Dainius Zubrus, who is the President of the Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation, and Lithuania host this year’s Division I Group B tourney for the 2024 IIHF World Championships. This year’s group includes the hosts, a very strong Ukrainian team, and a young Spanish team potentially on the rise.
Before we can look at the main World Championships that will begin in Czechia on May 10, which will feature at least six New Jersey Devils, we must look at the tier below them. This is a post previewing the third tier of the International Ice Hockey Federation ladder: Division I Group B. As this group begins, Division II will be wrapping up their play so we will know who will join this group next year soon enough. This is also a group where the competition and resources are a bit better. One country even still has a shot at the 2026 Olympics.
More importantly, this year’s tourney is in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Lithuanians are hosting and the President of the Lithuanian Ice Hockey Federation is the Dainius Zubrus. Yes! The man called the Lithuanian Freight Train by Chico and many others. The one known as “zTunes” for his, uh, interesting locker room music choices. The forward who scored this important goal over Philly on May 6 in Game 4 of the second round of the 2012 playoffs. The attacker who dropped a four-spot on Tampa Bay in 2008. The first Lithuanian player to play over 1,000 games in the NHL has been giving back to his home nation. He leads the federation that oversees the national team and the league with one of the best team names in hockey: Hockey Punks Vilnius. It is a bit bittersweet that they are hosting because they were relegated from Group A last year. But between being the hosts and coming down from a higher level, maybe they will rebound. Let us learn more about this group coming up.
The Tournament
The Location: The Twinsbet Arena in Vilnius, Lithuania
The Game Days: April 27, April 28, April 30, May 1, and May 3. Once again, two back-to-back sets followed by a final day.
The Game Times: Wake up even earlier for international hockey as the games will be held at 5:30 AM ET, 9:00 AM ET, and 12:30 PM ET.
The Format: Six teams. First place wins gold and gets promotion to Division I – Group A – the second tier of the IIHF WC ladder. Second place and third place get silver and bronze medals and nothing more. Sixth place will be relegated to Division II Group A and replaced by their winner, which will be decided just as this group begins play.
The standings use a 3-2-1-0 format. Regulation wins are worth three points, post-regulation wins are worth two points, post-regulation losses are worth one, and regulation losses are worth nothing. Any ties in points are first decided by head-to-head points, and head-to-head goal difference, and then head-to-head goals scored. In other words: Win in regulation and win big if you can.
The IIHF Tournament Page: Here it is with a full day-by-day schedule with times set for your local time zone.
The Online Broadcast: The IIHF will livestream the Division I games on their Youtube channel. Like, subscribe, hit the bell, etc., etc.
What Happened Last Year: Last year’s Division I Group B tourney was heled in Tallinn, Estonia. The group was entirely Japan’s though. The Japanese roster beat everyone in five games, all in regulation, and with a collective out-scoring of 29-10. They moved up.
The remainder of the group had its own surprises. Ukraine ended up scoring the most goals in the tournament with 35, but fell in OT to China in the group’s first day. A day that also featured Estonia needing a shootout to beat Serbia. Serbia would finish last and get relegated, but they beat the Netherlands in a shootout on the group’s final day to at least go down with a win. Weirdly, the Netherlands were safe with a win as they crushed China 7-2. Ultimately, Japan went up to Division I, Serbia went down, and the promoted Spain from the 2023 Division II Group A tournament makes up this group.
What about Lithuania? Again, they are here because they finished last in Division I-A, which is especially harsh as it is the tier right below the main World Championships. They got rocked by Great Britain, Poland, Italy, South Korea, and Romania. The losses to Romania and South Korea were by one goal and had they won one, maybe they would be hosting Division I-A instead this year. Alas, they are down here.
Let us go over each of the national teams as best as I can find, first with the hosts:
Lithuania
The National Team Website: Lithiuanian Ice Hockey Federation
The Roster: Here is the roster per Elite Prospects. When I first looked at it, they have six goalies so it is definitely a camp roster.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. Given that they have The Chaser on their home jerseys (and the coat of arms for the country?) and the columns on their road jerseys, why not pick one of them?
Last Year: They finished last in Division I Group A by going 0-0-0-5 and being out-scored by one, 7-21. They lost 3-2 to Romania and 2-1 to South Korea among those five losses, who finished fifth and fourth respectively in the group. Those were the chances to stay up but they did not take them. Here they are.
