The four teams were paired in two best-of-three series. France defeated Italy, while Slovakia defeated Slovenia, both in 2 games, and secured themselves a place among the top sixteen hockey nations in the world. Italy and Slovenia were relegated to Division I for the 2009 tournament, and will be replaced by Austria and Hungary, the winners of the 2008 Division I tournament. Group G Series G1 All times are local (UTC-4). Series G2 All times are local (UTC-3). Playoff round Draw Quarter-finals All times are local (Quebec: UTC-4, Halifax: UTC-3). Semi-finals All times are local (UTC-4) Bronze-medal game All times are local (UTC-4) Gold-medal game All times are local (UTC-4) Ranking and statistics Tournament Awards Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goaltender: Evgeni Nabokov Best Defenceman: Brent Burns Best Forward: Dany Heatley Most Valuable Player: Dany Heatley Media All-Star Team: Goaltender: Evgeni Nabokov Defence: Mike Green, Tomáš Kaberle Forward: Dany Heatley, Rick Nash, Alexander Ovechkin Final standings The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF: Scoring leaders List shows the top 10 skaters sorted by points, then goals. If the list exceeds 10 skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are left out. GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Leading goaltenders Only the top 5 goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played over 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list. TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts IIHF Broadcasting rights Austria: ORF Sport Plus Belarus: TV-First, LAD Canada: English: TSN French: RDS Czech Republic: Česká televize Denmark: TV2 Sport Finland: YLE France: Sport+ Germany: DSF Hungary: Sport 1, Sport 2 Iceland: RÚV Internet: Webcast at IIHF.com Italy: Rai Sport Satellite Latvia: TV3 Latvia, TV6 Latvia, 3+ Latvia Norway: Norwegian Matches: NRK Other Matches: SportN Poland: Polsat Romania: Sport 1, Sport 2 Russia: VGTRK Sport Slovakia: STV Slovenia: RTV Slovenija Sweden: Viasat Switzerland: German: SF zwei French: TSR 2 Italian: TSI 2 USA: World Championship Sports Network See also 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships 2008 IIHF World Championship Division I 2008 IIHF World Championship Division II 2008 IIHF World Championship Division III 2008 IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification Juniors, Women's, Men's