2023 IIHF World Championship playoff round

The playoff round of the 2023 IIHF World Championship was held from 25 to 28 May 2023. The top four of each preliminary group qualified for the playoff round.^[1]

Group	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
A	United States	Sweden	Finland	Germany
B	Switzerland	Canada	Latvia	Czechia

Quarter-finalists were paired according to their positions in the groups: the first-place team in each preliminary-round group played the fourth-place team of the other group, while the second-place team played the third-place team of the other group.^[2]

Semi-finalists were paired according to their seeding after the preliminary round, which was determined by the following criteria. The best-ranked semi-finalist played against the lowest-ranked semi-finalist, while the second-best-ranked semi-finalist played the third-best-ranked semi-finalist.^[2]

Rank[3]	Team	Grp	Pos	Pts	GD	GF	Seed
1	United States	A	1	20	+26	34	3
2	Switzerland	B	1	19	+19	29	6
3	Sweden	A	2	18	+19	26	4
4	Canada	B	2	15	+14	25	2
5	Finland	A	3	16	+13	28	1
6	Latvia	B	3	13	+4	21	10
7	Czechia	B	4	13	+6	22	5
8	Germany	A	4	12	+11	27	8

Classification rules: 1) position in the group; 2) number of points; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored for; 5) seeding number entering the tournament^[4]

There was a re-seeding after the quarter-finals.^[2] If Finland and Latvia were to play in the quarter-finals, there would have been no cross-over for the quarter-finals.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	25 May
	1A  United States	3
					27 May
	4B  Czechia	0
					1  United States	3
	25 May
					8  Germany (OT)	4
	1B   Switzerland	1
									28 May
	4A  Germany	3
									8  Germany	2
	25 May
									4  Canada	5
	2A  Sweden	1
					27 May
	3B  Latvia	3
					4  Canada	4
	25 May
					6  Latvia	2			Third place
	2B  Canada	4
									28 May
	3A  Finland	1
									1  United States	3
									6  Latvia (OT)	4

All times are local (UTC+3).

25 May 2023 16:20

United States

3–0 (1–0, 1–0, 1–0)

Czechia

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 7,411

Game reference
	Casey DeSmith	Goalies	Karel Vejmelka	Referees: Mads Frandsen Liam Sewell Linesmen: Tarrington Wyonzek Emil Yletyinen
	Coronato (Hutson, Mackey) – 12:04 1–0 Perbix (Grimaldi) – 28:53 2–0 Gauthier (Tynan) – 49:57 3–0
	4 min	Penalties	2 min
	34	Shots	15

25 May 2023 16:20

Switzerland

1–3 (0–1, 1–2, 0–0)

Germany

Arena Riga, Riga Attendance: 2,896

Game reference
	Robert Mayer	Goalies	Mathias Niederberger	Referees: Andris Ansons Tobias Björk Linesmen: Onni Hautamäki Dāvis Zunde
	0–1 06:25 – Kastner (Wissmann, J. Müller) Siegenthaler (Fiala, Kukan) – 20:47 1–1 1–2 37:51 – Peterka (Kahun, Gawanke) 1–3 38:27 – Sturm (Stachowiak, J. Müller) (SH)
	8 min	Penalties	29 min
	30	Shots	23

25 May 2023 20:20

Canada

4–1 (1–0, 1–0, 2–1)

Finland

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 11,529

Game reference
	Sam Montembeault	Goalies	Emil Larmi	Referees: Christoffer Holm Jan Hribik Linesmen: Nick Briganti Daniel Hynek
	Quinn (Crouse) – 07:12 1–0 Blais (Neighbours, Barron) – 30:45 2–0 Carcone (Weegar, Middleton) – 42:54 3–0 3–1 56:52 – Hartikainen (Rantanen, Lehtonen) (EA) Toffoli (EN) – 57:42 4–1
	6 min	Penalties	0 min
	31	Shots	28

