STOCKHOLM – After making the gold medal game, Sweden moved from fourth to first place in the 2013 IIHF Men’s World Ranking. The Swedes are followed by Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Canada.

Click here for the 2013 IIHF Men’s World Ranking
Click here for the 2013 IIHF Women’s World Ranking

Sweden made the biggest move among the top-20 nations by climbing up three places. Finland remains in second place while last year’s leader Russia fell to third place after being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Team USA. The Czechs, also eliminated in the quarter-finals, dropped to fourth place.

Canada remains in fifth place followed by the United States, who improved by one, and Switzerland, which went up two positions in the new World Ranking at the expense of Slovakia (from 6th to 8th) and Norway (from 8th to 9th).

The positions of Germany (10th), Latvia (11th) and Denmark (12th) remain untouched, while France (now 13th) and Belarus have (now 14th) swapped places.

The only team other than Sweden that went up three places was Korea. The host nation of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games went from 28th to 25th place after establishing itself in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A, which the country will host next spring in Seoul. Korea finished a record-high 21st place overall in this year’s World Championship program.

With the new World Ranking, the tentative groups for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk, Belarus, have become known.

The seeding for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, is already known since February and is based on the 2012 IIHF World Rankings.

Tentative Groups 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

Group A: Sweden (1), Czech Republic (4), Canada (5), Slovakia (8), Norway (9), Denmark (12), France (13), Italy (18, promoted).

Group B: Finland (2), Russia (3), USA (6), Switzerland (7), Germany (10), Latvia (11), Belarus (14), Kazakhstan (16, promoted).

Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament

Group A: Russia (1), Slovakia (6), USA (7), Slovenia (18)
Group B: Finland (2), Canada (5), Norway (8), Austria (15)
Group C: Czech Republic (3), Sweden (4), Switzerland (9), Latvia (11)

Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament

Group A: Canada (1), USA (2), Finland (3), Switzerland (4)
Group B: Sweden (5), Russia (6), Germany (8), Japan (11)

MARTIN MERK