2018 IIHF World Championship

The 2018 IIHF World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament hosted by the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Herning, held from 4 to 20 May 2018. The IIHF announced the winning bid on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus.To Denmark in 2018 South Korea made its debut at the World Championship, having played in the lower divisions previously.
Sweden went undefeated at the tournament to win their second consecutive and eleventh overall title after defeating Switzerland in the final. The United States won the bronze medal game, defeating Canada 4–1.
The official mascot of the tournament was a swan, inspired by the Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale about The Ugly Duckling.
==Bids==
There were two bids to host this championship.
* Denmark
** Copenhagen/Herning
::Denmark is the only top-ranked IIHF country that has never hosted the tournament. The proposed arenas were the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. Both arenas have a capacity of around 12,000 for hockey games.
* Latvia
** Riga
::Latvia hosted the IIHF World Championship in 2006. The proposed arenas were Arena Riga, and a secondary venue to be built.
The decision was announced on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus. The final tally was 95-12 in favor of Denmark.
==Qualified teams==
; Qualified as host:
*
; Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2017 IIHF World Championship:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
; Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2017 IIHF World Championship Division I:
*
*
==Seeding==
The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2017 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
Denmark and Sweden played in separate groups, Denmark at the Jyske Bank Boxen while Sweden at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
;Group A
* (2)
* (3)
* (6)
* (7)
* (10)
* (11)
*1 (13)
* (16)
;Group B
* (1)
* (4)
* (5)
* (8)
* (9)
* (12)
*1 (14)
* (21)
:1 Denmark and France swapped sides so Denmark would not be in the same group as Sweden.
==Officials==
16 referees and linesman were announced on 21 March 2018.Assignments
;Referees
* Mark Lemelin
* Oliver Gouin
* Brett Iverson
* Jan Hribik
* Antonín Jeřábek
* Mikko Kaukokari
* Aleksi Rantala
* Gordon Schukies
* Roman Gofman
* Konstantin Olenin
* Tobias Wehrli
* Jozef Kubuš
* Linus Öhlund
* Mikael Sjöqvist
* Timothy Mayer
* Stephen Reneau
;Linesmen
* Dmitri Golyak
* Dustin McCrank
* Nathan Vanoosten
* Miroslav Lhotský
* Rene Jensen
* Hannu Sormunen
* Sakari Suominen
* Lukas Kohlmüller
* Jon Kilian
* Alexander Otmakhov
* Gleb Lazarev
* Nicolas Fluri
* Peter Šefčík
* Andreas Malmqvist
* Jake Davis
* Brian Oliver
==Preliminary round==
The schedule was released on 8 August 2017.
===Group A===
Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1 	 	7 	6	1 	0 	0	31	9 	22 	20 	Quarterfinals
2 	 	7 	5	0 	1 	1	32	10	22 	16 	Quarterfinals
3 	 	7 	3	3 	0 	1	27	15	12 	15 	Quarterfinals
4 	 	7 	3	1 	1 	2	25	19	6 	12 	Quarterfinals
5 	 	7 	3	0 	2 	2	19	20	−1 	11 	
6 	 	7 	2	0 	0 	5	13	29	−16	6 	
7 	 	7 	1	0 	1 	5	13	30	−17	4 	
8 	(R) 	7 	0	0 	0 	7	8 	36	−28	0 	Relegation to 2019 Division I A[a]
 		 			
4 May 2018 		 			
align=right		7–0 			
align=right		5–0 			
5 May 2018 		 			
align=right		3–2 (OT) 			
align=right		6–2 			
align=right		3–2 (OT) 			
6 May 2018 		 			
align=right		0–7 			
align=right		3–2 			
align=right		0–2 			
7 May 2018 		 			
align=right		0–6 			
align=right		4–0 			
8 May 2018 		 			
align=right		2–4 			
align=right		5–4 (GWS)			
9 May 2018 		 			
align=right		5–2 			
align=right		7–0 			
10 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–1 			
align=right		4–3 (OT) 			
11 May 2018		 			
align=right		5–2 			
align=right		0–3 			
12 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–4 (OT) 			
align=right		4–0 			
align=right		4–3 			
13 May 2018		 			
align=right		0–6 			
align=right		3–5 			
14 May 2018		 			
align=right		4–0 			
align=right		4–3 			
15 May 2018		 			
align=right		5–1 			
align=right		4–7 			
align=right		1–3 			
===Group B===
Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1 	 	7 	5	0 	1 	1	38	11	27 	16 	Quarterfinals
2 	 	7 	4	2 	0 	1	39	16	23 	16 	Quarterfinals
3 	 	7 	4	1 	1 	1	32	12	20 	15 	Quarterfinals
4 	 	7 	3	1 	2 	1	16	16	0 	13 	Quarterfinals
5 	(H) 	7 	3	1 	0 	3	13	17	−4 	11 	
6 	 	7 	1	1 	2 	3	16	20	−4 	7 	
7 	 	7 	1	1 	1 	4	13	31	−18	6 	
8 	(R) 	7 	0	0 	0 	7	4 	48	−44	0 	Relegation to 2019 Division I A
 		 			
4 May 2018 		 			
align=right		5–4 (GWS)			
align=right		2–3 (GWS)			
5 May 2018 		 			
align=right		2–3 (OT) 			
align=right		8–1 			
align=right		0–4 			
6 May 2018 		 			
align=right		0–10 			
align=right		4–5 (GWS)			
align=right		1–8 			
7 May 2018 		 			
align=right		3–0 			
align=right		7–1 			
8 May 2018 		 			
align=right		0–5 			
align=right		7–0 			
9 May 2018 		 			
align=right		6–1 			
align=right		2–3 			
10 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–2 (OT) 			
align=right		0–5 			
11 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–0 			
align=right		13–1 			
12 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–1 			
align=right		3–1 			
align=right		1–5 			
13 May 2018		 			
align=right		3–9 			
align=right		3–2 (OT) 			
14 May 2018		 			
align=right		0–3 			
align=right		2–1 (OT) 			
15 May 2018		 			
align=right		6–2 			
align=right		3–0 			
align=right		1–0 			
==Playoff round==
===Quarterfinals===
===Semifinals===
===Bronze medal game===
===Gold medal game===
==References==
==External links==
*Official website
Category:IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
Category:2018 in ice hockey