With the dust settled over Prague, and Canada returning to North America with World Championship Gold in tow, we can not only look back on a tremendous (and record-breaking) 2015 tournament, but to future tournaments in men’s hockey, particularly next year’s Worlds and the 2018 Olympics.

From the emergence of Canada as an offensive juggernaut, to the shutout streak of the Finnish squad led by Pekka Rinne, or the surprising emergence of the upstart United States and Belarus squads, this tournament had its fair share of surprises in store across both groups. Sweden and Finland both made stunning early exits, Slovakia failed to make the Playoff round, and upsets were abound, particularly with the Americans beating Russia…and then being beaten by Belarus themselves. Ultimately, however, it was Canada, steamrolling its way through opponents by outscoring them 66-15 over nine games, that captured their first Gold Medal since 2007.

But with the final international tournament of the season completed, and the IIHF World Ranking updated for 2015, a clearer picture for future tournaments has emerged, not just for next year’s World Championship in Russia, but for the three-stage qualification process leading up to the 2018 Olympic Games in Korea. Firstly, with Austria and Slovenia being relegated and replaced by newly-promoted Kazakhstan and Hungary, the groupings for both the Saint Petersburg and Moscow groups are now set as follows (rankings in parentheses):

As for the 2018 Olympics, the top 36-ranked nations in the World are free to compete, with eight teams (plus the host) already qualified as a result of the latest World Ranking following the Worlds, in which Canada was catapulted three spots ahead into first place. First will commence a Preliminary Qualification tournament on November 5-8, pitting the 28-35 ranked nations in two groups (all Group hosts marked with an asterisk):

Then, the two Preliminary Qualification winners, along with the nations ranked 18-27, will play in the following Pre-Qualification tournament groups:

Lastly, the Final Qualification round will be made up of the nations ranked 9-17, along with the three Pre-Qualification winners, with the group winners advancing to PyeongChang:

From there, the groups will be seeded as follows, with Group A already set, due to Korea’s automatic qualification as host:

While there are certainly a lot more questions than answers to be cleared up in the years to come, we are excited at how things flush out, and for the teams that will take to the ice in Russia next year, and in Korea in three years!

Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2015 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC