1979 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1979 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union from 14 to 27 April. Eight teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of four, and the best two from each group advancing to the final group. The four best teams then played each other twice in the final round. This was the 46th World Championship and at the same time, the 57th European Championship. In the May 1978 congress many rules were aligned with NHL practices and archaic rules (like changing ends half way the third period) were finally officially abandoned.[1] The games were very well attended, setting a record by averaging over eleven thousand spectators per game.

1979 Ice Hockey World Championships
Soviet stamp sheet dedicated to the 1979 World Ice Hockey Championships
Tournament details
Host country Soviet Union
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Dates14–27 April
Teams8
Final positions
Champions  Soviet Union (16th title)
Runner-up  Czechoslovakia
Third place  Sweden
Fourth place Canada
Tournament statistics
Games played32
Goals scored263 (8.22 per game)
Attendance354,500 (11,078 per game)
Scoring leader(s)Soviet Union Vladimir Petrov 15 points
← 1978
1981 →

The Soviets wished the tournament to be finished before the May Day celebrations began, so the schedule was moved up one week allowing for less NHL players being eligible.[1] The hosts won all seven games they played capturing their 16th title, the only game that was even close was their early match with West Germany, which they won three to two. The competition for the bronze (at least) was tight with Sweden edging out the Canadians. After the tournament NHL star Marcel Dionne praised the level of play and offered the following criticism of North American play, "only the media can change things here. Tell them how the European teams play with so much talent. Tell them that they play without a fight. Let them realize that if a kid does not know how to skate and shoot, but just to fight, he should not be allowed to be a hockey player. There are so many idiots who run hockey, so stupid, so stupid. Tell them."[2]

Promotion and relegation was effective for 1981 as the IIHF ceased running a championship in Olympic years. Nations that did not participate in the Lake Placid Olympics were invited to compete in the inaugural Thayer Tutt Trophy.

World Championship Group A (Soviet Union)

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First round

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Results between countries that moved on to the same group in the second round were carried forward.

Group 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Soviet Union 3 3 0 0 19 5 +14 6
2   Sweden 3 2 0 1 16 17 −1 4
3   West Germany 3 0 1 2 8 13 −5 1
4   Poland 3 0 1 2 8 16 −8 1
Source: [citation needed]
14 AprilSoviet Union  7-0  Poland
14 AprilSweden  7-3  West Germany
15 AprilSweden  6-5  Poland
15 AprilSoviet Union  3-2  West Germany
17 AprilWest Germany  3-3  Poland
17 AprilSoviet Union  9-3  Sweden

Group 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Czechoslovakia 3 2 1 0 11 3 +8 5
2   Canada 3 2 0 1 12 11 +1 4
3   United States 3 0 2 1 6 9 −3 2
4   Finland 3 0 1 2 5 11 −6 1
Source: [citation needed]
14 AprilCanada  6-3  United States
14 AprilCzechoslovakia  5-0  Finland
15 AprilCzechoslovakia  4-1  Canada
15 AprilUnited States  1-1  Finland
17 AprilCanada  5-4  Finland
17 AprilCzechoslovakia  2-2  United States

Final round

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Soviet Union 6 6 0 0 51 12 +39 12
2   Czechoslovakia 6 3 1 2 25 30 −5 7
3   Sweden 6 1 1 4 20 38 −18 3
4   Canada 6 1 0 5 20 36 −16 2
Source: [citation needed]
19 AprilSoviet Union  5-2  Canada
19 AprilCzechoslovakia  3-3  Sweden
21 AprilSweden  5-3  Canada
21 AprilSoviet Union  11-1  Czechoslovakia
23 AprilCzechoslovakia  10-6  Canada
23 AprilSoviet Union  11-3  Sweden
25 AprilSoviet Union  9-2  Canada
25 AprilCzechoslovakia  6-3  Sweden
27 AprilCanada  6-3  Sweden
27 AprilSoviet Union  6-1  Czechoslovakia

Consolation round

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
5   Finland 6 4 1 1 23 17 +6 9
6   West Germany 6 3 1 2 27 21 +6 7
7   United States 6 2 2 2 22 20 +2 6
8   Poland 6 0 2 4 15 29 −14 2
Source: [citation needed]
18 AprilPoland  5-5  United States
18 AprilFinland  5-2  West Germany
20 AprilPoland  3-4  Finland
20 AprilWest Germany  6-3  United States
22 AprilUnited States  6-2  Finland
22 AprilWest Germany  8-1  Poland
24 AprilUnited States  5-1  Poland
24 AprilFinland  7-3  West Germany
26 AprilFinland  4-2  Poland
26 AprilWest Germany  5-2  United States

World Championship Group B (Romania)

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Played in Galați March 16–24. This year's tournament was expanded to ten teams to try to avoid hostilities between China and South Korea, and to address a complaint by the Danes that Austria had used an ineligible player in achieving promotion in 1978. China and Denmark were both elevated with the consequence that four teams would be relegated.

First round

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The ten teams were split into groups of five, the top two of each battled for promotion to Group A, the next two played in a group to decide fifth through eighth, and both bottom place teams were simply relegated without playing further. Additionally, the top two in each group joined all Group A teams at the Lake Placid Olympics.

Group 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   East Germany 4 4 0 0 30 6 +24 8
2   Romania 4 2 1 1 22 16 +6 5
3   Austria 4 2 1 1 15 20 −5 5
4   Denmark 4 1 0 3 8 18 −10 2
5   Hungary 4 0 0 4 10 25 −15 0
Source: [citation needed]

Hungary was relegated to Group C.

