Of the 16 teams in the tournament Czech Republic qualified as host while Austria and Slovenia qualified through the
2014 IIHF World Championship Division I, the rest qualified after a top 14 placement at the 2014 IIHF World Championship. The teams were divided into two groups of which the four best from each advanced to the quarterfinals. Here they met cross-over as indicated in the section below. In the group round, points are awarded as follows: • 3 points for a win in regulation time (
W) • 2 point for a team that drew in regulation time but won the following overtime (
OTW) or game winning shots (
GWS) • 1 point for a team that drew and lost the above-mentioned competition (
OTL) • 0 points for a team that lost in regulation time (
L) If two or more teams finished with an equal number of points in the same group, their standings were determined by the following
tiebreaking formula: • Points in games between the tied teams •
Goal difference in games between the tied teams • Goals scored in games between the tied teams • Results against the closest best-ranking team outside the original group of tied teams • Results against the next highest ranking team outside the original group of tied teams • Tournament seedings Final ranking: places 1–4 are determined by the medal games. Other places are determined by playoff positioning, group play positioning in the group, number of points, goal difference, goals scored, and tournament seeding. The two lowest ranking teams overall are relegated to Division I A. ==Seeding==