Round robin pool play

When the total team entry made it necessary to use a modified "round robin," teams would be seeded into two or more pools so that each pool would have "equal" strength which was based on their final placement at the previous year's World Championships. The teams were assigned to pools arranged according to serpentine positioning. When a team from the previous year's World Championship does not participate, their position is closed up and the serpentine continues with those teams that have competed in both championships. The national teams that did not compete in the previous World Championships would be arranged in alphabetical order according to the English spelling of the country's name and added to the serpentine, which continues until all teams are assigned to a pool.

Medal round competition

The pre-quarterfinals (if required), quarterfinals, semifinals and final games of medal round competition were conducted as single elimination matches. If a team lost in the pre-quarterfinals or quarterfinals, they were eliminated from any further advancement in medal play. The two semifinals losing teams played for the bronze medal; and the semifinal winners played for the gold medal, with the loser of that match receiving the silver medal.

When championship play consisted of 16 or fewer teams, the top eight teams were placed in the quarterfinals bracket according to the seeding determined by round robin play. With single pool round robin play, the first-place finisher played the last qualifying place, and so on through the remaining qualifiers. When round robin play consisted of two pools, the top seed in Pool A will play the bottom qualifying seed in Pool B, and so on, matching first place in one pool with last place in the other.

When championship round robin play consisted of 3 pools, 12 teams qualify and pre-quarterfinals were required. The winning team from each of the 3 pools would receive a bye into the quarterfinals. The fourth bye would be awarded to the team placing second in its pool with the best percentage of points earned divided by maximum points possible. If a tie exists between pools, the second place team with the lowest average goals-allowed per game in round robin play would draw the bye. If the tie still remained, a shootout would be held among all remaining second place round robin teams that are tied for receipt of the bye. The remaining eight qualifying teams would be seeded according to their respective placements into the pre-quarter final round, with the winners of each match advancing to face one of the four teams receiving the byes. Where possible, rematches of round robin pool opponents would be avoided in pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal matches.

When championship round robin play consisted of four pools, pre-quarterfinals are required. The three highest placements in each of the four pools would advance to medal play. The winning team from each of the four pools would receive a bye into the quarterfinals. The remaining eight qualifying teams would be seeded into the pre-quarterfinal round, with the winners of each match advancing to face one of the four teams receiving the byes.

Placement games

Those teams not advancing to compete in medal competition from the preliminary pool play would play additional matches to determine their overall championship positions. Those games would take place in increments of two, three or four team units based upon their equivalent round robin pool rankings. The placement games would determine their ultimate position within their selected pool strata. Where there were two pools in the round robin, a four team match is possible which pits the higher placement team against the lower of the open placements and the winners for the two higher positions. In a three team match, each team would play the other in a mini-round robin to fill these open positions. That procedure of layered competition would be repeated until all teams from the round robin that are no longer competing for championship medals had been placed.

Round robin pool play

Starting in 2006, when the number of teams entered into the World Championships makes it necessary to use modified round robin pool play, teams will be seeded into pools based on their final placement at the previous year's FIRS World Championships. These teams will be divided into two groups. The teams finishing one through eight placements will be named to be in Group 1 and arranged therein by two pools of four each, according to serpentine positioning. The remaining team with placements from the previous year (ninth, tenth and so on) will be situated into Group 2, also arranged into pools so that each pool, as nearly as possible, has equal strength, according to the serpentine positioning. Teams from the previous year's World Championship that do not enter will have their positions closed up and the serpentine will continue with those teams that have competed in both the last and current championships.

National teams that enter the World Championship that did not compete in the previous year will be arranged in alphabetical order according to the English spelling of the country's name and added to the serpentine of Group 2, which continues until all teams are assigned to a pool. Should there be one or more vacancies in the eight teams assigned to Group 1, created by the absence of teams that finished in the top eight from the previous World Championship, these open positions in Group 1, will be filled by any national team reentering the World Championship which had finished in the top eight placements during any of the previous three World Championships. If there are more eligible teams than there are open pool positions in Group 1, priority will be given to that team with the highest previous placement, and if more than one team is similarly positioned, then the most recent of these shall be selected. There will never be more than eight teams in Group 1, but should there be a vacancy remaining, the CIRILH Executive Committee is authorized to seed an entirely new team into Group 1, if in their opinion, such nation has the hockey tradition and player talent necessary to compete successfully at the Group 1 level. Teams that finished ninth or higher last year shall not be forced by vacancies into Group 1.

Medal round competition

In Group 1, the highest finishing three teams from each of the two Pools A and B will advance to the quarterfinals, a sum of six from Group 1. There will be an addition of one team from each of the two C and D Pools in Group 2, making the total quarterfinal entry eight teams. These teams will be placed in the quarterfinals bracket according to the seeding determined by round robin play, with the placement in Group 1 considered superior to Group 2. The first-place finisher plays the last qualifying place, and so on through the remaining qualifiers, matching first place in one pool with last place in the other.

The teams eliminated from Group 1 World Championship medal play, will join as top seeds with the highest finishing three teams remaining in each of Pools C and D in Group 2 for a total of eight teams, which will comprise the National Team World Cup quarterfinals in single elimination competition. These teams will be placed in the quarterfinals bracket according to the seeding determined by round robin play, with placements in Group 1 considered superior to Group 2. The highest place team will be paired with the last qualifying place, and so on through the remaining qualifiers, matching top place in one pool with last place in the other.

Placement games

Placement games still take place in the same fashion as previous years.