25 May 2023 20:20

Sweden

1–3 (0–1, 1–0, 0–2)

Latvia

Arena Riga, Riga Attendance: 9,200

Game reference
	Lars Johansson	Goalies	Artūrs Šilovs	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Sean MacFarlane Linesmen: Jake Davis Brett Mackey
	0–1 12:56 – Ločmelis (Ri. Bukarts, Cibuļskis) Liljegren (Raymond, Lindholm) – 29:41 1–1 1–2 45:55 – Indrašis (Ri. Bukarts, Jaks) 1–3 53:46 – Jaks (Indrašis, Ri. Bukarts) (PP)
	4 min	Penalties	33 min
	41	Shots	15

27 May 2023 14:20

Canada

4–2 (0–1, 1–1, 3–0)

Latvia

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 8,669

Game reference
	Sam Montembeault	Goalies	Artūrs Šilovs	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Sean MacFarlane Linesmen: Nick Briganti Jake Davis
	0–1 08:18 – Ločmelis (Ri. Bukarts, Zīle) Blais (Krebs, Middleton) – 35:32 1–1 1–2 36:38 – Balcers Quinn (Crouse, Laughton) – 40:45 2–2 Fantilli (Lucic, Barron) – 48:56 3–2 Laughton (EN) – 59:17 4–2
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	36	Shots	22

27 May 2023 18:20

United States

3–4 OT (2–2, 1–0, 0–1) (OT: 0–1)

Germany

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 8,011

Game reference
	Casey DeSmith	Goalies	Mathias Niederberger	Referees: Tobias Björk Jan Hribik Linesmen: Onni Hautamäki Jiří Ondráček
	A. Tuch (O'Connor, Grimaldi) – 01:11 1–0 Grimaldi (A. Tuch) – 03:56 2–0 2–1 12:22 – Tiffels (Fischbuch, Kahun) (PP) 2–2 16:03 – Szuber (Sturm, Peterka) Eyssimont (O'Connor, Garland) – 28:47 3–2 3–3 58:37 – Noebels (Kahun, Gawanke) (EA) 3–4 67:32 – Tiffels (Kahun, M. Müller)
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	33	Shots	26

28 May 2023 15:20

United States

3–4 OT (2–2, 0–0, 1–1) (OT: 0–1)

Latvia

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 11,033

Game reference
	Casey DeSmith	Goalies	Artūrs Šilovs	Referees: Jan Hribik Liam Sewell Linesmen: Onni Hautamäki Tarrington Wyonzek
	0–1 07:49 – Ro. Bukarts (Ri. Bukarts, Dzierkals) (PP) Grimaldi (Perunovich, Bjork) – 09:45 1–1 1–2 16:08 – Jaks (Ri. Bukarts, Indrašis) Grimaldi (Perunovich, Coronato) (PP) – 19:03 2–2 Coronato (Samberg, O'Connor) – 46:19 3–2 3–3 54:21 – Rubīns (Ločmelis, Ri. Bukarts) 3–4 61:22 – Rubīns (Daugaviņš, Jaks)
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	29	Shots	25

28 May 2023 20:20

Canada

5–2 (1–1, 1–1, 3–0)

Germany

Nokia Arena, Tampere Attendance: 10,470

Game reference
	Sam Montembeault	Goalies	Mathias Niederberger	Referees: Tobias Björk Sean MacFarlane Linesmen: Nick Briganti Daniel Hynek
	0–1 07:44 – Peterka (Seider, M. Müller) Blais (Krebs, Neighbours) – 10:47 1–1 1–2 33:47 – Fischbuch (Kastner, Seider) Crouse (Krebs, Weegar) (PP) – 37:28 2–2 Blais (Glass) – 44:51 3–2 Toffoli – 51:51 4–2 Laughton (Quinn, Crouse) (EN) – 58:06 5–2
	4 min	Penalties	2 min
	28	Shots	23

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