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The groups for next year's tournament have been announced. Just like in 2012 the tournament is cohosted by Sweden and Finland, but in 2013 the semifinals and final will be played in Stockholm.

Group STO:
Czech Rep
Sweden
Canada
Norway
Switzerland
Denmark
Belarus
Slovenia

Group HEL:
Russia
Finland
Slovakia
USA
Germany
Latvia
France
Austria

Hope LA will be an early elemination next year, to make Slovenia more interesting.

13 Canadian players have already been named for the Stockholm world championship roster:

forwards:
Steven Stamkos, Tampa, Taylor Hall & Jordan Eberle, Edmonton. Claude Giroux, Matt Read & Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia, Eric & Jordan Staal, Carolina and Ryan O´Reilly & Matt Duchene, Colorado.

D:
Luke Schenn, Philadelphia och Brian Campbell, Florida.

Goalie:
Devan Dybnyk, Edmonton.

Unusually strong turnout for a world championship. Guess they are auditioning for the Olympics.
That, and I guess the short season may have left people more eager to get a few more games in.

Czechs have named eleven NHLers for their roster:

Goalie: Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg
Defense:'Jan Hejda, Colorado, Ladislav Smid, Edmonton and Zbynek Michalek, Phoenix
Forwards: Jakub Voracek, Philadlphia, Jiri Tlusty, Carolina, Tomas Fleischmann, Florida, Jiri Hudler & Roman Cervenka, Calgary and Martin Hanzal & Radim Vrbata, Phoenix.

Nice forward corps for Canada, shitty goalie.

You going to any games Pear?

Rumsfeld wrote:Nice forward corps for Canada, shitty goalie.

You going to any games Pear?

Have tickets to Sweden vs Belarus.... Don't know why that particular combination makes me slightly uneasy.

Would have preferred to see the Sweden vs Canada game, but I'm going with a friend who's flying in from London, and his work schedule didn't allow that, so Belarus it is.

Canada is coached by Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz.

Sweden has not announced what NHL players will come yet, but Jakob Markström and Gabriel Landeskog have confirmed that they are.

Bah! Humbug!

All we get seem to be these five:

Jhonas Enroth, 24, G, Buffalo Sabres
Jacob Markström, 23, G, Florida Panthers
Erik Gustafsson, 24, D, Philadelphia Flyers
Henrik Tallinder, 34, D, New Jersey Devils
Gabriel Landeskog, 20, LW, Colorado Avalanche

No real blue chip players, albeit Landeskog likely will be some day.

We're also waiting for Backlund and Loui Eriksson who will have their team doctors weigh in on whether they can/will go or not.

Most of the better Swedish players are on teams that qualified for the playoffs, and the few who are not are nursing injuries.

I look at the players flying in to join Team Canada, and I drool... And Kovalchuck is joining the Russian team.
What do we get? Gustafsson and Tallinder....

Canada’s preliminary roster. They've now named 22 players, but are allowed a total of 25 for the tournament.
Possibly holding out to add first round eliminations?

Goalkeepers:
Devan Dubnyk, Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
Michael Garnett, Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL)
Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)

Defencemen:
T.J. Brodie, Calgary Flames (NHL)
Brian Campbell, Florida Panthers (NHL)
Brenden Dillon, Dallas Stars (NHL)
Jay Harrison, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
Stéphane Robidas, Dallas Stars (NHL)
Luke Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Justin Schultz, Edmonton Oilers (NHL)

Forwards:
Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
Jordan Eberle, Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers (NHL)
Andrew Ladd, Winnipeg Jets (NHL)
Ryan O'Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Jeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
Jordan Staal, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL)
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)

Per wrote:Bah! Humbug!

All we get seem to be these five:

Jhonas Enroth, 24, G, Buffalo Sabres
Jacob Markström, 23, G, Florida Panthers
Erik Gustafsson, 24, D, Philadelphia Flyers
Henrik Tallinder, 34, D, New Jersey Devils
Gabriel Landeskog, 20, LW, Colorado Avalanche

No real blue chip players, albeit Landeskog likely will be some day.

We're also waiting for Backlund and Loui Eriksson who will have their team doctors weigh in on whether they can/will go or not.

Most of the better Swedish players are on teams that qualified for the playoffs, and the few who are not are nursing injuries.

I look at the players flying in to join Team Canada, and I drool... And Kovalchuck is joining the Russian team.
What do we get? Gustafsson and Tallinder....

Oh, and it seems Daniel Rahimi made the cut.

And they're off!

The Slovaks seem to be slaughthering the French over in Helsinki and the Czechs have an early lead against Belarus in Stockholm. Later tonight Finland plays Germany while Sweden takes on Switzerland. Canada's first game will be against Denmark tomorrow.

http://www.iihf.com/competition/352/schedule.html

Terrible game by Sweden. Great game by Gerber. Swiss win 3-2.

And Denmark takes the lead, 1-0, against Canada!

Another great game by Gerber, and Switzerland beats Canada after a penalty shootout.

Did anyone see this coming?

After two games, having faced Sweden and Canada, Switzerland has two wins.

The Oil probably should have held on to this gem.

OK, so no one else has any comments to make?

Went down to Stockholm last night and saw Sweden beat Belarus at the Stockholm Globe Arena.
Not great hockey, to tell the truth, but at least the good guys won.

Belarus played really well. They were of course the lesser skilled team, but played a very disciplined game, making it really hard for Sweden to accomplish anything. Then former Penguin Koltsov scored for them, making it even more of an uphill battle for Sweden.

Sweden seemed to lack a game plan. In general, they had better players than Belarus, but there was general confusion no tape to tape passes, no one was crashing the crease and every one subscribed to the pass rather than shoot mentality. Utterly frustrating to watch, as it was clear Sweden was the better team, but they had no freaking idea of how to use that to their advantage. The panalty kill was good though. It almost seemed like Sweden was creating more scoring chances when short handed than when even strength. Maybe because that was the only time Belarus stopped playing defense first?

Oh well, we got the three points for a regulation win, and in the end that's all that matters.

And in the Swiss department - they now also beat the Czechs!

So, the Swiss has faced Sweden, Canada and the Czech Republic, and beaten all three.
Whoda thunk, eh?

Canada humiliates Norway 7-1.

Finally gotten over the jet lag, huh?

Tomorrow we play Norway and then on Thursday it starts getting interesting; Sweden vs Canada!