The two groups of four then played a round robin with the top two teams in each moving on to the semi-finals.

Third place teams played a final round against each other to determine who escaped having to qualify for next year's tournament.

Fourth place teams did not play further, they were automatically entered in qualifiers for next year's tournament.

Germany and the United States were relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

Source: quanthockey.com Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list.