# 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I

The 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The Group A tournament was held in Budapest, Hungary and the Group B tournament was held in Kaunas, Lithuania from 22 to 28 April 2018. Warsaw, Poland planned on bidding for the tournament, but as Poland had hosted both the 2015 and 2016 tournaments, decided to apply for a later year.
Great Britain and Italy were promoted to the Top Division, while Poland was relegated to Division I B. The Group B tournament was won by Lithuania, who moved up to Group A and Croatia was relegated to Division II.

## Group A tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Slovenia | Placed 15th in the Elite Division and was relegated. |
| Italy | Placed 16th in the Elite Division and was relegated. |
| Kazakhstan | Placed 3rd in Division I A last year. |
| Poland | Placed 4th in Division I A last year. |
| Hungary | Host, placed 5th in Division I A last year. |
| Great Britain | Placed 1st in Division I B last year and was promoted. |

### Match officials

7 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Great Britain (P) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 15 | +1 | 11 | 2019 IIHF World Championship |
| 2 | Italy (P) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 9 | 2019 IIHF World Championship |
| 3 | Kazakhstan | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 9 | |
| 4 | Hungary (H) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 14 | −5 | 7 | |
| 5 | Slovenia | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 6 | |
| 6 | Poland (R) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 3 | Relegation to 2019 Division I B |
* 1 2 Italy 3–0 Kazakhstan

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2).

### Awards and statistics
#### Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Ádám Vay
** Best Defenseman: Ben O'Connor
** Best Forward: Jan Urbas
Source: IIHF.com
* Media All-Stars:
** MVP: Brett Perlini
** Goaltender: Ádám Vay
** Defenceman: Ben O'Connor / Sabahudin Kovačević
** Forwards: Brett Perlini / Roman Starchenko / Balázs Sebők
Source: IIHF.com

#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Roman Starchenko | 5 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | F |
| Miha Verlič | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | +4 | 2 | F |
| Ben O'Connor | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +2 | 2 | D |
| Brett Perlini | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +2 | 2 | F |
| Jan Urbas | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +3 | 0 | F |
| Evgeni Rymarev | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +2 | 2 | F |
| Ivan Deluca | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +2 | 2 | F |
| Balázs Sebők | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | +1 | 2 | F |
| Aron Chmielewski | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | F |
| Robert Dowd | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −1 | 0 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Leading goaltenders

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 |
| Henrik Karlsson | 300:00 | 10 | 2.00 | 159 | 93.71 | 1 |
| Ádám Vay | 304:46 | 13 | 2.56 | 189 | 93.12 | 0 |
| Marco De Filippo | 157:33 | 5 | 1.90 | 66 | 92.42 | 0 |
| Ben Bowns | 290:13 | 14 | 2.89 | 173 | 91.91 | 0 |
| Przemysław Odrobny | 159:18 | 9 | 3.39 | 93 | 90.32 | 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

## Group B tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| Ukraine | Placed 6th in Division I A and was relegated. |
| Japan | Placed 2nd in Division I B last year. |
| Lithuania | Host, placed 3rd in Division I B last year. |
| Estonia | Placed 4th in Division I B last year. |
| Croatia | Placed 5th in Division I B last year. |
| Romania | Placed 1st in Division II A last year and was promoted. |

### Match officials

4 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Lithuania (H, P) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 9 | +17 | 14 | Promoted to 2019 Division I A |
| 2 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 13 | +4 | 10 | |
| 3 | Estonia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 10 | |
| 4 | Ukraine | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 18 | −8 | 4 | |
| 5 | Romania | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 4 | |
| 6 | Croatia (R) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 21 | −10 | 3 | Relegation to 2019 Division II A |
* 1 2 Estonia 1–2 Japan
* 1 2 Romania 0–3 Ukraine

### Results

All times are local (UTC+3).

### Awards and statistics
#### Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Villem-Henrik Koitmaa
** Best Defenseman: Ryo Hashimoto
** Best Forward: Arnoldas Bosas
Source: IIHF.com

#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Ryo Hashimoto | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | +4 | 0 | D |
| Arnoldas Bosas | 5 | 6 | 0 | 6 | +2 | 4 | F |
| Povilas Verenis | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +4 | 4 | F |
| Daniel Bogdziul | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +5 | 2 | F |
| Hiroto Sato | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +4 | 0 | D |
| Makuru Furuhashi | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +8 | 0 | F |
| Mark Kaleinikovas | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +3 | 4 | F |
| Tadas Kumeliauskas | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +3 | 6 | F |
| Dainius Zubrus | 5 | 0 | 6 | 6 | +4 | 2 | F |
| Csanád Fodor | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +1 | 6 | F |
| Paulius Gintautas | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +2 | 29 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Leading goaltenders

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 |
| Villem-Henrik Koitmaa | 239:40 | 4 | 1.00 | 138 | 97.10 | 2 |
| Mantas Armalis | 301:04 | 9 | 1.79 | 140 | 93.57 | 1 |
| Sergei Gaiduchenko | 147:38 | 6 | 2.44 | 90 | 93.33 | 1 |
| Patrik Polc | 242:24 | 10 | 2.48 | 150 | 93.33 | 0 |
| Yuta Narisawa | 122:29 | 5 | 2.45 | 55 | 90.91 | 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