If Finland and Latvia were to face each other in the quarter-finals, the match would not take place, but the quarter-finals would be played within the initial groups.
On Saturday, Leijonat secured their place in the quarterfinals of the World Cup tournament, which will be played next Thursday. The International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF has also defined the starting time for Finland’s game in advance, i.e. the Lions will play on Thursday in Tampere at 20:20.
Finland will most likely finish third in Group A. The first place in the group has run away, because the Tampere group will be taken by the USA or Sweden, but Finland has a theoretical chance for the second place. A fourth place is also mathematically possible.
In the Riga group, the situation is even more complicated, because it can be won by either Switzerland, the Czech Republic or Canada. There are so many games left that it is difficult to judge the final rankings because there are still so many possibilities.
The quarter-finals of the World Cup are basically played crosswise between the groups, i.e. Finland gets the opponent from the Riga group. Most likely, the quarter-final opposition will come from the aforementioned trio, Switzerland, the Czech Republic or Canada. The match pairs are therefore 1A-4B, 2A-3B, 1B-3A and 2B-4A.
There is still a chance that Finland and Latvia would face each other in the quarter-finals. However, the IIHF has decided that the hosts cannot meet in the quarter-finals, but both will get a home game for the fateful match. If the hosts were facing each other in the table, the quarter-finals would be played within blocks (you switch to another service). Thus, the match pairs would be 1A-4A, 2A-3A, 1B-4B and 2B-3B.
In other words, Finland’s opponent in the quarter-finals could be, for example, the USA or Sweden.
You can find the results of all games of the World Cup and future matches on teletext. Seven matches will be played in the preliminary groups. Leijonat ends the group stage on Tuesday at 20:20 against Denmark.
If two teams have the same score after the first group, the team that won the match between them will be ranked better in the standings.
When three or more teams are tied, the standings are settled as follows:
1. The number of points between these teams’ matches
2. The goal difference between these teams’ matches
3. Goals scored in matches between these teams
4. If the teams are still tied, the teams in the group are compared to the best team in the group by points, goal difference and goals scored
5. If the teams are still tied, the teams in the group are compared to the second best team in the same way as in point four
6. If the teams are still tied, the superiority of the teams is determined by the ranking position