2022 IIHF World Championship

Main article: 2022 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships
2022 IIHF World Championship
Tournament details
Host country Finland
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates13–29 May
Opened bySauli Niinistö
Teams16
Final positions
Champions  Finland (4th title)
Runner-up  Canada
Third place  Czechia
Fourth place United States
Tournament statistics
Games played64
Goals scored375 (5.86 per game)
Attendance356,955 (5,577 per game)
Scoring leader(s)Czech Republic Roman Červenka (17 points)
MVPFinland Juho Olkinuora
← 2021
2023 →

The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany.[1] The host cities of the World Championships were Tampere and Helsinki, of which Tampere's brand-new Nokia Arena served as the main venue of the games.[2]

Since all lower divisions of the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[3] all 16 teams from the previous year's top division were set to return this year.[4] However, in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were suspended from competing in all IIHF tournaments for at least a year.[5] This marked the first time that Russia missed the top division of the World Championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. For this tournament, the suspended nations were replaced by Austria and France, the two highest-ranked teams in 2021 that had not already qualified.[6] Additionally, the venue in Helsinki was moved from Helsinki Halli, previously known as Hartwall Arena, to Helsinki Ice Hall due to the former being owned by Russian oligarchs.[7]

Finland defeated Canada 4–3 in overtime in the gold medal game for their fourth title and their first medal ever won on home ice.[8] This marked the first time since the introduction of the playoff round in 1992 that the same two teams met in the gold medal game three tournaments in a row.[9] Czechia won the bronze medal, their first medal since 2012, after an 8–4 win over the United States.[10]

The tournament saw multiple historic upsets: Austria's first victory against Czechia, and Denmark's first victory against Canada.[11][12] In addition, it suffered from the lowest attendance in two decades, excluding the 2021 tournament played without audience; some attribute this to the absence of Russia.[13]

  1. ^ "To Minsk & Riga in 2021!". iihfworlds2017.com. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Finnish Tampere Deck Arena is now Nokia Arena". Nokia Oyj (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  3. ^ "IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  4. ^ "Groups for 2022". IIHF.com. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  5. ^ "IIHF Council takes definitive action over Russia, Belarus". IIHF. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Tournament updates". 18 March 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  7. ^ "IS:n tiedot: Jääkiekon MM-kotikisojen areena vaihtui sodan takia – tässä on uusi pelipaikka" [IS reports: Ice hockey WC games arena changed due to the war – this is the new venue] (in Finnish). 15 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  8. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (29 May 2022). "Finland does it!". IIHF.com. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  9. ^ Aykroyd, Lucas (28 May 2022). "7 truths about Finland vs. Canada". IIHF.com. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Czechs rally to thump U.S. for bronze". iihf.com. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Men's World Championship Roundup: Austria's Upset Highlights Tuesday's Slate". thehockeynews.com. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Denmark claim first-ever victory over Canada at IIHF World Championship". insidethegames.biz. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Ice Hockey World Cup 2022 suffers from low attendance". eprimefeed.com. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.