will proceed straight to the quarterfinals, which are played within the group. In the semifinals, the teams from different groups will finally meet as they contest for that precious final spot.

Group A (Helsinki)

Finland
Canada
United States
Switzerland
Slovakia
Belarus
France
Kazakhstan

Group B (Stockholm)

Russia
Sweden
Czech Republic
Germany
Norway
Denmark
Latvia
Italy

Personally I've got to say that Group B looks way more difficult, given the presence of the recently successful Norway and Denmark likely fighting Germany for a top 4 spot while Russia, Sweden and Czech Rep. are likely to remain where they have usually been spotted. In Group A, the top 4 teams are tough to drop, but Slovakia could once again have a chance if some key players made an appearance to turn things around...

I don't know how many GTP'ers are even interested in this, but I believe that the current mid-class countries, like Switzerland, Denmark etc. could have some interest since they're currently working their way up the ranks. ^^
 
Unfortunately I can never usually get in to the world championships because the NHL playoffs are at the same time. Montreal isn't in the playoffs this year, so I won't have quite the same reason to follow the playoffs. I'm looking forward to watching some of the players from Montreal in the WHC. PK Subban, and Carey Price (if his concussion isn't too bad) will probably be on team Canada, Max Pacioretty is on team USA, Rafael Diaz and Yannick Weber might be on the Swiss team, Lars Eller on the Danish team, Tomas Plekanec on the Czech team (if he wants to play), Alexei Emelin on the Russian team again, there could be lots of Canadiens there.
 
It just keeps getting more and more noticeable that the championship is closing in here. What's better than waiting for your home tournament as the defending champions? :)

Too bad the tickets cost a large sum here, may result in small crowds :/ However I'll be looking forward to it optimistically for now.
 
It's gonna begin today. :D

Canada and Sweden look scary, but the question is, can they play as a team? ;)
 
The first match day went without many surprises, Slovakia and Belarus gave a fine challenge to Canada and Finland respectively however, while the US dominated France. On the other side of the Baltic Sea, Germany, Czech Rep. and Sweden secured everyday victories in their own games.
 
Getzlaf sucks. :D Hopefully this is the last time we'll see that unmotivated kid in the World Championships. :)

It's a shame though that Russia had to beat Norway... :(
 

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