The 2015 IIHF World Championship Division I was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Group A was contested in Kraków, Poland, after the original host, Donetsk, Ukraine, withdrew due to the Russian invasion, from 19 to 25 April 2015 and Group B was held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, from 13 to 19 April 2015.

In Group A Kazakhstan finished first, winning their group in Division I for the fourth time in their last four appearances, thereby securing promotion to the 2016 World Championship. Hungary surprised and placed second, defeating host Poland in the final game to secure promotion; it was the first time Hungary earned promotion to the top division since 2009, and only the second time since 1939. Ukraine finished last in the group and was relegated to Group B for 2016.

Group B saw South Korea finish first and win promotion. Great Britain finished second, losing out on first and promotion with a loss to Lithuania in the final game of the tournament. Host Netherlands ended the tournament in last place and was relegated to Division II A for the next year.

Venues Group A Group BKrakówEindhoven Tauron Arena KrakówCapacity: 15,328 IJssportcentrum EindhovenCapacity: 1,700

Division I A

Participants Team QualificationPlaced 15th in the Elite Division and were relegated in 2014.Placed 16th in the Elite Division and were relegated in 2014.Placed 3rd in Division I A last year. Placed 4th in Division I A last year.Placed 5th in Division I A last year.Host, placed 1st in Division I B last year and were promoted.

Match officials 7 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

Referees Andris Ansons Péter Gebei René Hradil Daniel Konc Marcus Linde Viki Trilar Marc Wiegand

Linesman Andrew Dalton Dmitri Golyak Matjaž Hribar Rene Jensen Wojciech Moszczyński Tibor Rovenský Alexander Waldejer

Standings

Results All times are local (UTC+2).

Awards and statistics

Awards

Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goalkeeper: Przemysław Odrobny Best Defenseman: Kevin Dallman Best Forward: Roman Starchenko Source: IIHF.com

Media All-Stars: MVP: Roman Starchenko Goalkeeper: Pavel Poluektov Defenceman: Kevin Dallman / Mateusz Rompkowski Forwards: Roman Starchenko / Andrew Sarauer / Marcin Kolusz Source: IIHF.com

Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.

Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Roman Starchenko 5 4 2 6 +8 6 F Kevin Dallman 5 3 3 6 +5 0 D Konstantin Rudenko 5 3 3 6 +6 2 F Evgeni Rymarev 5 3 3 6 +3 0 F Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev 5 2 4 6 +4 0 F Andrew Sarauer 5 2 4 6 +7 2 F Dániel Kóger 5 3 2 5 +4 2 F Marcin Kolusz 5 2 3 5 +2 0 F Mateusz Rompkowski 5 2 3 5 +2 4 D Frank Banham 5 1 4 5 +3 2 F Talgat Zhailauov 5 1 4 5 0 0 F GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.

Player TOI GA GAA SA Sv% SO Przemysław Odrobny 185:39 3 0.97 85 96.47 1 Pavel Poluektov 300:00 6 1.20 99 93.94 2 Miklós Rajna 240:00 6 1.50 79 92.41 0 Yutaka Fukufuji 257:30 11 2.56 111 90.09 0 Andreas Bernard 298:00 11 2.21 103 89.32 0 TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com

Division I B

Participants Team QualificationPlaced 6th in Division I A last year and were relegated.Placed 2nd in Division I B last year.Placed 3rd in Division I B last year.Placed 4th in Division I B last year.Host, placed 5th in Division I B last year.Placed 1st in Division II A last year and were promoted.

Match officials 4 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.

Referees Jacob Grumsen Jeff Ingram Anssi Salonen Shane Warschaw

Linesmen Louis Beelen Marek Hlavatý Frederic Monnaie Pasi Nieminen Ulrich Pardatscher David Perduv Sotaro Yamaguchi

Standings

Results All times are local (UTC+2).

Awards and statistics

Awards Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goalkeeper: Mantas Armalis Best Defenseman: Ben O'Connor Best Forward: Lee Yong-jun Source: IIHF.com

Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.

Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Michael Swift 5 5 4 9 +8 14 F Andrei Makrov 5 6 2 8 −3 2 F Kim Ki-sung 5 4 4 8 +5 4 F Mike Testwuide 5 4 4 8 +9 0 F Kim Sang-wook 5 3 5 8 +4 6 F Andrew Murray 5 3 5 8 +1 4 F Brock Radunske 5 0 7 7 +4 0 F Ryan Kinasewich 5 4 2 6 −2 0 F Nathan Perkovich 5 4 2 6 +2 18 F Cho Min-ho 5 3 2 5 +2 2 F Ben O'Connor 5 3 2 5 +1 6 D GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.

Player TOI GA GAA SA Sv% SO Mantas Armalis 298:59 11 2.21 178 93.82 1 Ian Meierdres 204:21 8 2.35 98 91.84 0 Ben Bowns 299:04 10 2.01 122 91.80 0 Mark Dekanich 259:51 11 2.54 128 91.41 0 Park Sung-je 238:51 8 2.01 83 90.36 1 TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com

References