16 MarchHungary  2-10  East Germany
16 MarchRomania  7-7  Austria
17 MarchAustria  4-3  Hungary
17 MarchDenmark  1-9  East Germany
18 MarchRomania  4-1  Denmark
19 MarchRomania  8-4  Hungary
19 MarchAustria  0-7  East Germany
20 MarchHungary  1-3  Denmark
21 MarchAustria  4-3  Denmark
21 MarchRomania  3-4  East Germany

Group 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Netherlands 4 4 0 0 29 8 +21 8
2   Norway 4 3 0 1 16 13 +3 6
3    Switzerland 4 2 0 2 13 17 −4 4
4   Japan 4 1 0 3 20 17 +3 2
5   China 4 0 0 4 8 31 −23 0
Source: [citation needed]

China was relegated to Group C.

16 MarchNorway  5-1   Switzerland
16 MarchJapan  5-6  Netherlands
17 MarchNetherlands  8-1  Norway
17 MarchChina  4-6   Switzerland
18 MarchJapan  9-3  China
19 MarchJapan  3-4  Norway
19 MarchNetherlands  5-2   Switzerland
20 MarchNorway  6-1  China
21 MarchNetherlands  10-0  China
21 MarchJapan  3-4   Switzerland

Final round

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
9   Netherlands 3 3 0 0 15 6 +9 6
10   East Germany 3 2 0 1 16 9 +7 4
11   Romania 3 1 0 2 8 9 −1 2
12   Norway 3 0 0 3 5 20 −15 0
Source: [citation needed]

The Netherlands were promoted to Group A.

23 MarchEast Germany  9-2  Norway
23 MarchRomania  2-3  Netherlands
24 MarchEast Germany  3-4  Netherlands
24 MarchRomania  3-2  Norway

Consolation round

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
13    Switzerland 3 3 0 0 14 6 +8 6
14   Japan 3 2 0 1 17 10 +7 4
15   Austria 3 1 0 2 8 13 −5 2
16   Denmark 3 0 0 3 8 18 −10 0
Source: [citation needed]

Both Austria and Denmark were relegated to Group C.

23 MarchDenmark  1-3   Switzerland
23 MarchAustria  2-3  Japan
24 MarchDenmark  4-11  Japan
24 MarchAustria  2-7   Switzerland

World Championship Group C (Spain)

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Played in Barcelona March 16–25. This tournament was supposed to be played in China but the Chinese said that they would deny entrance to the South Korean team. To avoid political issues with the two playing each other, both China and Denmark (last year's 3rd and 4th place teams) were elevated to Group B and two extra nations were allowed to participate in Group C.[3]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
19   Yugoslavia 7 7 0 0 83 10 +73 14
20   Italy 7 6 0 1 64 17 +47 12
21   France 7 5 0 2 59 27 +32 10
22   Bulgaria 7 4 0 3 35 28 +7 8
23   Great Britain 7 2 0 5 23 68 −45 4
24   Spain 7 2 0 5 25 48 −23 4
25   South Korea 7 1 1 5 16 67 −51 3
26   Australia 7 0 1 6 13 53 −40 1
Source: [citation needed]

Both Yugoslavia and Italy were promoted to Group B.

16 MarchSpain  7-1  South Korea
16 MarchBulgaria  0-3  France
16 MarchGreat Britain  0-12  Italy
16 MarchAustralia  0-10  Yugoslavia
17 MarchAustralia  4-12  Italy
17 MarchFrance  5-7  Yugoslavia
18 MarchSouth Korea  9-6  Great Britain
18 MarchBulgaria  5-4  Spain
19 MarchFrance  9-3  Australia
19 MarchGreat Britain  2-4  Bulgaria
19 MarchYugoslavia  18-0  South Korea
19 MarchSpain  1-10  Italy
20 MarchAustralia  3-5  Great Britain
20 MarchItaly  11-0  South Korea
21 MarchBulgaria  1-7  Yugoslavia
21 MarchFrance  8-2  Spain
22 MarchSouth Korea  0-0  Australia
22 MarchItaly  8-4  Bulgaria
22 MarchGreat Britain  3-15  France
22 MarchYugoslavia  16-1  Spain
24 MarchSpain  4-6  Great Britain
24 MarchYugoslavia  4-2  Italy
24 MarchSouth Korea  3-15  France
24 MarchAustralia  1-11  Bulgaria
25 MarchGreat Britain  1-21  Yugoslavia
25 MarchFrance  4-9  Italy
25 MarchSouth Korea  3-10  Bulgaria
25 MarchSpain  6-2  Australia

Ranking and statistics

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 1979 IIHF World Championship winners 
 
Soviet Union
16th title

Tournament Awards

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Final standings

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The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

    Soviet Union
    Czechoslovakia
    Sweden
4   Canada
5   Finland
6   West Germany
7   United States
8   Poland

European championships final standings

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The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:

    Soviet Union
    Czechoslovakia
    Sweden
4   Finland
5   West Germany
6   Poland

Citations

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  1. ^ a b Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. p. 506. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
  2. ^ Marcel Dionne's quote (translated from French). passionhockey.com
  3. ^ Summary of conflict. passionhockey.com

References

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  • Complete results
  • Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. pp. 147–8.