After an intense final day of preliminary round competition, as various teams nervously waited in anticipation, we finally were given our playoff round matchups. Unfortunately, despite playing well, surprise teams such as Latvia and Kazakhstan failed to sustain their momentum and did not qualify over some of the more experienced teams. The final standings ended up as such:
The preliminary round is over. 8 teams are out, 8 teams are heading to quarter-finals. Here are the final standings after 56 games played.⤵️ #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/zNumEHdKXt
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) June 1, 2021
The top team from either group plays the bottom team from the opposing group, and the same goes for the second and third seeds, meaning the playoff bracket is set up as follows:
The quarterfinal round will take place tomorrow on the 3rd of June, with all games being played on the day (albeit at different times).
As for the players we all know and love, Ivan Provorov finished his campaign with two assists in the seven games he played. Additionally, for current Flyers and Flyer prospects, evidently, a fact that slipped past me is that Flyer goaltending prospect Samuel Ersson is playing for team Sweden, though he was far from noticeable only having appeared in one game.
In the end, Slovakia’s Peter Cehlarik and Canada’s Connor Brown jointly lead the preliminary round in scoring with 10 points each, and surprisingly (though perhaps not surprisingly if you live in the U.K. as I do) team GB’s Liam Kirk lead the preliminary round in goals with seven goals in seven games. Kirk, 21, is the first ever British born and trained player to be drafted in the NHL (7th round in 2018 by the Arizona Coyotes), and though he remains unsigned by Arizona, Kirk certainly has a bright future ahead of him.
🚨 LIAM KIRK CANNOT BE STOPPED! 🚨
🇬🇧 2nd of the game, 7th of the #IIHFWorlds for the @TeamGBicehockey star and tournament leading goal scorer 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Lfxj3tUak0
— FreeSports 📺 (@FreeSports_TV) June 1, 2021
