Belarus beat Norway, reach IIHF World Championship playoff

Belarusians defeated Team Norway 3-2 in their last preliminary round action on 12 May to advance to the playoffs of the 2015 IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic.

Alexei Kalyuzhny, Dmitry Korobov and Andrei Kostitsyn provided the offense for Belarus' success.

Team Belarus finished fourth in Group B preliminary round and will be gearing up to face Group A leader, Canada, in the quarterfinal. The game is scheduled for 14 May.

Group A standings are as follows: Canada – 21 (7 games played), Sweden – 16 (7), Czech Republic – 13 (6), Switzerland – 9 (6), Germany – 7 (7), Austria – 5 (7), Latvia – 4 (6), France – 3 (6).

Group B standings: United States – 15 points (6), Russia – 14 (6), Finland – 14 (6), Belarus – 14 (7), Slovakia – 8 (6), Norway – 6 (7), Denmark – 4 (7), and Slovenia – 3 (7).

Four best teams in each group will advance into the IIHF World Championship quarterfinal. The quarterfinal games are scheduled for 14 May in Ostrava and Prague. Prague O2 Arena will host the semifinals on 16 May and the medal games on 17 May.