2011 IIHF World Championship - Tournament Format

Tournament Format

The tournament is divided into four stages. The Preliminary round, Qualification round and Relegation round use a round-robin format with each team playing every other team in its group once. The winner of a game in regulation time will earn 3 points, with the loser earning zero points. The winner of a game decided in overtime or in a shootout will be awarded 2 points, with the loser getting one point. Teams in the Preliminary round are divided into four groups of four teams each; the last-place team in each group moves to the Relegation round while the remainder move to the Qualification round. The Qualification round is divided into two groups of six teams each with the top four teams in each group moving to the Playoff round. Games played in the Preliminary round against teams in the same Qualification round group count for the Qualification round standings; therefore, teams who were previously in the same Preliminary round group do not play each other again in the Qualification round. The Relegation round is a single group of four teams with the bottom 2 teams being relegated to Division I of the World Championships. The tournament concludes with the Playoff round, which is an 8-team tournament, to determine the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals.

In the event of a tie in points at the conclusion of the Preliminary, Qualification or Relegation rounds, the following tie-breaker format will be used:

  1. Points earned in games against tied teams
  2. Goal differential in games against tied teams
  3. Highest number of goals in games against tied teams
  4. Repetition of steps 1, 2 and 3, in order, including results against the next closest ranked team to the tied teams
  5. Repetition of step 4, including the next closest ranked teams one at a time
  6. 2010 IIHF World Ranking

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