Familiar Territory: Maybe they should be here. Throughout Lithuania’s hockey history for the men, they have been in Division I Group B 12 times since 2005. This will be their thirteenth time at this level. Ron Pasco of Kolner Hale of the DEL is behind the bench and will look to get their team back up. Given that they recently played and lost an exhibition to Ukraine, well, I have my doubts.
Still, the Lithuanians have a variety of experience in their roster and various ages. While their camp roster has yet to be cut down at the time of this writing, Marijus Dumcius put up 18 goals for Sport U20 in Finland. Ilja Michaelevic put up 20 goals across Dunaujvaros AC’s U21 and secondary team in Hungary. Tadas Kumeliauskas also put up 20 goals for Energia Elektrenai. His teammate Povilas Verenis put up 25 points in 19 games for the same team. Mark Kaleinikovas put up 24 points in 29 games for Unia Oswiecim in Poland. Matynas Grinius put up 29 points in 32 games in Germany’s Oberliga, the third tier of German hockey. Dominyk Bogdziul and Ugnius Cizas were over a point per game as well in the second tier of Norwegian hockey. There are plenty of players who have had productive seasons. The question is whether they can produce at this level after generating so little in Division I-A last year.
As for goaltenders, there were six in their camp. Last year, the Lithuanian goalies were swamped. Mantas Armalis did as well as he could, nearly posting a 90% save percentage across four losses (he finished at 89.8%). Elvinas Karla, not so much in his one game with an 82.9%. Both goalies have Swedish experience. Armalis played in 25 games for Leksands IF in the SHL (!) and posted an 89.9% save percentage. Karla was in the second division of Swedish hockey (no, not the Alsvenskan, its lower tier) with Kovlands IshF; he posted an 89.4% over 25 games. I would think they are the favorites to be their main goalies. Third-stringer Arkadijus Grigaravicius-Reyzin may be the third stringer again with a 90.5% over 9 games in Sweden’s third division. Given that the other goalies in camp got lit up (Faustas Nauseda at least got lit up for Hokki in Mestis?), I would expect these three to be the netminders. The team may go as far as Armalis goes – and whatever their offense yields at this level.
When teams get relegated from a group, I tend to think they will be contenders at the lower tier. This year, my thought has been blown up. Mexico got dumped for a second straight year. North Korea and Georgia did well but they are not going back up. I do think Lithuania can hang at this level. But their skaters are a question mark as far as what they can generate. Even if Armalis has a great tourney, someone has to score goals to win. Especially against the likes of Ukraine and China. At least the hosts should fare better than how Bulgaria has done (I also whiffed on that, sorry, Bulgarians).
Ukraine
The National Team Website: Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine. By the way, this site is great. It is well maintained; it is updated regularly; and finding information is easy. Federations, please follow the Ukraine example.
The Roster: Here is the roster per Elite Prospects. They have some cuts to make, but this is going to be close to what they will bring to Vilnius.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: Yellow and Blue, per their men’s national team Wikipedia page. Boring, but they do love their colors in Europe.
Last Year: They finished second in Division I Group B by going 3-0-1-1 and out-scored their competition collectively 35-16. They were stunned in an OT loss to China in the group’s first game last year. They responded with a 7-0 win over Serbia, a 7-4 win over Estonia, and a 14-2 win over the Netherlands. Their one loss was a 5-3 loss to Japan that ultimately decided the group on the final day.
Prepared: The federation’s website noted that they played exhibition games against Lithuania and China ahead of the Division I Group B group. Ukraine won both of them: 5-2 against Lithuania and 9-0 against China. I am surprised these nations agreed to play each other as warm-ups since they will be playing each other for real now. Needless to say, you have to like the Ukrainian’s chances. At least in their re-matches on April 30 (vs. China) and May 3 (vs. Lithuania)
The Ukrainians also have something to play for beyond trying to move up to Division I Group A. Ukraine is the only nation in this group that can still qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. They prevailed in Poland back in February with wins over South Korea, 4-0; Estonia, 5-3; and a shootout win over Poland. That gave them the right to go to Riga for a short tourney starting on August 24. They will play Latvia, France, and Slovenia. Winner of the group will go to the Olympics. Given that Latvia and France are at the top rung of the IIHF WC ladder and Slovenia is in Division I Group A, this is an uphill battle for Ukraine. But they have a lot to play for beyond this tourney. They also have recent wins over another country that they will play in this tournament. While a lot can happen in hockey, Ukraine holding recent victories over three of their five upcoming opponents has to give them confidence. I am certainly confident that they should be seen as favorites in this year’s group. They could get their first promotion since 2016 out of this level should the experience pay off.
