After the Preliminary Round has been played, the best three teams of each group advance to the Qualification Round and take their points from the mutual games with them. The Relegation round begins on Friday.

Qualification Round

Group E consists of Russia (6 points), USA (4 points), Sweden (3 points), Switzerland (3 points), Latvia (2 points), and France (0 points).

Group F consists of Canada (6 points), Finland (6 points), Czech Republic (3 points), Belarus (2 points), Slovakia (1 point), and Norway (0 points).

The second stage opens with notable games like Russia vs. Sweden and Canada vs. the Czech Republic on Thursday. First-day action also sees Belarus-Norway and Switzerland-Latvia in crucial games for a quarterfinal berth.

Click here for the complete schedule.

Relegation Round

The relegation round consists of Austria, Denmark, Germany and Hungary, which will play a round-robin (three games per team). The bottom two teams will be relegated, except if Germany places 15th (in which case 14th and 16th place will be relegated) or if Germany places 16th (in which case 14th and 15th place will be relegated). This is because Germany is the host nation for the 2010 IIHF World Championship.

The Road to the Medals

Quarter-final pairings: 1E-4F, 2E-3F, 1F-4E, 2F-3E
The winning teams advance to the semi-finals. Date and time is TBA. If Switzerland qualifies for the QF, then they will play the evening game on May 7 (game 52).

Semi-final pairings: Winner 1E-4F vs Winner 2F-3E, Winner 1F-4E vs Winner 2E-3F
If Switzerland qualifies for the SF, then they will play the evening game on May 8 (game 54).

The winning teams advance to the final. The losing teams to the bronze medal game.