On Day 1, Canada showed up like they left the S79 tournament. They put up 22 goals in 4 games and went a perfect 4-0-0. On the other side, we saw Switzerland return to the tournament with the same fiery force they had in the S79 tournament, also going a perfect 4-0-0. Finland also had a solid first day with a 3-1-0 record. Germany , Great Britain and Czechia all had a sluggish start to the tournament and will looking to pick it up on day 2 to provide some confidence before the group stage starts.

Canada continued their dominance on day two, finishing the pre-tournament undefeated. Finland was just behind them with one loss. Latvia , Germany , France and Sweden all finished with a 3-3-1 record. Great Britain rounded out Group A with just one win. In Group B, we saw a much closer group. Switzerland and Norway finish atop the pool with a loss and a OT win, each. The home team  had an impressive pre-tournament finishing third in the group with a 3-3-1 record. They will be looking to continue that momentum moving into the group stage. Japan , Ireland , USA and Czechia rounded out the bottom of group B, all separated by a point and within two points of Quebec  . It will be tough for the Czechia  fans to be chanting "Chechia is Bestia" after this pre-tournament showing. But it will be a surprise if the team doesn't pick it up when the stakes are higher.

Group A

Rank	Team Name	Record
1	Canada	7-0-0
2	Finland	6-1-0
3	France	3-3-1
4	Latvia	3-3-1
5	Germany	3-3-1
6	Sweden	3-3-1
7	Great Britain	1-6-0

Group B

Rank	Team Name	Record
1	Norway	5-1-1
2	Switzerland	5-1-1
3	Quebec	3-3-1
4	Ireland	3-4-0
5	Japan	3-4-0
6	Czechia	2-4-1
7	USA	2-4-1

The Canadian's  were pleased with their results. "Well this preseason went about as good as one could have hoped going 7-0"  @KaleSalad said after watching his team dominate the pre-tournament. Understandably, KaleSalad has high expectations for his team.  "coming in with almost the same roster our goal has always and will always be playing for gold." he said before adding that his team's back-to-back wins mean they could do something special. If Canada manages to pull off the tournament win, they would be the  3rd team to do so in the history of the tournament (Canada  won 3 in a row S56-S58 and Ireland  won 5 in a row S42-S46). When asked if Canada would be making any adjustments between the pre-torunament and the group stage, KaleSalad chuckled before saying "Right now we are not planning any changes. We are firing on all cylinders and don’t want to change what appears to be working for us." He didn't have to say it, but I knew it was a dumb question. It won't be all sunshine and roses for the Canadian's  though. They have a tough group to get through and they aren't taking anyone for granted. "Honestly our entire group is made up of some great competitors and every game will be a battle. There are proven winners filling up most our group and we can’t take a game off or take any of these teams lightly." KaleSalad said about which team would be their toughest. He's not wrong. The crosshairs are on the Canadians  and every team will be gunning to take the Champs down.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have a Great Britain team that struggled in the pre-tournament, finishing with only one win, the worst record of all 14 teams. Their Federation heads aren't expecting to move planets this tournament. "Nobody here is under any illusion that we're one of the big fish in this pond, we know that we're one of, if not the, smallest federation in this tournament by TPE" @frithjofr  said about his expecations for the team from Britain .  Despite being a smaller nation, they do have goals that are achievable, " I think a realistic goal for us is to make it out of the group stage. Any results past that will just be the cherry on top" frithjofr said. He isn't wrong! The Brits had a solid tournament last season losing out to a strong Czechia team in the Quater-finals. they will be looking to show that last season wasn't just a fluke as they hadn't made it to the medal round since S73. Great Britain  did make a number of changes since last tournament. "We're going through quite a few roster changes this season, adding almost half a dozen new players to the roster and also returning a couple more to their correct positions. With that in mind, the only changes I'll look to be making are just fine tuning our player's roles to maximize synergy with our tactics." With this many changes, it is hard to tell if they will work well for the S80 tournament or if it will take a bit to get going. frithjofr is aware of how tough their group is and how hard it will be to make it to the medal round saying "We sort of drew the group of death here, I was hoping we might draw against a couple of the other smaller teams, somehow get put in a group with Japan  or Quebec  . Our toughest competition is going to be Canada  , Finland and France  , with Latvia  being a big sleeper." before finishing the interview saying "I'm still optimistic we can fight our way out of the round robin, though".

Players to watch:
Forward: Jack St. Clair  @CrazyMojito - My pick for a player to watch prior to the tournament hasn't disappointed in the pre-tournament. The only player to average 2 points per game, St. Clair scored 5 goals and had 9 assists in their 7 pre-tournament games. Canada will be looking for them to continue their scoring success tomorrow, when the games really matter.

Defense: Ho Lee-Smokes  @Nike - Lee-Smokes is a household name in the SHL and this pre-tournament, they showed why. With 2 goals and 5 assists they are tied for second in points amongst defenseman. They also are tied for 6th in shots blocked with 27. No stragner to the top of the leaderboard, Lee-Smokes will need to be a force to give Japan  a fighting chance.

Goalie: Rhett "Shaggy" Carpet @Carpy48 - The pre-tournament couldn't have gone much better for the Finish goalie who was nothing short of dominant. Securing 6 wins, one of which was a shutout, Carpet was near the top in all goalie stats. Second in goals against average at 2.00, first in goals saved above average, 5th in saves and first in save %, Carpet was amazing. If Carpet is able to keep this performance up throughout the tournament, we may see Finland raising the trophy at the end. 

Thank you to KaleSalad and frithjofr for answering my interview questions. Good luck to all the players and teams in the medal round!