Re: 2015 World Championship Thread
With that win we have secured advancement into the knock-out round.
We want to avoid finishing 2nd or 4th so we can put off Canada until the finals.
Canada's numbers in this tournament are obscene after 6 games: 40 SOG/game, 6.5 GF/game, PP 34%. If we do have a chance to play Canada, we'll might need another version of "Miracle on Ice" to beat 'em. Our saving grace could be Hellebuyck, who leads all goalies with a phenomenal SV% 96.88 and GAA of 0.75.
Brock Nelson is 2nd in Gs (6) and 3rd in pts. (9), but others have got to step up if the USA wants to avoid another crash and burn in this tourney.
Big game for USA and Slovakia with a couple subplots.
Slovakia still automatically qualifies for the
2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea at #8, but only by 105 pts. over #9 Belarus according to the IIHF formula. But with Belarus potentially going into the IIHF quarterfinals (if they beat Norway), they could bump Slovakia out. Following the 2015 tournament, teams ranked in the top eight will qualify directly for the 2018 Winter Olympics, while teams below the top eight will have to go through a number of qualification games in late 2015 and 2016.
The plot thickens, if Belarus loses to Norway and Slovakia beats USA, Slovakia wins the head-to-head tiebreaker against Belarus and moves on to the quarters, thus sealing their fate for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Belarus and Norway have the early game Tuesday (6:15AM EDT), so Slovakia will know if they have shot before the puck drop. USA is not in danger of falling out of the top 8 for the Olympics, but needs at least an OTW to qualify as the #1 seed in the quarters. Lots at stake here...should be a good battle.
