Switzerland, with a terrific comeback and an exciting 5-4 win in the shootout over Denmark at the World Junior Championship Friday night, has clinched its way into the quarterfinal round. Denmark had already solidified its place in the quarters, but could have kept Finland alive with a win over the Swiss.
As Eric Engels wrote after Finland’s Thursday night loss to Sweden, the team was hoping for a miracle to help get them to the next round. The miracle didn’t come.
Although the Finns have one more game in the preliminary round Saturday against Switzerland, it doesn’t mean anything — the defending gold medallists will play in the relegation round against Latvia, the fifth-place team in Group B.
It’s a shocking turn for Finland, who were without two key players from last year’s squad, Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi. But what does it mean to be in the relegation round?
First, it doesn’t officially knock Finland out of next year’s World Junior Championship. They will play a best-of-three series against Latvia and the winner of that series will secure a spot in next year’s event. So as bad as it’s been for Finland so far, there is still something to play for.
However, if Finland were to lose that best-of-three it would lead to a nightmare scenario in which they would be relegated to Division I of the 2018 WJC and play in a loop that this year included the likes of Germany, France and Kazakhstan. Belarus won the Division I tournament this year, so they will be promoted to the top division at next year’s WJC.
After losing to Denmark, Olli Juolevi said it was “embarrassing” for Finnish hockey. But it could get a whole lot worse with a loss in the relegation round.
