Iihf To Intoduce New Format

[Kubby31]

ZURICH, Switzerland -- The International Ice Hockey Federation will introduce a new format at the 2012 world championships in Finland.

The new structure calls for 16 nations playing in two groups of eight to decide which teams progress to the quarter-finals.

The current format uses four-team preliminary-round groups with 12 countries advancing to a qualifying round before the quarter-final lineup is determined.

The qualifying round proved unpopular with fans who could not be sure where their team would play.

The new format will create a 64-match tournament compared to 56 in the current setup that will be used for the last time in Slovakia next year.

The IIHF also says Denmark, Russia and Ukraine are bidding to host the 2016 world championships.

[frostyHAWK]

ZURICH, Switzerland -- The International Ice Hockey Federation will introduce a new format at the 2012 world championships in Finland.

The new structure calls for 16 nations playing in two groups of eight to decide which teams progress to the quarter-finals.

The current format uses four-team preliminary-round groups with 12 countries advancing to a qualifying round before the quarter-final lineup is determined.

The qualifying round proved unpopular with fans who could not be sure where their team would play.

The new format will create a 64-match tournament compared to 56 in the current setup that will be used for the last time in Slovakia next year.

The IIHF also says Denmark, Russia and Ukraine are bidding to host the 2016 world championships.

so they are basically using the same system as the playoffs?

[Manatee-X]

so they are basically using the same system as the playoffs?

No, it's more like a bigger round robin. What I got from it was that each team plays seven other teams with the best four teams from each group moving on to the elimination stages.

I see this as being both good and bad from a Canadian/American television viewer's perspective. The good news is that we'll get to see a better variety of high profile games against countries like Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, etc. As it was before you would normally have one other 'elite' nation in the group stage and you depending on how it shook out you might not face another until the semi-finals.

With the new tournament structure you'll get more games against the powerful countries in the group stage, but you'll also get more blowout games which often aren't all that fun to watch.

One thing I do know is that it will benefit the organizers and TSN, as they now get to collect ticket proceeds from all the extra games

[Mathradio]

Since the IIHF funds all the other tiers of the Worlds from the ticket receipts from the games, eight more games would allow the IIHF to make Division II and III participation more affordable for each team.