Another tournament has come to a close with many great games played! The round robin saw the S63 gold medal winner fall outside of the medal rounds so we were set for a new IIHF Champion going into the quarter finals.

One of the surprising teams to advance to the quarter final was who prior to the tournament saw themselves second to last in the IIHF Rankings, however their joy was shortlived as decisively won their matchup 7-2. Another uncommon entry into the knock-out stages were facing the number 1 ranked (who also decisively won their round robin group) and an expected result followed with Canada winning the game 5-1. The third quarter final saw the battle of the two "Sw" nations in Europe and eventually leading to Sweden's advancement with a 4-2 win. The fourth and final quarter final saw a replay of the S60 final with once again edging out this time by a score of 3-2.

In the semifinals we now had vs. and vs. . In the first matchup both teams came out swinging, with both Harry Carpet () and Damien Vertigo () having a lot to do each facing around 20 shots each. None of those shots got passed the goaltender so the second period started with a 0-0 tie. It took until the 13th minute of the second for Rocko Strongo to finally beat Carpet in the Finnish net, and Canada saw themselves with a one goal lead heading off into the third period. When 11 minutes remained of the third period, Finland had managed to shoot a whopping 42 shots with Vertigo stopping each and every one. Eventually though the bombardment had to bear fruit and Jukka Timonen put the tying goal behind Vertigo after a heavy rebound. Just three minutes after another shot by Timonen was tipped by Igor Victory into the back of the net putting Finland in the driver's seat for the first time in the game. Canada piled on pressure shooting a lot but not hitting the net and with 6 minutes remaining Victory was sent out on a breakaway and made no mistake, increasing Finland's lead to two goals. Canada did not manage to get off another shot during the remainder of the game and Finland advances to the gold medal game.

The second semi final saw Japan get up to an early lead courtesy of Akira Ren. After the goal both teams had chances going back and forth throughout the first period but both Jonas Johansson () and Jon St. Ark () stood tall. After the period break, Sweden came out running with Henrik Lekberg Osterman shorthanded flying up the ice on a breakaway tying up the score after just 1:21 of the period. A quick reply from Ryuuki Minamino just a minute later put Japan once again in the lead after peppering St. Ark with multiple shots in quick succession. The rest of the second period saw chances at both ends, none of which were capitalized by either team. A couple of more chances back and forth occurred in the third period until the 8th minute when Pasta the Turtle managed to get a shot by St. Ark for a commanding 3-1 lead for Japan. After both teams had a couple of missed chances a shot from the point was tipped by Reid Sutherland to get Sweden within one. Sweden were piling on the pressure in the remaining minutes and Johansson saved shot after shot, but with only three minutes to go Jonathan Granström managed to put a puck into the net to tie the game and push it to overtime. Sweden took control of most of the first overtime period getting shot after shot on Johansson who was absolutely brilliant in net. A second overtime was needed until eventually James Kimanje on Sweden's 55th shot found a hole in Johansson's pads and tucked it in for a trip to the Finals!

The bronze medal game saw Canada come out swinging leading the shots 10-1 at one point, but it took until the second minute of the second period and a defenseman on a rare breakaway for the first goal. Lyle Odelein III was sent out free after blocking a shot in the sequence earlier and beat Jonas Johansson on the one on one. Lots of pressure from Canada after the goal but Johansson did not let anymore shots get past and the Japanese defense were quick to get rid of any rebounds. Once again though Lyle Odelein III was shot out of a cannon and came in alone to tuck in his second goal of the game and increase Canada's lead to two. With 4 minutes to go in the period Japan piled on the pressure and finally got something out of it, two-fold in fact. First Ryu Jones was set up with a great passing play to beat Damien Vertigo in Canada's net and on the subsequent shift Disisde Dayudie shot one in from the point to tie the game up going into the third period. Canada retained their one goal lead off a tight angle shot by Devin Basher that somehow snuck past Johansson and just a minute later Sarah Burke tipped in another goal to increase the lead. Basher added onto the tally after a minute again for their second goal of the game and a commanding 5-2 lead for Canada. 6-2 was scored by Aaron Wilson with 7 minutes remaining and Osada Tamura went in the net for the final minutes stopping all 8 shots faced but Japan could not produce offensively.

The gold medal game between Sweden and Finland is a classic, but it's the first time in a long while the two teams have met in the IIHF final.  Two quick goals in the first period by Finland's Valtterri Kauppinen just 30 seconds apart shocked the Swedes as they were down 2-0 after 8 minutes. Finland kept putting on the pressure but Sweden got a couple of good chances, none good enough to beat Harry Carpet in the Finnish goal. Finland were once again piling on the shots in their game managing 21 shots in the first period to Sweden's 17. It looked like it was going to be another battle of the goaltenders. Halfway into the second JURT increased the Finnish lead to 3-0 after a period of pressure while the Finnish defense had closed down the Swedish barrage to just 4 shots in 10 minutes. The remaining of the second saw some chances on both ends of the ice, but none that were of any real danger to either goalkeeper. Sweden saw their hopes diminished even further when KEKW Kekkonen added another goal in the third period, sealing the deal. Jasper Maximov's shot in the 10th minute managed to beat Harry Carpet reducing the lead but Kaapo Kampainen put Finland up again by 4. Bad discipline by the Swedes led to them finishing out the game on the penalty kill and the Finnish players counted down the seconds until they could celebrate as the S64 IIHF Gold Medal Winners!!

Gold Medal Winner: Team Finland!

Silver Medal Winner: Team Sweden!

Bronze Medal Winner: Team Canada!

We have as well three individual awards to hand out to the best forward, defenseman and goaltender of the Round Robin.

Ryu Jones @SFresh3 of Team Japan ! Jones blew everyone away with 19 points scores between 10 goals and 9 assists, 4 of those goals scored during the power play.

Nathan Thomas @KaleSalad of Team Canada ! Thomas was the highest-scoring defender with 16 points, 11 of those coming from some great assists, and 6 of those points came from power plays, and 1 from a short handed goal.

Damien Vertigo @damienj10 of Team Canada ! Vertigo had an incredible .939 sv% and played in all 12 of Canada’s games. He was also the goalie with the most wins, with a record of 10-1-1.



On behalf of the IIHF HO I would like to thank all participants of the tournament for a great couple of weeks. We will hope to have some announcements in the coming weeks about some updates to the IIHF tournament process, one of which @Chevy already has announced - the return of the IIHF Fantasy!