1954 Ice Hockey World Championships
| Opening ceremony | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Sweden |
| Dates | 26 February – 7 March |
| Teams | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Soviet Union (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Canada |
| Third place | Sweden |
| Fourth place | Czechoslovakia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 28 |
| Goals scored | 222 (7.93 per game) |
| Attendance | 148,399 (5,300 per game) |
| Scoring leader(s) | Canada Moe Galand (20 points) |
The 1954 Ice Hockey World Championships , were the 21st World Championships and 32nd European ice hockey championships were held from 26 February to 7 March 1954 in Stockholm, Sweden. Every team played each other once with the top three finishers receiving medals at the end. The USSR won in its first attempt, led by Vsevolod Bobrov who was recognized as the best forward of the tournament in the first ever presentation of Directorate Awards.
Description
[edit ]
The USSR won their first five games before meeting up with the host, and defending champion, Sweden. Sweden, having already lost 8-0 to Canada, desperately needed to beat the Soviets, but settled for a 1–1 tie. The final game of the tournament pitted the East York Lyndhursts, representing Canada, against the USSR, both teams being undefeated. Tournament organizers believed the Canadians would cruise to their seventh straight win and had begun to sell tickets for a planned tie-breaking game between the Soviets and Swedes to determine the European Championship.[1] [2] However the Soviets "appeared to pass too much, check too little, and skate too fast"[1] and "thoroughly dominated" in a 7–2 win before 16,000 fans.[citation needed ]
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) president W. B. George stated that the final game was the worst he had seen the Lyndhursts play and that they seemed afraid of being penalized.[3] The CAHA was heavily criticized by media in Canada for the failure to win the World Championships, and writer Michael McKinley stated the loss was a "day of reckoning" and a symbol of what went wrong with the CAHA's international strategy, and the beginning of a hockey rivalry with the Soviet Union.[4]
Beginning with this year the IIHF began giving out official awards (known as the "directorate awards") to the best forward, defensemen, and goaltender, of the tournament.[5]
In 2013, the Soviet national team was awarded the IIHF Milestone Award for winning the gold medal,[6] which was their country's first appearance at the World Championships and the beginning of a rivalry versus Canada.[4]
Final round
[edit ]Standings
[edit ]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 10 | +27 | 13 |
| 2 | Canada | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 59 | 12 | +47 | 12 |
| 3 | Sweden | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 11 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 21 | +20 | 8 |
| 5 | West Germany | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 32 | −10 | 5 |
| 6 | Finland | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 52 | −40 | 3 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 34 | −19 | 2 |
| 8 | Norway | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 43 | −37 | 2 |
Team members
[edit ]Tournament awards
[edit ]- Best players selected by the directorate:
- Best Goaltender: Canada Don Lockhart
- Best Defenceman: Sweden Lasse Björn
- Best Forward: Soviet Union Vsevolod Bobrov
European Championships final rankings
[edit ]Citations
[edit ]- ^ a b Duplacey P. 503
- ^ Tournament summary
- ^ MacKenzie, Arch (March 10, 1954). "Russians No Supermen Says C.A.H.A. President". Winnipeg Tribune. Winnipeg, Manitoba. p. 21.Free access icon
- ^ a b McKinley, Michael (2014). It's Our Game: Celebrating 100 Years Of Hockey Canada. Toronto, Ontario: Viking Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-0-670-06817-3.
- ^ Podnieks p.30
- ^ "Canada's Paul Henderson, Danielle Goyette enter IIHF Hall of Fame". CBC Sports . Toronto, Ontario. The Canadian Press. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
References
[edit ]- Complete results
- Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League . Total Sports. pp. 498–528. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
- Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. p. 134.
External links
[edit ]- The event at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)
- 1954 in ice hockey
- IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
- International ice hockey competitions hosted by Sweden
- 1954 in Swedish sport
- February 1954 sports events in Europe
- March 1954 sports events in Europe
- International sports competitions in Stockholm
- 1950s in Stockholm
- 1953–54 in Swedish ice hockey