Of course, they also have some variety in their experience. Their head coach is former NHL player Dmitri Khristich, one of the few Ukrainians to make it to the NHL much less play in over 800 games. Their roster includes players who played in the Netherlands (Yevgen Fadyeyev of the wonderfully named Snackpoint Eaters Limburg), Slovakia (Alexander Peresunko of HK Poprad; Igor Merezhko for HK Spisska Nova Ves; Alexei Dakhnovsky for HC Kosice U20s; Olexei Vorona for HK 95 Povazska Bystrica; Volodymyr Volkov for HC Modre Kridla Slovan and HC Slovan Bratislava U20s), Poland (Andrei Deniskin for Unia Oswiecim; Filipp Pangelov-Yuldashev of Podhale Nowy Targ; Illia Korenchuk of GKS Tychy; and Vitali Andreykiv of Zaglebie Sosnowiec), Finland (Daniil Trakht with the Lukko U20s and four games with their Liiga team; Artem Hrebenyk for Kettera in Mestis), Hungary (Ivan Sysak of Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak), Czechia (Stanislav Sadovikov of Berani Zlin), Canada (Gleb Artsatbanov of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL), and America (Las Vegas prospect Artur Cholach of Sioux Falls of the USHL, and Mikhail Simchuk of Grand Canyon University in ACHA play). That is a lot and it speaks to how the Ukrainian roster is not solely leaning on their domestic league. There are plenty of players from their domestic league on the roster. However, they also have a wealth of talent with different experiences in other leagues that can help them get the edge. Not to mention if multiple teams are taking Ukrainian players and playing them regularly, then it speaks to what they have in their game.
Incidentally, their top six scorers in Division I-B play last year were Vorona, Merezhko, Trakht, Korenchuk, Vadim Mazur, and Peresunko. Only Mazur played in the Ukraine league then and now. (By the way, Vorona led the group last year in scoring with 13 points in 5 games.)
The roster is also a young roster but with room for growth. Unlike other national teams seemingly forced into a youth movement, the Ukrainian set up has legitimate prospects at this level. In addition to the Golden Knights’ prospect, Cholach, the camp roster had 18 players at age 25 or under. Only five players are at age 30 or older and the oldest is 31. Given that these players are playing in other European nations at either a youth or professional level, the Ukraine squad could become real good in time.
The one question about last year’s roster – other than how they got upset by China – was their goaltending. Giving up 16 goals in five games is not heinous but neither Bogdan Dyachenko or Eduard Zakharchenko were all that good in 2023. They split the crease last year as Dyachenko posted an 85.4% save percentage and Zakharchenko put up an even worse 82%. Both goalies, who play in Ukraine’s league, had good seasons. However, I can understand why Gleb Artsatbanov was brought into camp to challenge them a bit. If Ukraine wants to win the group, their goalies have to be better than what they were last year. They have the firepower and the defense (and they left their two leaders in PIM last year off the roster, which is a nice plus) but they need the saves too.
Still, Ukraine should still be seen as favorites. Not only because of who they have returning that put up big points last year. Not only because they finished second. They just beat three of their five upcoming opponents within the last two months and should have all of the confidence of doing it again in Vilnius. Now the Yellow and Blue just have to do it.
China
The National Team Website: The Chinese Ice Hockey Association site apparently does not work?
The Roster: Here is the roster per Elite Prospects, which is seemingly short 3 skaters. Maybe more will be added by tomorrow?
The Nickname per Wikipedia: Dragons, per the men’s national team page at Wikipedia. OK. I am not complaining about the nickname.
Last Year: They finished third in Division I Group B by going 2-1-0-2, out-scoring opponents collectively 19-18. They got off to a great start by upsetting Ukraine in overtime, 5-4. Then they suffered a 5-2 loss to Japan and a 7-2 loss to the Netherlands. China salvaged their tourney and took Bronze with a 5-0 win over Serbia and a 5-2 win against Estonia.
A Different Kind of China: China tried their best to make the 2022 Winter Olympic experience not an embarrassing one for themselves. Kunlun Red Star was founded in 2016 and sought to join the KHL in a hope to improve Chinese hockey. They sought out and re-patriated players from other nations to strengthen their national team as well as Kunlun. However, the team was (and is) never very good in the KHL as the Red Star only qualified for the playoffs once in team history and that was back in their first season in 2016-17. At the 2022 Winter Olympics, China lost all three of their games in the men’s ice hockey tournament. With a goal differential of -14, they were technically 12th out of 12 teams. If there was a positive for the national team, then it would be getting promotion out of Division II Group A. They won the shortened group (Australia withdrew) with four wins and out-scoring their opponents 28-4. They stayed up in Division I Group B last year. That is small solace in light of their failure at the Olympics and their continued struggles in the KHL. Kunlun missed out on the playoffs with a 15-6-4-2-4-37 (W-OTW-SOW-SOL-OTL-L) record in this past season.
