As the calendar flips from April to May, it’s once again time for the IIHF Ice Hockey Men’s World Championship Division I Group A. This is always a highly competitive tournament, featuring six teams that are all capable of beating one another, fighting for two spots in the next year’s top flight, while trying to avoid sixth place and relegation to Division I Group B.
This year’s tournament in Sosnowiec, Poland starts on Saturday, 2 May and runs through Friay, 8 May. It includes Kazakhstan and France, who were relegated from the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Sweden and Denmark, three teams – Ukraine, Japan and Poland – who finished third, fourth and fifth in last year’s Group A tournament in Romania, and Lithuania, which won last year’s Group B tournament in Estonia.
Here are the six teams based on this season’s IIHF World Rankings:
Kazakhstan
After playing in the top division for five straight years, Kazakhstan is back in Divsion I for the first time since 2019. The Kazakhs will be favoured to return and bring a roster that includes a mix of players from the KHL and the Kazakh domestic league and 12 returnees from last year’s squad.
The most experienced player is 39-year-old captain and all-time scoring leader Roman Starchenko, who will be appearing in his 18th World Championship at any level. Another veteran, KHLer Nikita Mikhailis, led the team in scoring last year with five points. Andrei Shutov, who missed last year’s tournament, should once again be the team’s starting goalie.
France
The other team relegated from last year’s top flight is France, which will play in Division I for the first time since 2007 – the French were relegated in 2019 but returned to the top flight in 2022 without playing a lower-level tournament. The only team in this tournament to have played in this year’s Olympics, France finished 11th.
Other than Alexandre Texier, who’s currently playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, coach Yorick Treille should have all players available, although it’s questionable how many of the veterans like Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Stephane Da Costa, Sacha Treille, Charles Bertand or Yohann Auvitu will do double duty this year. Antoine Keller and Julian Junca should return in goal.
Poland
After appearing in the 2024 IIHF Worlds in Czechia, which followed a 22-year absence from the top flight, Poland had a somewhat disappointing Division I tournament last year, winning only one game and finishing fifth. Playing on home ice this year, the Poles hope to improve on that.
This year’s Polish team is headed by Finnish coach Pekka Tirkkonen and most of the roster is from the PHL. Notable exceptions are forwards Pawel Zygmunt and Krzysztof Macias, who both play in the Czech Extraliga. Following the retirement of John Murray, Tomas Fucik should be the starting netminder.
Japan
Competing in Division I for the third straight year, Japan played spoiler last year by beating Ukraine on the last day to deny promotion to that team. Japan seeks its first appearance in the top flight since 2004, but can’t consider itself safe from relegation either.
Coached by ex-NHLer Jarrod Skalde for the third year in a row, Japan features a roster mostly composed of players from Japanese clubs in the Asia League. An exception is 23-year-old defenceman Ray Murakami, who plays U.S. collegiate hockey, Yu Sato, who plays in Russia, and Japanese Canadian winger Jordan Keller, who just finished an overaged season in the WHL. Ex-AHLer Yushiro Hirano will miss the tournament with an upper-body injury.
Ukraine
Under the tutelage of ex-NHLer Dmytro Khrystych, the Ukrainians have made remarkable strides in recent years. Two years ago, they won Group B convincingly and last season just missed out on promotion, finishing third in Group A.
Ukraine had the top two scorers at last year’s tournament, Andriy Denyskin and Viktor Zakharov, and Bogdan Dyachenko, who was the tournament’s Top Goalkeeper. Other top players include Czech Extraliga defenceman Igor Merezhko and Finnish Mestis forward Daniil Trakht.
Lithuania
Lithuania won Division I Group B last year by taking 14 of 15 possible points and outscoring its opponents 14-3 and returns to Group A for the first time since 2023. Lithuania hasn’t played in the top tier since 1938 and, since returning to IIHF competition in 1993, the team's best finishes have been in 2006 and 2022, when they just missed out on promotion.
Lithuania’s roster includes players spread over various countries in Europe and North America. Last year, Laurynas Lubys was the Top Goalkeeper in Group B, while ECHLer Mark Kaleinikovas and Ugnias Cizas, who plays in Germany, tied for the team scoring lead with seven points each.
Photo: © IIHF / JANA PIPAR