Classic rivalries await Austria 2005

Finland vs Sweden is one of hockey's best clashes - and they will early on in Austria 2005

Fate was on the side of geographical rivalries at the draw held today in Innsbruck to determine the preliminary round groups at the 69th IIHF World Championship in Austria (Vienna and Innsbruck, April 30 – May 15, 2005).

In the early stages there are some key match-ups and solid rivalries as Sweden and Finland both landed in Innsbruck's Group C, while USA and Canada will also be in Innsbruck in Group B. In Vienna, Group D has the rivalry between Switzerland and Germany to look forward to, while in the A Group Russia, and Slovakia will provide fans with a key game early in the championship. Host Austria will have its hands full as it will join Russia and Slovakia in the A Group along with Belarus.

Slovak General Manager Igor Nemecek was pleased with the outcome of the draw. "In general the groups in Austria will be much better balanced than what we saw in the Czech Republic," he said after his team was placed in Vienna. "We have two great games that we're lookig forward to, playing host Austira in Vienna, and obviously playing against Russia."

	 Slovakia and Russia will renew their rivalry in Group A in Vienna next year.

The complete Preliminary Round groups, as determined by the draw, for the 2005 IIHF World Championship are as follows:

Group A (Vienna)  
1.  Slovakia 
2.  Russia                
3.  Austria
4.  Belarus

Group B (Innsbruck)  
1.  Canada 
2.  USA               
3.  Latvia
4.  Slovenia

Group C (Innsbruck)  
1.  Sweden
2.  Finland              
3.  Ukraine
4.  Denmark

Group D (Vienna)
1.  Czech Republic
2.  Germany              
3.  Switzerland
4.  Kazakhstan

Claes-Goran Wallin, the Swedish General Manager said, "We are very happy to go to Innsbruck. This is exactly what we were hoping for, its very good for the players to change their environment midway through the tournament. It's also very inspiring to be in the Scandanavian group with Finland and Denmark."

Teams in Vienna were also pleased with their placement.

"For our fans its perfect that our team plays in Vienna," outgoing Czech Ice Hockey Association President Karel Gut said.  "We will have a huge support, but the quarterfinal will be brutal. Probably one of Canada, USA, Sweden or Finland from the Innsbruck groups will be waiting for us."

The names of the 16 participating teams were placed in four bowls according to their position in the IIHF World Ranking following the 2004 IIHF World Championship. Prior to the draw, the teams were put into the following categories according to the ranking:

Bowl 1 (1-4): Canada (1), Sweden (2), Slovakia (3) and Czech Republic (4).

Bowl 2 (5-8): Finland (5), USA (6), Russia (7) and Germany (8).

Bowl 3 (9-12): Switzerland (9), Latvia (10), Austria (11) and Ukraine (12).

Bowl 4 (13-16): Belarus (13), Denmark (14), Slovenia (16), Kazakhstan (17).

The draw began with the host nation, Austria, seeding two teams of their choice, with one going to one of the two Vienna groups (A or D) and the other being seeded into one of the two Innsbruck groups (B or C). Austria selected to seed Slovakia in Vienna, for its proximity to the Slovakian border, and defending champion, Canada, was placed in Innsbruck.

The draw continued with the teams of Bowl 4 being drawn into the four playing groups. The same procedure was applied for the Groups 3,2 and 1 until all 16 teams were slotted in the four groups, A, B, C and D.

The playing schedule will be determined later.