| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Switzerland |
| Dates | 1–12 March |
| Teams | 8 |
| Final positions | |
Champions  |  Canada (19th title) |
Runner-up  |  Czechoslovakia |
Third place  |  Soviet Union |
| Fourth place |  Sweden |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 28 |
| Goals scored | 236 (8.43 per game) |
| Attendance | 141,300 (5,046 per game) |
| Scoring leader(s) | Boris Mayorov (17 points) |
The 1961 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 28th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships. The tournament was held in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland from 1 to 12 March 1961. The games were played outdoors on a frozen pool. A glare made it hard for players to see well, however photographers were able to get aerial pictures from the diving board. Canada, represented by the Trail Smoke Eaters,[1] won their nineteenth international title. It would be 33 years before Canada won another World Championship.[2] By beating out the Soviets for the Silver, the Czechoslovaks won their tenth European title. The final day was marred by political controversy when Willi Daume, president of West Germany hockey, forbade his team to take the ice against East Germany to avoid the possibility of honouring East Germany's new flag.[3]
A record twenty nations participated in three groups, with South Africa appearing for the first time.[4] Teams were divided into the three tiers, roughly following the 1959 championships, and using qualification games, to establish an eight-team group A, a six-team group B, and a six-team group C. The South African team did not have the minimum number of players so forty-five-year-old federation president Tom Durling played despite not actually being a citizen of the country.[5] Promotion and relegation did not begin yet, but it was a big step towards formulating the process.
- ^ Story #66. Iihf.com (12 March 1961). Retrieved on 2018-02-27.
- ^ Szemberg & Podnieks 2007, p. 199
- ^ "When flags stopped games". 2 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ Duplacey p. 504
- ^ "Championnats du monde 1961 de hockey sur glace". www.hockeyarchives.info. Retrieved 4 September 2024.