Sweden made the biggest move among the top-20 nations by climbing up three places. Finland remains in second place while last year’s leader Russia fell to third place after being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Team USA. The Czechs, also eliminated in the quarter-finals, dropped to fourth place.

Canada remains in fifth place followed by the United States, who improved by one, and Switzerland, which went up two positions in the new World Ranking at the expense of Slovakia (from 6th to 8th) and Norway (from 8th to 9th).

The positions of Germany (10th), Latvia (11th) and Denmark (12th) remain untouched, while France (now 13th) and Belarus have (now 14th) swapped places.

The only team other than Sweden to move up three places was Korea. The host nation of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games went from 28th to 25th place after establishing itself in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A, which the country will host next spring. Korea finished a record-high 21st place overall in this year’s World Championship program.

With the new World Ranking, the groups for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk, Belarus, have become known.

The seeding for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, has already known since February and is based on the 2012 IIHF World Rankings.

Groups 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

Group A: Sweden (1), Czech Republic (4), Canada (5), Slovakia (8), Norway (9), Denmark (12), France (13), Italy (18, promoted).