A little more about the tournament

A few people have been asking me about what teams I'm going to see at the tournament so I figured this would be a good opportunity to explain how the IIHF Women's Worlds work.

If you recall watching the Olympics last winter, you might remember that there were only 8 teams in the women's tournament when in reality there are about 40 countries around the world that sponsor a women's national team.  Every non-olympic year the IIHF sponsors world championship tournaments that give the different countries the chance to "move up" to the top level.  On the women's side there are a total of 6 divisions; A pool contains all of the top teams (USA, Canada, etc.) followed by divisions 1-5.  At each of the different tournaments, the winning team moves up a division the next year and the last place team gets relegated to a lower division.  After 3 years of tournaments the top 6 teams in the world automatically qualify to play in the Olympics and the last two spots are filled in a final Olympic qualifier tournament.  

I've been assigned to work the Division 2 championship.  That means the countries at my tournament are fighting to earn a spot in the Division 1 tournament next year.  In 2011, based on the current world rankings, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy and North Korea will be competing at the Division 2 level.  The only one of these teams that I have ever seen was Great Britain (they competed in the World Games I worked in China) so I'm not completely sure what to expect in terms of level of play.  The drop off in skill after you get past the top 4 (US, Canada, Sweden and Finland) is pretty big but I'm unsure just how big that drop off is at this level. I do have to admit I'm surprised to see the Czech Republic ranked so low, especially given their history on the men's side.  The other interesting team in this group is North Korea.  Given the political climate, you have to wonder if the delegates from North Korea will accept an American official on their game.  I could care less, once you are out there you forget who is even playing, the only concern is getting the calls right but it is an interesting situation.  More to come on that.  

The tournament format is a round robin, there is no playoffs or championship game so every game is important.  Games are on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 3 games each day.  There are 11 total officials so I imagine I'll be working on 4 of the 5 days but we won't find out assignments until we get there.  The website for the tournament is http://www.iihf.com/channels1011/ww-ii if you are interested in keeping track of things.  

I can't believe I leave in less than a week!  Games start a week from tomorrow, I'm starting to get really excited!