Swiss send Kazakhstan down

For two periods, Kazakhstan could dream of a great escape in its World Championship relegation. But reality bites, and Switzerland rallied to win in regulation, condemning the Kazakhs to Division IA next season.

Battling performance comes up short

Kazakhstan 1 Switzerland 4 (1-0, 0-1, 0-3)

After five years in the elite pool, Kazakhstan is relegated back to Division IA – but it gave Switzerland plenty to think about before succumbing in its final game at the IIHF World Championship.

Needing a point to get ahead of Hungary and stay at the top, Kazakhstan produced a battling display. Inspired goaltending from Maxim Pavlenko gave his team a chance, and when Arkady Shestakov opened the scoring late in the first period, the dream was very much alive.

In the middle frame, Pavlenko excelled to preserve that lead. But four seconds before the intermission, Kevin Fiala tied it up when Denis Malgin’s shot bounced off his skate, the post and Pavlenko’s back to find its way into the net.

Having made a breakthrough, Switzerland took control in the third. Sven Andrighetto’s seventh goal of the tournament proved to be the winner, then Andres Ambuhl and a spectacular Damien Riat effort late on wrapped up the win.

Barys defenseman Tamirlan Gaitamirov sounded a defiant note amid the disappointment. “We’ll be back,” he said. “It’s not in doubt. We just had a bad tournament this year, things didn’t go to plan. We deserved to stay here, we have a good group of guys.

“It’s a shame this had to happen, but we’ll come back stronger.”

Kazakhstan drops to Division IA along with France, which finished bottom of Group A after losing to Slovenia on Monday. It’s the first time since 2019 that both promoted nations have survived in the top division.

Austria beats Latvia to QF spot

Tuesday’s early game in Group A was a straight fight for the fourth and final playoff berth. Latvia had the advantage going into battle with Austria, but fell to a 1-6 loss and reaches the end of its tournament.

Austria, meanwhile, is celebrating its first time in the last eight for 31 years. Dominic Zwerger opened the scoring late in the first period, but two Austrian goals early in the second took the game away. Eduards Tralmaks pulled one back for Latvia, but there was no reprieve. Zwerger and Vinzenz Rohrer finished with two goals each as Austria won at a canter.

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