While the Chinese managed to stick around with a Kunlun-heavy roster, the deciders at the China Ice Hockey Association went in an entirely different direction. Per this IIHF article by Andy Potts on April 4, the women’s team was entirely homegrown. It appears the men’s team is as well. The roster up at Elite Prospects does not have any Kunlun players on it. In fact, they only have club information on two of them: 23-year old forward Juncheng Yan (a.k.a. Eddie Yan) who played for University of Toronto and 18-year old goaltender Stephen Chan (a.k.a. Shifeng Chen) who was technically with Brown University but apparently did not appear for them this year. Both Chan and Yan developed their game in America and Canada, respectively; but both had Chinese birthplaces so they fit the homegrown theme.
The rest of the roster is a wild card. A number of players on this roster used to play for Kunlun. Like 26-year old defenseman Zimeng Chen; 23-year old defenseman Ruinan Yan; 28-year old goaltender Zehao Sun; and 24-year old forward Jianing Gao. They did not appear to play for Red Star in this past season. Their EP profiles only list appearances for their national team play either in Olympic Qualifiers or youth tournaments. I do not know if they all took the season to play and train together. In a division filled with players playing somewhere in 2023-24, that is a bit of a risky decision.
I will point out that this team is exceptionally young. I have noted this for several national teams. China’s 2024 roster has no skater over the age of 26 and goalie Zehao Sun is the only rostered player above that age. That may change by the time the puck drops tomorrow, but this is a rather bold choice. They did not bring too many players from their WJC team that played in Division II-A earlier in the year. Only three: defenseman Lang Xu, forward Zichen Li, and goaltender Stephen Chen. Stephen Chen did exceptionally well at the tourney a with a 92.9% save percentage in five games. As an aside, I’m surprised to not see 20-year old forward Kailin Chen on this roster given he captained the U-20 squad, led the team in points at that tourney, and is also China-born. Maybe he will be added late? I do not know.
I want to think China recognized that their situation was stuck. Iron can sharpen iron but it cannot sharpen other materials so well. As good as the KHL is, the Kunlun roster getting to miss the playoffs six out of seven seasons in a league where the majority of teams make the playoffs shows that the competition level may be too much. While the national team did make it up to this group, the Kunlun approach was filled with aging players and last year may have shown that it may not have the breakthrough talents needed to push them up to Group A. So I can respect this decision to “reset.” I do think it may cost them this group for now. If the CIHA is fine with a long-term plan for a brighter and more competitive future, then relegation with some kind of pride may not be the worst thing.
Then again, that may be difficult in this group. Sure, an upset can happen, but they just lost 9-0 in an exhibition to Ukraine, whom they upset last year. I doubt that will happen again. China will be wise to really put in their best efforts against the likes of the Netherlands (who stunned the older, KHL-based roster of last year), Estonia, and incoming Spain. If they can get results against them, then that would be a massive achievement. But I think trying to rebuild a national team and being competitive is a massive challenge. We shall see if the Chinese prove my doubts incorrect shortly.
Netherlands
The National Team Website: Netherlands Ice Hockey Association
The Roster: Here is their roster per Elite Prospects.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: Orange per their men’s national team page on Wikipedia. Really? Not even Orange Lion? Or Orange Tiger? Or Orange Something? Again, Europe loves their color-based nicknames.
Last Year: They finished fifth in Division I Group B by going 1-0-1-3, getting out-scored collectively 14-31. Japan and Ukraine teed off on the Dutch by scoring a combined 21 goals on them in their losses. The Netherlands held their own against Estonia in a 4-2 loss, lost in a shootout to Serbia, and stunned China with a 7-2 win that ensured they would stay up once the Serbia game went beyond sixty minutes.
