EHM The Blue Line

I'm currently working on a db project that vastly expands the hockey world so that it also covers IIHF nations left out of the usual dbs and countries likely to pick up playing hockey in the future. As such, my db now counts 85 national teams. While simming through seasons to monitor the evolution of my db, I noticed to my pleasure that those new nations are also awarded points in the World Rankings, and that those with the most skilled squads do get more points than the worse ones. I've actually reached a point where one of those nations, Uzbekistan to name it, has gathered so many points that it ranks among the usual World Championship Div. I nations. However, the game doesn't seem to want to pick it to participate in the tournament.

Anybody knows how nations are selected to participate in this tournament and how points are awarded in-game in the rankings? What role do the reputation ratings of each NT play in-game?

- YZG