International Ice Hockey Federation

Tournament Format

 

The 10 teams are divided into two, five-team groups in the Preliminary Round.

After a single round-robin series in each group, the top three teams from each group advance to the Playoff Round while the fourth and fifth placed team in each group moves to the Relegation Round.

 

The top-seeded team from each group will receive Quarterfinal Round bye thus moving automatically to the Semi-Finals. The second and third placed teams from the Preliminary will play a cross-over Quarterfinal game. The winner of each Quarterfinal moves onto the Semi-Finals, while the loser will play a placement game.

The winner of each Semi-Final game will move onto the Gold Medal Game, while the losers will play in the Bronze Medal Game.

 

Relegation format

The four teams in the Relegation Round play a single round robin series. The three teams which finish first, second and third at the end of this round play again at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship, while the fourth-place team is relegated to the Division I Group A. Teams carry over the points they earned from the Preliminary Round from the game against the other team from the group participating in the Relegation Round.

Three Point System

For all games points shall be awarded as follows:

Overtime Operations

If a game is tied at the end of regulation time, a five-minute overtime period shall be played immediately after an intermission of three minutes. The teams will defend the same goals as in the third period. The game will end when the five minutes has expired or when a goal is scored; the scoring team will be declared the winner. If no goal is scored in the overtime period then the Game Winning Shots Procedure will apply. All overtime periods of any IIHF game shall be played with each team at the numerical strength of four (4) skaters and one (1) goalkeeper.

Overtime procedure in Play-Off Games:

Game Winning Shots Procedure

If no goal is scored in the overtime period then the Game Winning Shots (GWS) procedure will apply. The following procedure will be utilized:

Tie breaking formula

The tie-breaking system for two teams with the same number of points in a standing will be the game between the two teams, the winner of the game taking precedence. 

Due to the fact that the three-point system does not allow a game to end in a tie, then the following tie breaking procedure is applicable when three or more teams are tied in points in a Championship standing.

Should three or more teams be tied on points, then a tie breaking formula will be applied as follows, creating a sub-group amongst the tied teams. This process will continue until only two or none of the teams remain tied. In the case of two tied teams remaining, the game between the two would then be the determining tie-breaker as the game could not end as a tie. In the case of none of the teams being tied, the criteria specified in the respective step applies.

Step 1: Taking into consideration the games between each of the tied teams, a sub-group is created applying the points awarded in the direct games amongst the tied teams from which the teams are then ranked accordingly.

Step 2: Should three or more teams still remain tied in points then the better goal difference in the direct games amongst the tied teams will be decisive. 

Step 3: Should three or more teams still remain tied in points and goal difference then the highest number of goals scored by these teams in their direct games will be decisive

Step 4: Should three or more teams still remain tied in points, goal difference and goals scored then the results between each of the three teams and the closest best-ranked team outside the sub-group will be applied. In this case the tied team with the best result (1. points, 2. goal difference, 3. more goals scored) against the closest best ranked-team will take precedence

Step 5: Should the teams still remain tied, then the results between each of the three teams and the next highest best-ranked team outside the sub-group will be applied.

Step 6: Should the teams still remain tied after these five steps have been exercised then Sport considerations will be applied and the teams will be ranked by their positions coming into the Championship (seeding).

Note: If not all mutual games have been played yet in an ongoing tournament, the tied teams will be ranked in the standings according to the following criteria: 1. Lower number of games played, 2. Goal difference, 3. Goals scored, 4. Positions coming into the Championship.

More information

Click here to download the IIHF’s Rule Book and Sport Regulations.