Orange You Glad It’s Local: When I first pulled the roster from a few days ago, I noticed two things. One: It is a camp roster with four goalies, ten defensemen, and twenty forwards. Two: The majority of the team is either based in the BeNeLiga, a league shared by Belgian and Dutch clubs; or the Tilburg Trappers of Germany’s third tier of hockey, the Oberliga. Why so many Dutch players on the Trappers? It is a team in the Netherlands, for one. More importantly, The Trappers’ head coach is the head coach of the national team, Doug Mason. He is going with what he knows well. He also played for the Trappers in the old Netherlands league too. The final roster is indeed Trapper-heavy and we shall see if this works out.
Anyway, Mason has bossed this team up to this level and this is their second straight year in Division I-B so he clearly has an idea of what is needed. The team did get hammered at times despite one surprising win in 2023. To that end, I can understand the decision to bring in some new blood into roster. New faces like defensemen Bjorn Borgman and Justin van Baarsen join a fairly young blueline. Alexei Loginov, a 31-year old defender who has been on Tilburg for a long long time, rejoins the Orange squad for the first time since 2020. Up front, 26-year old left winger Dutch-Pole Bartek Bison rejoins the WC squad for the first time since 2020 as well; Bison was productive in Olympic qualifiers with 3 goals and 5 points in 3 games, so he could add some punch to the Orange attack. The forward group has a number of under-22 players such as Finn van de Wiel, Lennart Vosmer, Timoer Roodenburg, Tom Speel, and Jelle Kronenburg. It is a bit bold, but I get it from Mason. Especially since the team’s leading scorer from 2023’s roster, Guus van Nes is not on this roster. Or Ties van Soest or Diego Hofland, the other forwards who scored two or more goals last year. Might as well throw in some guys and hope they turn out. Roodenburg, in particular, may have a bright future since he is a product of Helsingborgs HC and Kovlands IshF in Sweden as opposed to Germany or the Netherlands. We’ll see how far he goes. For now, there are plenty of questions that the Orange are going to find out the answers to real soon.
The only position that remains the same is in the net. Goaltenders Ruud Leeuwesteijn and Martijn Oosterwijk are back from the 2023 roster. Leeuwesteijn played a bit more than Oosterwijk last year and out-performed him with an 89.2% save percentage over the older goalie’s 85.2%. I would anticipate Leeuwesteijn to be a primary starter. He may have to go back-to-back unless Oosterwijk is ready to step up. I would also hope for the Orange’s sake that the goalies have a strong tourney. They may need to for the Netherlands to avoid the drop.
Last year’s squad was saved by an upset win and dragging the would-be last place team beyond regulation in their final game. I do not know if they can stun China again. Their May 3 game against Spain may be one for survival unless they can chip some points away from others. Still, the BeNeLiga/Trapper-based squad will do what they can.
Estonia
The National Team Website: Estonia Ice Hockey Association
The Roster: As per the Estonia Ice Hockey Association website, here is the roster. Also here from Elite Prospects.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: Swallows per the men’s national team page at Wikipedia. Yes! This is a better name than the Blue and Black or whatever Estonia would pick. Swallows!
Last Year: They finished fourth in Division I Group B by going 1-1-0-3, getting out-scored collectively 13-18. It was not an easy tourney for the hosts. They needed a shootout to beat Serbia in their first game, 2-1. They prevailed 4-2 over the Netherlands. Then it was three straight losses to Ukraine (7-4), Japan (3-1), and China (5-2). At least they drew thousands to their games.
Not Domestic: While Ukraine and Lithuania has rosters with plenty of players playing outside of their nation, Estonia has a roster entirely of players not playing in Estonia. Several played in Latvia for 2023-24. A couple played in Poland. There are three players who played in Finland, a goalie who played quite a bit in France, three in the AlpsHL for Austrian EC Bregenzerald, two in lesser American developmental leagues, and even a SPHL player. Yes, the Southern Pro Hockey League. Shout out to Vadim Vasjonkin. This will be a lot for head coach Petri Skriko to sort out; he became Estonia’s head coach for 2023-24 after spending most of his career as a NHL scout after a NHL career in the 1980s.
The main thing Skriko will have to figure out first is the offense. Last year’s team had just three players score more than one goal in Division I-B: captain and winger Robert Rooba, Estonian-Finn right winger Mark Viitanen, and center Kevin Parras. All three are back but the team needs more. Erik Embrich of EC Bregenzerald had a breakout season of 57 points in AlpsHL play; he may be able to provide more than just a couple of assists for his nation. Ditto for Daniil Kulintsev, who joined the Austrian club and dropped 12 goals and 52 points in his first season. Kristjan Kombe of JoKP of Mestis also had a big jump in points in 2023-24; he could also be someone to hope provides more for his nation. The point is that someone needs to join Rooba, Viitanen, and Parras when it comes to lighting the lamp.
