At the Five Nations Tournament in Monthey, Switzerland, the Americans got the maximum out of the tournament with 12 points from four games. The centralized team beat the Czech Republic (3-1), Sweden (4-3), Finland (5-2) and Switzerland (7-0).

Sweden came closest to annoying the favourites when Emil Westerlund, Oskar Steen and Linus Lindstrom gave the yellow-and-blue team the lead three times. But the Americans replied each time. Joey Anderson, Kieffer Bellows and Graham McPhee tied the game three times while Trent Frederic scored the game-winning goal late in the second period.

Despite the great effort the Swedes had to settle for third place. One day after the close game against the Americans, Sweden didn’t manage to score more than one goal from 28 shots against the Czech Republic. Jesper Bratt’s marker after 47 seconds of play wasn’t enough as the Czechs found their way back. Kristian Reichel tied the game in the first period and the 17-year-old son of former Olympic and World Champion Robert Reichel also scored the 2-1 game-winner with four minutes left in the final frame – a result that eventually led to a second-place finish for the Czechs.

Finland had to settle for fourth place while host Switzerland had a weak tournament being outscored by several goals in every game despite an enthusiastic crowd that filled the arena in each of its games in the Alpine town of Monthey.

Slovakia confirmed its role as favourite at the Four Nations Tournament in Vojens and claimed first place after two wins against Belarus (5-3) and Germany (4-2) before losing to host Denmark 6-4 in the last game. Germany also got six points thanks to wins over Denmark (2-0) and Belarus (4-2) to finish in second place before Denmark and Belarus.