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World Ice Hockey Champions

History

Ice hockey's first world championships in ice hockey were held in 1930. The tournament has been held annually since then, except for the 1940-46 period and some Olympic years.

The Winter Olympic champion was considered the world champion from 1932 through 1968. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) held separate world championship tournaments in the Winter Olympic years of 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, and 1998. There are no recognized world champions for 1980, 1984, and 1988.

Originally, teams were seeded and played a single elimination tournament. In 1961, the IIHF set up a new format with three pools of four teams each and preliminary round-robin competition within the pools. A fourth pool was added in 1987.

The round-robin results determine which teams advance in the tournament, and countries may also move up or down one pool based on the round-robin competition.
Under the latest format, adopted in 2001, there are three divisions. The top 16 countries compete in the World Championship Division. Below that are Divisions I and II, each of which has 12 teams.

Teams in those divisions compete in groups of six, with the winner in each group moving up to the next division and the loser dropping down. The two worst teams in the World Championship Division tournament move down to Division I. Other countries have to play in a qualification tournament to enter Division II.

The women's world championship was inaugurated in 1990 as a biennial tournament. However, the 1996 championship was put off to 1997 because women's ice hockey became an Olympic event that year.

The women's tournament has been held annually since 1999, except for years when the Winter Olympics are held.

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Men's Champions

YearGoldSilverBronze
1930CanadaGermanySwitzerland
1931CanadaUSAAustria
1933USACanadaCzechoslovakia
1934CanadaUSAGermany
1935CanadaSwitzerlandGreat Britain
1937CanadaGreat BritainSwitzerland
1938CanadaGreat BritainCzechoslovakia
1939CanadaUSASwitzerland
1947CzechoslovakiaSwedenAustria
1949CzechoslovakiaCanadaUSA
1950CanadaUSASwitzerland
1951CanadaSwedenSwitzerland
1953SwedenGermanySwitzerland
1954USSRCanadaSweden
1955CanadaUSSRCzechoslovakia
1957SwedenUSSRCzechoslovakia
1958CanadaUSSRSweden
1959CanadaUSSRCzechoslovakia
1961CanadaCzechoslovakiaUSSR
1962SwedenCanadaUSA
1963USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1965USSRCzechoslovakiaSweden
1966USSRCzechoslovakiaCanada
1967USSRSwedenCanada
1969USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1970USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1971USSRCzechoslovakiaSweden
1972CzechoslovakiaUSSRSweden
1973USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1974USSRCzechoslovakiaSweden
1975USSRCzechoslovakiaSweden
1976CzechoslovakiaUSSRSweden
1977CzechoslovakiaSwedenUSSR
1978USSRCzechoslovakiaCanada
1979USSRCzechoslovakiaSweden
1981USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1982USSRCzechoslovakiaCanada
1983USSRCzechoslovakiaCanada
1985CzechoslovakiaCanadaUSSR
1986USSRSwedenCanada
1987SwedenUSSRCzechoslovakia
1989USSRCanadaCzechoslovakia
1990USSRSwedenCzechoslovakia
1991SwedenCanadaUSSR
1992SwedenFinlandCzech Republic
1993RussiaSwedenCzech Republic
1994CanadaFinlandSweden
1995FinlandSwedenCanada
1996Czech RepublicCanadaUSA
1997CanadaSwedenCzech Republic
1998SwedenFinlandCzech Republic
1999Czech RepublicFinlandSweden
2000Czech RepublicSlovakiaFinland
2001Czech RepublicFinlandSweden
2002SlovakiaRussiaSweden
2003CanadaSwedenSlovakia
2004CanadaSwedenUSA
2005Czech RepublicCanadaRussia
2006SwedenCzech RepublicFinland
2007CanadaFinlandRussia

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Women's Champions

YearGoldSilverBronze
1990CanadaUSAFinland
1992CanadaUSAFinland
1994CanadaUSAFinland
1997CanadaUSAFinland
1999CanadaUSAFinland
2000CanadaUSAFinland
2001CanadaUSARussia
2002Not held because of Winter Olympics
2003Cancelled because of SARS disease in China
2004CanadaUSAFinland
2005USACanadaSweden
2007CanadaUSASweden
2008USACanadaFinland

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This page last updated Sunday, 13-Apr-2008 06:57:46 PDT
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