In addition, he may need to tinker with the defensive set up to help the goalies. Conrad Molder and Villem-Henrik Koitmaa return for Estonia’s 2024 WC trip. Last year, they posted an 85.5% and an 84.6% save percentage respectively. That is not going to yield much success and it did not for the Swallows in 2023. While both goalies would stand to be better, the defense will need to do what they can to help. They continue to bring in Lauri Lahesalu on the blueline; a 45-year old defenseman who last played for a club team in 2015-16 (Angers in Ligue Magnus, France’s top league). I do not know why; it is otherwise a very young defense with everyone else being aged 25 or younger. But I do not think Lahesalu will provide much despite his long time experience with the national team.
That does point to one thing in Estonia’s favor. This is a roster with a future. Outside of defenseman Lahesalu, captain Rooba, and goalie Koitmaa, everyone on this team is 29 years old or younger with the vast majority being 24 years old or younger. Skriko
Spain
The National Team Website: Royal Spanish Ice Sports Federation
The Roster: N/A at the time of this writing. Alas.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. Why not the Royal? Or something else known for Spain?
Last Year: Spain won Division II Group A to earn promotion to this group. They won all five of their games. They out-scored their competition by a combined 30-9. Goalie Raul Barbo was the goalie of the tourney and defenseman Bruno Baldris was the defender of the tourney as well. By winning the group, they finished 29th in the entire IIHF World Championship ladder – their highest position since 2011 and just the second time they cracked the top 30 since 1994. Spain could very well be on the rise.
Making last year’s achievement more impressive is that Spain’s roster was young last year. They had two (2) players at age 30 or older while bringing 16 players at age 25 or younger. Baldris and Barbo are among that younger group as they are in their mid-20s; I would expect them to continue to be leaders given how they performed last year. And do not totally discount the few older players on the squad. 30-year old Alejandro Carbonell tied 24-year old Spanish-Swiss forward Dorian Donath Sanchez for the team lead in points in last year’s tourney. Still, the roster is built to last and provided the Spanish continue to support their youth systems, they can bring in future talent at their own pace.
The Spanish squad last year and likely for this year will be largely domestic-based. Spain has an 8-team pro league that was just won by Club Hielo Jaca. Jaca has Barbo, Carbonell, Adrian Torralba, Gaston Gonzalez, Jaime Capillas, and Pablo Fernandez among others. It is more than Jaca though as FC Barcelona (yes, them and example: backup goalie Sergi Reina) have a team in this league and the other teams chip in (e.g. CG Puigcerda’s captain Ignacio Granell). The few non-Spanish league based players include Baldris, who played for Strasbourg in France this season and Donath Sanchez, who played for IFK Tumba in Sweden pending any other changes from last year’s group.
The big question is whether Spain can hang at this level. It has been a pretty good year for the recently promoted teams. The Philippines held their own in Division III-B. Krygyzstan was a good goaltending performance/first game away from winning Division III-A. UAE is pretty much safe to stay in Division II-A for another year. Taiwan still has a chance to survive in Division II-B. The big games, in my opinion, will be on April 28 against China, April 30 against Estonia, and May 3 against the Netherlands. Should the Spanish get results against them – or upset the hosts or Ukraine a bit – then they can stick around for at least another year. Another year older and this national team could be largely in their prime and maybe have a reason to aim even higher.
Division II will finish up their play this week as Division I begins. On paper, I do think Ukraine has to be seen as the favorites. I am still amazed that nations that they are about to play with some real stakes on the line agreed to an exhibition against them. I am not surprised that Ukraine won them all. I would also not be surprised if they win the group but really gear themselves for a long-shot bid at making the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
The fun will be about who survives. On paper, I think relegation may be a battle between a new-look China team that is homegrown and not that experienced and the Netherlands, who do not have the forwards who produced the few goals they had last year. Their games against the hosts, China, Estonia, and Spain will be important and their last one against Spain could decide who goes back to Division II. Lastly, I hope that Lithuania does well and Zubrus & Co. can guide the national team back to where it was in the near future. If you need a rooting interest, then look to the ex-Devil.
The reward for this tourney is moving up to the second highest rung on the World Championship ladder. They will begin play on Sunday. After that week coming up, the main event will happen: the 2024 IIHF World Championships. Which will feature multiple New Jersey Devils players across its 16 nations. Please leave your thoughts about the Division I Group B tourney and its upcoming games in the comments. Thank you for reading.