After the national qualification tournaments the IIHF Esports Fan Championship goes global this weekend with eight games and a live stream.

The 16 nations that would have played in the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will play each other with esports teams and the video game NHL 20 with the Round of 16 on Friday and Saturday according to the brackets below.

Here are the schedule and scores of the Round of 16:

Friday, 29 May:
Russia vs. Kazakhstan 24-8
Switzerland vs. Norway 10-18
Finland vs. Great Britain 27-6
Slovakia vs. Latvia 16-15

Saturday, 30 May:
Sweden vs. Italy 28-10
Czech Republic vs. Belarus 19-9
Germany vs. Denmark 14-6
Canada vs. USA 17-12

Find below the recaps of the eight playoff games and visit esports.iihf.com to follow the tournament and live scores. All games will be streamed live there and on twitch.tv/iihfhockey.

Russia vs. Kazakhstan 24-8

Kazakhstan would have liked to have tripped their big neighbour in the round of the last 16. In the end, however, Russia's entry into the quarter-finals was never seriously threatened. Sergei 'Serg1vratar_vH' Filippov put Askar 'Evgeniy Gavrilov' Yedgebayev in his place 6-2 in the first game. Maksim 'mahoney88' Krinitsyn's 4-1 victory over Dias 'Dias' Imanshapikh gave Russia a comfortable 10-3 lead after the first of two games each between the Xbox and PS4 competitors.

In the final two rematch games, while 'Serg1vratar_vH' tightened things up with a 5-4 upset against 'Evgeniy Gavrilov', but it would be for nothing as 'mahoney88' rolled over ‘Dias’ in a 9-1 victory. Russia beat Kazakhstan 24-8 in the final score and will join the top eight nations.

Switzerland vs. Norway 10-18

In the quarter-finals the Russians will meet Norway, who came up big in an 18-10 win over Switzerland. On the PS4 Lars Petter 'Larsto50' Sto managed to get the edge in the first game with a 5-4 win over Sven 'OriginaL-SnuS' Julmi. Daniel 'Bacon' Baekken then padded his countryman’s lead with a 4-1 victory over Marco 'A IM N3 S Y A' Giamboni. In the second leg, 'Larsto50' had a much easier time against 'OriginaL-SnuS', who scored a 5-2 win to help advance Norway to the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, his counterpart 'Bacon' dispelled any doubts when he beat 'A IM N3 S Y A' with a 4-3 win on Xbox. 

Finland vs. Great Britain 27-6

Finland got it in the first round of the playoffs with Great Britain and did justice to its role as favourite. The defending IIHF Ice Hockey World Champions got out to a comfortable lead and put away the Brits early. Joel 'rottadee' Myllymäki gave the first point in a 5-1 win on PlayStation against Connor 'MartindalexC' Martindale. Erik 'Tilantekija' Tammenpää had even fewer problems with Sean 'Sean' McIntosh on the Microsoft console, with the NHL™ Gaming World Championship of 2018 dominant with 8-2 wins in both games. The 27-6 result means the Finns have firmly established themselves as tournament favourites, and will head to the quarter-finals against either Germany or Denmark. 

Slovakia vs. Latvia 16-15

It was left for Slovakia and Latvia to provide the fireworks in the Day 1 finale of the Round-of-16. Anton 'Fenomen36363' Mesko gave up a close 5-4 defeat in the first PS4 duel against Kristers 'chibra' Bauers. But fellow Slovak Sandra 'Lady Brunette' Demitrová, the only woman in the playoffs, gave her country the advantage beating Juris 'snipencelly8' Lopatko 7-3 on Xbox. With the Slovaks holding a 12-9 lead going into the second leg, 'Fenomen36363' gave up five goals to 'chibra' in a 5-2 loss, tied the overall lead 14-14.

But the last word belonged to Slovakia’s 'Lady Brunette', who defeated 'snipencelly8' 2-1 in the finale to give her country a dramatic 16-15 draw. With the victory, Slovakia will face the winner of the Canada vs United States Round-of-16 game on Saturday.

Sweden vs. Italy 28-10

The Swedes underlined their title ambitions with a 28-10 victory over Italy. Sebastian 'SebbeLarsen86' Larsen defeated 'Mirco 'Tron1x90' 8-4 in the first game, while Henrik 'eken45jr' Eklund also did well on Xbox with a 9-2 win over Riccardo 'Tombrick 091' Tombolato. After the Swedish duo also won the return matches (5-1 and 6-3) the Scandinavian ice hockey power secured its ticket to the quarter-finals. In the round of the best eight 'SebbeLarsen86' and 'eken45jr' will meet the Czech Republic.

Czech Republic vs. Belarus 19-9

The Czechs Josef 'Pepcastachurcik1' Stachura and Jaroslav 'J4rincze' Rerhor used their ice hockey experience against Belarus to secure three individual victories. On PlayStation 4, both games went straight to 'Pepcastachurcik1': He defeated Aliaksandr 'Sonic_BLR' Yalasheuski 4-2 and 8-1, while the only Belarusian points were won by Dzmitry 'NEFINOR' Harbinou in a narrow 5-4 opening win over 'J4rincze'. So he still had the mathematical possibility to turn the series around in the second leg, but 'J4rincze' played much better and knocked Belarus out of the championship with a 3-1 win.

Germany vs. Denmark 14-6

German Martin 'Venomenyce' Perenz was the only player in the round of 16 who did not concede a goal in the duel against Denmark. He outclassed 17-year-old Paw Fonnesbech 'Paw Fonnesbech Christensen' Christensen 5-0 and 3-0 on Xbox, while Tim 'Timasy' Hess had a much harder time on PS4, beating Martin 'vibholm16' Vibholm 3-2 in the first leg and losing 3-4 in the second. This changed very little in the German duo's commanding 15-6 overall victory - once again the favourite prevailed on this day. In the quarter-finals, Germany will meet the title contenders Finland, which was convincing on Friday with a 27-6 victory over Great Britain.

Canada vs. USA 17-12

The most eagerly awaited match was the North American neighbourhood clash between the USA and Canada - and the duel was to live up to the high expectations. The first two first legs went to the USA: John 'johnwayne90' Casagranda beat Joshua 'Joshfearless13' D'Eri 5-1 on PlayStation 4 and Tyler 'Daddy Padre' Stewart defeated Karl 'hswertha23' Caslib 5-4. But then the two Canadian gamers stepped up. 'Joshfearless13' knocked down 'johnwayne90' 5-0 in the second game and also 'hswertha23' made it clear (7-2) which North American country belongs in the quarter-finals. With an overall result of 17-12 and a good portion of self-confidence, Canada enters the quarter-finals against Slovakia.

Quarter-Final Schedule

The kick-off for the first quarter-final duel between Russia and Norway will be on Tuesday at 18:00 CET / 19:00 MSK, followed by Finland against Germany at 21:00 CET / 22:00 EET. The last two semi-final tickets will be awarded on Wednesday: Sweden will play the Czech Republic at 18:00 CET and Canada will play Slovakia at 21:00 CET / 3pm ET / noon PT.