IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
With the preliminary round of this years tourny over what would you say the tiers are
Are you basing the ranking on how they performed in this tournament exclusively ? or a ranking in general inuding the tournament thus far. Basing it on just this tournament alone and using your rankings, I would knock down Latvia and Germany a tier
Are you basing the ranking on how they performed in this tournament exclusively ? or a ranking in general inuding the tournament thus far. Basing it on just this tournament alone and using your rankings, I would knock down Latvia and Germany a tier
Your title says "....preliminary round of this years..." so how does Austria and Slovenia even make this when they played in Division 1? Not only do I not understand why they are ranked, but Austria is ranked higher then 2 countries who played in the Elite Division.
Next, how is France in the 4th tier when they had more points then all the countries in the "small 5" besides Norway? Not only that, but they are behind 3 countries they beat.
Edit: I just saw your next message, again, how is France in Tier 4 when Austria, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, and Italy are countries who rotate between Elite and Division 1 while France has been in Elite for awhile now? Those four countries all belong in Tier 4, if you really want, Denmark and France can be Tier 3.
France and Denmark should be moving up to that 2nd tier along with the Swiss, Norwegians, etc. At least they're not going up and down between the Championship and Division I like Kazakhstan or Austria.
Your title says "....preliminary round of this years..." so how does Austria and Slovenia even make this when they played in Division 1? Not only do I not understand why they are ranked, but Austria is ranked higher then 2 countries who played in the Elite Division.
Next, how is France in the 4th tier when they had more points then all the countries in the "small 5" besides Norway? Not only that, but they are behind 3 countries they beat.
Edit: I just saw your next message, again, how is France in Tier 4 when Austria, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, and Italy are countries who rotate between Elite and Division 1 while France has been in Elite for awhile now? Those four countries all belong in Tier 4, if you really want, Denmark and France can be Tier 3.
The "Small 5" should be a "Small 7" at this point with Denmark and France keeping the rest of them company. Except for the Swiss those two countries can hang with any other team in that group. Tiers 3 and 4 need to be merged, there isn't enough differentiating them. I personally quite enjoy the competitive parity within the Tier 1 and tier 2 nations and that no matchup is ever an easy bet.
Tier 1
Canada
US
Finland
Sweden
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Russia
Switzerland (If Hiller plays ridiculously out of his mind and if all 7 of their active NHL skaters are available, a case could be made that they could compete with anyone in this group)
The "Small 5" should be a "Small 7" at this point with Denmark and France keeping the rest of them company. Except for the Swiss those two countries can hang with any other team in that group. Tiers 3 and 4 need to be merged, there isn't enough differentiating them. I personally quite enjoy the competitive parity within the Tier 1 and tier 2 nations and that no matchup is ever an easy bet.
Tier 1
Canada
US
Finland
Sweden
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Russia
Switzerland (If Hiller plays ridiculously out of his mind and if all 7 of their active NHL skaters are available, a case could be made that they could compete with anyone in this group)
Since the IIHF rankings started in 2003, 12 countries have been ranked in the top 14 every year. The 2 newcomers are Norway & France, at the expense of Austria & Ukraine.
Norway
Denmark
Germany
Latvia
Belarus
France (still not certain about it, but they are cleary above Tier 4)
Tier 4
Italy
Austria
Ukraine
etc.
Ignoring any outliers teams like Norway, Slovakia and Germany had or have, this would be the "perfect" ranking on paper. I know it sounds harsh on Slovakia to put in them into tier 2, but this basically means nothing more than that they are not capable of forming a contender year in year out. The Olympics would be a different ranking.
If we look at the depth Switzerland has, they are cleary above the tier 3 teams.
In my consideration, the difference between tier 1 and tier 2 is way bigger than the difference between tier 2 and 3, which means that any team in tier 3 - except France - is capable of playing a tournament at tier 2 (like Norway), but lack the depth/consistency/skill/whatever of beating the other teams in tier 3 and 4 on a regular basis. Norway could become the next Switzerland and move up in the next WC if they dominate tier 3 teams again like this year.
Tier 3 teams are extremely dependent on coaching, a well working system, the performance of star players and the team chemistry to play a good tournament. (like Germany)
