# 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I

The 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The Group A tournament was held at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, United Kingdom from 29 April to 5 May and the Group B tournament in Tallinn, Estonia from 23 to 29 April 2023.
In Group A, Great Britain and Poland gained promotion to the Top Division while Lithuania finished last and was relegated. Japan won Group B and got promoted while Serbia was relegated after finishing last.

## Group A tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Italy | Placed 15th in the Elite Division in 2022 and was relegated. |
| Great Britain | Host, placed 16th in the Elite Division in 2022 and was relegated. |
| Lithuania | Placed 3rd in Division I A in 2022. |
| South Korea | Placed 4th in Division I A in 2022. |
| Romania | Placed 5th in Division I A in 2022. |
| Poland | Placed 1st in Division I B in 2022 and was promoted. |

### Match officials

Eight referees and seven linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Christoph Sternat Killian Hinterdobler Andrew Dalton Attila Nagy Roy Stian Hansen Milan Zrnić Mikael Holm Cedric Borga | Nicklas Knosen Jussi Thomann Jonas Merten Ilia Kisil Norbert Muzsik Gašper Zgonc Andreas Nyqvist |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Great Britain (H) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 7 | +17 | 14 | Promoted to the 2024 Top Division |
| 2 | Poland | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 9 | +19 | 13 | Promoted to the 2024 Top Division |
| 3 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 16 | +7 | 9 | |
| 4 | South Korea | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 20 | −12 | 6 | |
| 5 | Romania | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 26 | −17 | 3 | |
| 6 | Lithuania | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 21 | −14 | 0 | Relegated to the 2024 Division I B |

### Results

All times are local (UTC+1)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Krystian Dziubiński | 5 | 6 | 5 | 11 | +3 | 0 | F |
| Liam Kirk | 5 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +4 | 0 | F |
| Grzegorz Pasiut | 5 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Cade Neilson | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +5 | 2 | F |
| Patryk Wronka | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Daniel Mantenuto | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | +6 | 2 | F |
| Kamil Wałęga | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | +4 | 0 | F |
| Bartosz Fraszko | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +4 | 0 | F |
| Luca Frigo | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +7 | 0 | F |
| Paweł Zygmunt | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +4 | 0 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Ben Bowns | 302:35 | 7 | 1.39 | 107 | 93.46 | 3 |
| John Murray | 242:30 | 7 | 1.73 | 102 | 93.14 | 2 |
| Damian Clara | 120:00 | 5 | 2.50 | 49 | 89.80 | 0 |
| Mantas Armalis | 237:20 | 13 | 3.29 | 127 | 89.76 | 0 |
| Patrik Polc | 180:00 | 13 | 4.33 | 122 | 89.34 | 0 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Ben Bowns |
| Defenceman | Thomas Larkin |
| Forward | Krystian Dziubiński |

## Group B tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Japan | Placed 2nd in Division I B in 2022. |
| Ukraine | Placed 3rd in Division I B in 2022. |
| Estonia | Host, placed 4th in Division I B in 2022. |
| Serbia | Placed 5th in Division I B in 2022. |
| China | Placed 1st in Division II A in 2022 and was promoted. |
| Netherlands | Placed 2nd in Division II A in 2022 and was promoted. |

### Match officials

Seven referees and seven linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Martin Christensen Timo Ruuska Benjamin Hoppe Andrea Moschen Michał Baca Chae Young-jin Andrii Kicha | Wolfgang Puff Tobias Schwenk Renārs Davidonis Agris Ozoliņš Laurynas Stepankevičius Knut Bråten Dominik Altmann |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Japan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 10 | +19 | 15 | Promoted to the 2024 Division I A |
| 2 | Ukraine | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 16 | +19 | 10 | |
| 3 | China | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 18 | +1 | 8 | |
| 4 | Estonia (H) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 18 | −5 | 5 | |
| 5 | Netherlands | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 31 | −17 | 4 | |
| 6 | Serbia | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 24 | −17 | 3 | Relegated to the 2024 Division II A |

### Results

All times are local (UTC+3)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Olexi Vorona | 5 | 5 | 8 | 13 | +6 | 0 | F |
| Igor Merezhko | 5 | 3 | 10 | 13 | +7 | 4 | D |
| Yushiroh Hirano | 5 | 7 | 3 | 10 | +6 | 4 | F |
| Illia Korenchuk | 5 | 6 | 4 | 10 | +6 | 4 | F |
| Danil Trakht | 5 | 6 | 4 | 10 | +4 | 0 | F |
| Vadym Mazur | 5 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +7 | 0 | F |
| Oleksandr Peresunko | 5 | 1 | 9 | 10 | +4 | 2 | F |
| Shogo Nakajima | 5 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +6 | 4 | F |
| Teruto Nakajima | 5 | 6 | 2 | 8 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Fu Jiang | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | +4 | 2 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Yuta Narisawa | 240:00 | 7 | 1.75 | 103 | 93.20 | 0 |
| Arsenije Ranković | 214:51 | 12 | 3.35 | 158 | 92.41 | 0 |
| Ruud Leeuwesteijn | 185:00 | 12 | 3.89 | 113 | 89.38 | 0 |
| Ouban Yongli | 221:02 | 11 | 2.99 | 89 | 87.64 | 1 |
| Conrad Mölder | 177:40 | 10 | 3.38 | 69 | 85.51 | 0 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Yuta Narisawa |
| Defenceman | Ihor Merezhko |
| Forward | Yushiroh Hirano |