The "C" pool did not.
To each their own I suppose, but I wouldnt want to collect loser points as my players get extra cracks at the Germany's of the world, while the real winners of the tourney have to face tough competition in the medal round.
Youre out, youre out, that's what makes the games fun and interesting in the prelims. If you were to count relegation would you not be cheering for your players to play in that round, effectively hoping they lose?
Or for that matter why wouldnt you load up on top line players from Czech, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany?
Sure, if you want big zeroes for 4 games
Relegation only lasted two games for Slovakia/Latvia/Germany/Finland and one game (not relegation but placement) for Swiss-Czech. It only makes up of 33% of a team's total games.
In this case, many people in the pool did well because Finland scored in both round robin and relegation, because they were better than the standings suggested. Guys like Salomaki, Armia, Teravainen, Ristolainen (your guy) helped you gain points.
But at the end of the day, the 1st place team had a goose egg when it came to relegation. You still want to pick the winning teams because they blow out the Germanys/Slovaks/etc. early, and then still continue to rack up points against the more competitive teams because they can score against those teams.
Why pick the top players from those teams if they're closer match is the other relegated teams? They won't blow them out. This year is certainly an exception because of Finland.
Only two teams will head to a one game relegation round next year, because byes will be eliminated. Heads up.