2015 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

The 2015 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships was the 79th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams participated at several levels of competition, which also served as qualification to the 2016 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and finalize seeding for 2018 Winter Olympics qualification.

Championship

The top division championship took place from 1 to 17 May 2015 with the participation of sixteen teams. Czech Republic hosted the event with games played in Prague and Ostrava. Canada won the championship, defeating Russia in the final.

The IIHF's official final rankings of the tournament:^[1]

Canada  Russia  United States 4  Czech Republic 5  Sweden 6  Finland 7  Belarus 8   Switzerland 9  Slovakia 10  Germany 11  Norway 12  France 13  Latvia 14  Denmark 15  Austria 16  Slovenia Relegated to the 2016 Division I Division I Main article: 2015 IIHF World Championship Division I Division I A The Division I A tournament was played April 19 to 25, 2015. Ukraine was to host the tournament, with some matches in Donetsk, but withdrew in advance due to "the political tension in the country being an obstacle for foreign visitors and fans who want to visit the ice festival in Donetsk."[2][3] On 18 September 2014, it was announced that the tournament would be hosted in Kraków, Poland.[4] Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts  Kazakhstan 5 5 0 0 0 23 6 +17 15  Hungary 5 4 0 0 1 14 11 +3 12  Poland 5 2 0 0 3 9 9 0 6  Japan 5 2 0 0 3 10 16 −6 6  Italy 5 1 1 0 3 7 12 −5 5  Ukraine 5 0 0 1 4 8 17 −9 1 Promoted to the 2016 Top Division Relegated to the 2016 Division I B Division I B The Division I B tournament was played in Eindhoven, Netherlands, from 13 to 19 April 2015.[3] Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts  South Korea 5 4 0 0 1 30 11 +19 12  Great Britain 5 3 1 0 1 13 10 +3 11  Lithuania 5 3 0 0 2 11 12 −1 9  Croatia 5 2 0 1 2 16 20 −4 7  Estonia 5 1 0 0 4 10 21 −11 3  Netherlands 5 1 0 0 4 9 15 −6 3 Promoted to the 2016 Division I A Relegated to the 2016 Division II A Division II Main article: 2015 IIHF World Championship Division II Division II A The Division II A tournament was played in Reykjavík, Iceland, from 13 to 19 April 2015.[3] Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts  Romania 5 4 1 0 0 27 11 +16 14  Belgium 5 2 1 0 2 22 15 +7 8  Serbia 5 1 1 2 1 18 22 −4 7  Spain 5 2 0 1 2 16 20 −4 7  Iceland 5 2 0 1 2 17 13 +4 7  Australia 5 0 1 0 4 11 30 −19 2 Promoted to the 2016 Division I B Relegated to the 2016 Division II B Division II B The Division II B tournament was played in Cape Town, South Africa, from 13 to 19 April 2015.[3] Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts  China 5 4 1 0 0 33 15 +18 14  New Zealand 5 3 0 0 2 21 17 +4 9  Mexico 5 3 0 0 2 24 15 +9 9  Bulgaria 5 2 0 0 3 17 30 −13 6  Israel 5 1 0 1 3 20 29 −9 4  South Africa 5 1 0 0 4 11 20 −9 3 Promoted to the 2016 Division II A Relegated to the 2016 Division III Division III Main article: 2015 IIHF World Championship Division III The Division III tournament was played in İzmir, Turkey, from 3 to 12 April 2015.[3] Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts  North Korea 6 5 1 0 0 50 9 +41 17  Turkey 6 5 0 1 0 59 11 +48 16  Luxembourg 6 4 0 0 2 39 19 +20 12  Hong Kong 6 3 0 0 3 30 30 0 9  Georgia 6 1 1 0 4 20 56 −36 5  United Arab Emirates 6 1 0 1 4 14 44 −30 4  Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 0 0 0 6 3 46 −43 0 Promoted to the 2016 Division II B References ↑ Playoffs and Final Rankings ↑ Ukraine withdraws 1 2 3 4 5 "28 tournaments confirmed". iihfworlds2014.com. 2014-05-23. ↑ "Poland gets Division IA Worlds". world.einnews.com. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2014-09-18. External links IIHF Official Website