IIHF World Championships Concluded

The International Ice Hockey Federation concluded the World Championships in Riga, Latvia this past weekend with the results not quite favorable to those in North America.

It was Sweden in the gold medal game against the defending champion Czech Republic. But not only did they beat the Czechs, but they shut them out 4-0 (much to the dismay of Mr. Golbez).

Team USA fell short of earning a medal round game after doing well in Pool action. They were a little handicapped by not having a lot of NHL caliber players available while the playoffs are still going on. Dustin Brown came in 18th on the overall scoring in the tournament as the highest player achievement on the team.

Team Canada walked away with nothing either, but Sid Crosby was voted as the tournament's "best forward". He amassed 16 points in 9 games (8g-8a) picking up where he left off in his NHL run. But all that didn't matter when Team Canada was in the bronze medal game against Team Finland. Canada was shut out 5-0 in their final game in Latvia.

The final results will be tabulated and placed into consideration for a IIHF world ranking for later world tournaments and Olympic competitions.

[Via: IIHF.com official site]