Finland's captain, Sami Kapanen scored twice and led his team to a 2-1 victory over Slovakia. The win ensures Finland a spot in the quarterfinals. In group E, USA skated to an uncomplicated 6-2 win over France. In the relegation round, Austria egged Hungary 6-0 and Denmark beat Germany 3-1
QUALIFYING ROUND
USA - France 6-2(2-0, 3-2, 1-0)
1 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 4,213
1-0 04:02 Kyle Okposo 1 (Backes) PP1
2-0 10:38 David Backes 1 (Oshie, Suter) PP2
3-0 24:51 Ryan Shannon 3 (Backes, Niskanen)
4-0 27;29 Keith Ballard 1 (Okposo, Bagosian)
4-1 29:41 Yorick Treille 1 (Zwikel, Meunier) PP1
5-1 30:31 Patrick O'Sullivan 4 (Brown)
5-2 31:47 Pierre Edouard Bellemare 1 (Meunier, Lhenry) PP1
6-2 49:55 Jack Johnson 4 (Liles, Brown) PP2
USA 5x2, FRA 7x2 + 1x5+20 (Quessandier), SOG 41:16 (20:3, 13:7, 8:6)
Best players: USA: David Backes, FRA: Pierre Edouard Bellemare
USA: Al Montoya; Ron Hainsey, Ryan Suter, Patrick O'Sullivan, Dustin Brown (2), Jason Blake (2) - Jack Johnson, John Michael Liles, Kyle Okposo, David Backes, T. J. Oshie - Keith Ballard, Matt Niskanen, Chris Higgins, Drew Stafford (4), Ryan Shannon (2) - Zach Bagosian, Nick Foligno, Lee Stempiak, Colin Wilson, Colin Stuart.
FRA: Fabrice Lhenry; Vincent Bachet (2), Baptiste Amar; Yorick Treille, Laurent Meunier, Stephane de Costa - Mathieu Mille (2), Antonin Manavian (2), Francois Rozenthal, Anthoine Lussier, Laurent Gras - Benoit Quessandier (25), Thomas Roussel (2), Pierre Edouard Bellemare (2), Kevin Hecquefeuille (2) , Damien Fleury - Kevin Igier, Gary Leveque, Jonathan Zwikel (2), Luc Tardif, Sascha Treille.
USA skated to an easy 6-2 victory against the French team that unexpectedly made it to the qualifying round. The first period largely took place in the French end and the French team didn't make it easier for itself by taking one penalty after another. The only real exercising Al Montoya had in this frame was when he skated forth and back to the bench during the delayed French penalties. 4-0 halfway into the game, USA called it a day's work and started to look forward to tomorrow's big match vs. Russia.
Finland - Slovakia 2-1 OT (1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)
1 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 4,444
1-0 15:05 Sami Kapanen 1 (Nummelin) SH1
1-1 22:01 Lubos Bartecko 3 (Handzus)
2-1 63:39 Sami Kapanen 2 (Immonen)
FIN 7x2, SVK 5x2, SOG 23:26 (7:5, 6:14, 8:6, 2:1)
FIN: Pekka Rinne (2), Petteri Nummelin, Mikko Lehtonen, Niklas Hagman, Antti Miettinen (2), Niko Kapanen - Lasse Kukkonen, Janne Niskala (2), Hannes Hyvönen (2), Sami Kapanen, Jarkko Immonen (2) - Topi Jaakola, Janne Niinimaa, Leo Komarov, Tuomas Pihlman (2), Juha Pekka Hytönen - Anssi Salmela, Tommi Santala (2), Mika Pyörälä, Jarkko Ruutu, Ville Vahalahti.
SVK (4): Jaroslav Halak, Jaroslav Obsut, Andrej Sekera, Lubos Bartecko, Michal Handzus, Tomas Surovy - Peter Smrek (2), Rene Vydareny, Stefan Ruzicka, Juraj Mikus, Marcel Hossa - Ivan Svarny, Dominik Granak, Ladislav Nagy, Ratislav Pavlikovsky, Branko Radivojevic - Ivan Baranka, Boris Valabik (2), Jiri Bicek, Milan Bartovic, Juraj Stefanka (2).
Refs: Rafail Kadyrov (RUS) & Soeren Persson (SWE)
Linesmen: Konstantin Gordenko & Anton Semionov (RUS)
Slovakia played perhaps its best game in the tournament. In contrast to the preliminary round, the team managed to tighten up its defense and it didn't take stupid penalties as it did against Canada. Significantly, Slovakia managed effectively to shut down Finland's topline with Niklas Hagman, Antti Miettinen and Niko Kapanen. The forward line only managed one shot on goal in the first two periods. Finland's defense, however, was just as good, and the game remained on the line right until Finland's captain scored late in the overtime. Finland wore vintage sweaters from 1965 to commemorate the first time their country hosted the World Championships.
