The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk, held from 9 to 25 May 2014. Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It was the first time Belarus hosted the tournament. The selection of Belarus to host this competition was the subject of much debate, with some politicians in the European Union and North America calling for the IIHF to move the tournament to another country.
Russia with a mix of NHL and KHL stars (unlike other nations, Russia comprised a squad close to their 2014 Olympic squad) remained undefeated throughout the championship. After losing on home-ice to Finland 1–3 earlier that year during the 2014 Sochi Winter OlympicsQuarterfinals, the Russians rebounded by capturing the gold medal after defeating Finland 5–2 in the final.[1]Sweden captured the bronze medal with a 3–0 victory over the Czech Republic. Host team Belarus made the playoffs for the first time since 2009, losing to Sweden 3–2 in the quarterfinal. Italy and Kazakhstan were relegated to Division I A. Prior to the championship, Divisions I to III had played their tournaments to establish the rank between teams of lower levels.
The tournament saw a new attendance record for the World Championship, as a total of 640,044 people attended games, surpassing the record set at the 2004 tournament in the Czech Republic, which had 552,097 spectators.[2]
Participants and their results
Host selection
On 8 May 2009 in Bern, Switzerland, the Belarusian bid was successful and got 75 votes in the race for hosting the 2014 IIHF World Championship. The application with the slogan "Welcome to the young hockey country" beat out those from Hungary (24 votes), Latvia (3), and Ukraine (3).[3]
The two main venues listed as hosts for the ice hockey teams were Minsk-Arena (capacity around 15000) and Chizhovka-Arena (capacity around 9600). The larger arena was completed and opened in 2010, whereas the construction of the smaller one was completed in 2012.
On 16 January 2012, President Lukashenko announced that any foreigners who wanted to attend the World Championships would not need a visa to enter Belarus or the medical insurance required for entry. The only documentation required was an original or electronic copy of a ticket to a game.[4]
Controversy
The selection of Belarus as hosts caused great controversy and initiated the Minsk2014.No Campaign.[5] On 11 April 2011, United States Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Michael Quigley urged the IIHF to move the World Championship to another location, citing concerns over the authoritarian government of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko's alleged human rights violations had resulted in numerous sanctions placed on himself and 157 of his associates by the European Union and the United States. Senator Durbin and Representative Quigley were supported by former Slovak ice hockey player and current Member of the European Parliament Peter Šťastný.[6] According to a 2013 report by the U.S. organisation Freedom House, Belarus was the least democratic country in Europe at the time.[7] The European Parliament called the IIHF to move the venue and demanded the release of all political prisoners as a condition to continue the Championship in Minsk.[8] However, the IIHF remarked that its statutes did not allow it to discriminate on political grounds, and spokespersons for the Latvian and Lithuanian ice hockey federations stated that they had no desire for "mixing politics with sports".[9]
Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards and defencemen) and two goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and three goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, have to submit a roster by the first IIHF directorate meeting.
Officials
The IIHF selected 16 referees and 16 linesmen to work the 2014 IIHF World Championship. They were the following:[10]
Bus in Minsk in 2012 advertising the 2014 World Championships
Format
Of the 16 teams in the tournament Belarus qualified as host while Kazakhstan and Italy qualified through the 2013 IIHF World Championship Division I, the rest qualified after a top 14 placement at the 2013 IIHF World Championship.[citation needed][n 1] The teams are divided into two groups of which the four best from each will advance to the quarter-finals. Here they will meet cross-over as indicated in the section below.[11]
In the group round, points were awarded as follows:[11][n 2]
3 points for a win in regulation time (W)
2-point for a team that drew in regulation time but won the following overtime (OTW) or game winning shots (GWS)
1 point for a team that drew and lost the above-mentioned competition (OTL)
0 points for a team that lost in regulation time (L)
If two or more teams finished with an equal number of points in the same group, their standings were determined by the following tiebreaking formula:[11][n 3]
Results against the closest best-ranking team outside the original group of tied teams
Results against the next highest ranking team outside the original group of tied teams
Tournament seedings
Final ranking: places 1–4 were determined by the medal games. Other places were determined by playoff positioning, group play positioning in the group, number of points, goal difference, goals scored, and tournament seeding. The two lowest ranking teams overall were relegated to Division I A.[11][n 4]
The seeding in the preliminary round is based on the 2013 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2013 IIHF World Championship. The teams were grouped according to seeding (in parentheses is the corresponding world ranking).
TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com
^Belarus was also in top 14 in the previous championship, which means that the number of participants adds up to 16 and not 17 as it may sound.
^In group play, overtime was played as 5 minutes of sudden death after a 3-minute intermission. If no goal was scored, the game would go to a shootout (Game Winning Shots). During a quarter-, semi- or bronze final, the sudden death period would be 10 minutes and during the final, it would be 20 minutes; in the latter case, new ice would be laid first.[11] Game Winning Shots procedure was as follows: Three different players from each team would take alternate shots. If the game was still tied after this, one player from each team would take alternating shots until one scored and the other missed. Only the decisive goal counted in the result table for group play.[11]
^If not all mutual games had been played yet in an ongoing tournament, the tied teams were ranked in the standings according to the following criteria: lowest number of games, goal difference, goals scored and seeding.[11]
^The two lowest ranking teams were in practice the loser of each group, which followed from the tie-breaking rules.
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