Well, no, you need to work your way up to the tournament by winning the lower levels and advancing to Division IA (and then obviously WIN IA). Mexico, for example, couldn't jump all the way from Division III to the top division in one year.
Division IA of this tournament was held in Italy from Dec 14th-20th. Belarus finished at the top and will play in next year's "big boys" tournament (as has already been mentioned). The two teams from the top division who don't advance to the medal round will play each other in an elimination game. The winner will stay in the top division in 2016 while the loser will be sent down to Division IA.
Believe it or not, this tournament goes all the way down to a Division III which includes the countries of Turkey, New Zealand, South Africa, and Mexico.
2-0 Canada after 2. TSN folks in the booth seemed to think Canada could mail this one in...Germany had a nice breakaway but was stoned on it...could easily be a 2-1 or even a 2-2 game.
Well, the original poster mentioned Harvard's "high end talent" but their two highest draft picks were Brian Hart at 53 (2012 2nd round) and Jimmy Vesey at 66 (also 2012 3rd round)...I am assuming his definition of HET is any player who has been drafted by an NHL team...
Draft picks schmraft picks. If my math is accurate, Harvard has 9 currently on their roster. By comparison, Wisconsin has 7 "high end talent" players...hasn't helped them much.
Sweden defeats Denmark 5-1. Looks like the Danes expended a great deal of energy yesterday - they looked gassed in today's game.
Up next is the Czech Republic vs Switzerland in what should be a good game.
I read an article that pegged Sweden as the favorite...no upsets yet that I have seen. Sweden defeated the Czechs 5-2 yesterday and Russia defeated Denmark 3-2 in a shoot-out. Denmark blew a 2-0 lead in that one.