Standings Group E
| |
|
|
GP |
W |
OTW |
OTL |
L |
GF:GA |
P |
| 1 |
 |
Russia |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
17:9 |
8 |
| 2 |
 |
USA |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
15:10 |
7 |
| 3 |
 |
Latvia |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
7:7 |
4 |
| 4 |
 |
Sweden |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
13:14 |
4 |
| 5 |
 |
Switzerland |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4:6 |
4 |
| 6 |
 |
France |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4:14 |
0 |
Standings Group F
| |
|
|
GP |
W |
OTW |
OTL |
L |
GF:GA |
P |
| 1 |
 |
Canada |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
18:5 |
9 |
| 2 |
 |
Finland |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11:4 |
8 |
| 3 |
 |
Belarus |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
6:9 |
4 |
| 4 |
 |
Czech Republic |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9:11 |
3 |
| 5 |
 |
Slovakia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5:11 |
2 |
| 6 |
 |
Norway |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4:13 |
1 |
RELEGATION GROUP G
Germany - Denmark 1-3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2)
1 May 2009, Postfinance Arena, Berne, Att: 4,241
0-1 10:27 Mikkel Bødker 1 (M. Madsen)'
1-1 13:23 Christoph Schubert 2 (Ullmann, Butenschön)
1-2 49:52 Peter Regin 1
1-3 53:27 Nichlas Hardt 1 (Green)
GER 6x2, DEN 6x2, SOG 26:20 (10:8, 11:6, 5:6)
GER: Dimitri Pätzold; Christopher Schmidt, Michael Bakos (2), Travis Mulock, Jochen Hecht (2), Alexander Barta - Sven Butenschön, Christoph Schubert (2), Andre Rankel, Yannic Seidenberg, Christoph Ullmann - Sebastian Osterloh, Moritz Müller, Michael Wolf, Michael Hackert, Philip Gogulla - Andreas Renz (2), Frank Hördler (2), Sven Felski, Daniel Kreutzer (2), Kai Hospelt.
DEN: Patrick Galbraith; Philip Larsen, Kasper Pedersen, Morten Madsen, Peter Regin, Mikkel Bødker (2) - Jesper Damgaard (2), Mads Bech Christensen, Kim Staal (2), Morten Green, Nichlas Hardt - Mads Bødkerm Daniel Nielsen (2), Mads Christensen, Kasper Degn, Julian Jakobsen - Rasmus Olsen, Kim Lykkeskov (2), Thor Dresler, Alexander Sundberg (2), Jesper Jensen.
Refs: Peter Orszag (SVK) & Vladimir Sindler (CZE)
Linesmen: Eric Bouguin (FRA) & Tobias Wehrli (SUI)
Few expected that Germany, a 2008 quarterfinalist, would end up in the relegation group. But this has become a reality which is complicating the crucial fight for survival in this group. One thing is that as the 2010 IHWC host, Germany cannot be relegated; another is that whatever the outcome of the games in the qualifying round and Germany's performance in the relegation group, Germany will finish either 12th or 13th at the World Ranking list. This implies that Germany already know that they will play in Group D, usually the toughest preliminary group, next year. In effect, the IHWC is virtually already over for Team Germany. The only question is: how much pride does the team still have in this tournament. The answer after the first game in the relegation group is: apparently not much!
As a whole Denmark vs Germany was less than beautiful. Both teams struggled in their passing game and neither of them could get their powerplay to work as been the case in the previous stages of the tournament - that is until Nichlas Hardt sealed the Danish victory with 7 minutes left of the game. To be honest, the game was pretty ugly to watch, but it did have at least one beautiful moment that even proved to be desisive. With 10 minutes left, the game remained stalled (1:1), but then Peter Regin finally flashed his skills: while the Danish defensemen were skating to the bench to make a shift, Regin wen't coast-to-coast, outsmarted four German players (incl. his Ottawa teammate, Christoph Schubert) and finished with beautiful backhander past Dimitri Pätzold. One of the best goals in the tournament so far.
Austria - Hungary 6-0 (1-0, 3-0, 2-0)
1 May 2009, Arena Zürich-Kloten, Att: 4,042
1-0 19:13 Thomas Koch 1 (Baumgartner)
2-0 20:43 Thomas Koch 2 (Setzinger, Vanek)
3-0 23:56 Oliver Setzinger 1 (Vanek) PP1
4-0 33:27 Thomas Vanek 1 (Koch) PP1
5-0 58:48 Thomas Koch 3 PP1
6-0 59:36 Roland Kaspitz 1 (Unterluggauer, Nödl)
AUT 9x2, HUN 7x2, SOG 60:28 (14:11, 28:10, 18:7)
AUT: Bernd Brückler; Gerhard Unterluggauer (2), Darcy Werenka, Thomas Koch (4), Thomas Vanek, Oliver Setzinger- Jeremy Rebek, Martin Oraze (2), Roland Kaspitz, Andreas Nödl (2), Jeremy Rebek - Philippe Lakos (2), Andre Lakos (2), Markus Peintner (2), David Schuller, Harald Ofner - Mario Altmann, Paul Schellander, Andreas Kristler (2), Gregor Baumgartner.
HUN: Levente Szuper; András Horvath, Viktor Tokaji (6), János Vas (2), Krisztian Palkovics, Dániel Fekete - Bence Svasznek (2), Tamás Sille, Balázs Ladányi, Márton Vas, Imre Peterdi - Viktor Szélig, Omar Ennaffati, Csaba Kovács, Csaba Jánosi, Artyom Vaszjunyin - Balázs Kangyal, Gergely Majoross, Daniel Koger, Roger Holeczy (2), Gergo Nagy.
Refs: Rick Looker (USA) & Jyri Petteri Rönn (FIN)
Linesmen: Andrii Kicha (UKR) & Antti Orelma (FIN)
Standings
| |
|
|
GP |
W |
OTW |
OTL |
L |
GF:GA |
P |
| 1 |
 |
Austria |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6:0 |
3 |
| 2 |
 |
Denmark |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3:1 |
3 |
| 3 |
 |
Germany |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1:3 |
0 |
| 4 |
 |
Hungary |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0:6 |
0 |
|
