 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Germany |
| Venue(s) | 3 (in 3 host cities) |
| Dates | 7–23 May |
| Opened by | Horst Köhler |
| Teams | 16 |
| Final positions | |
Champions  |  Czech Republic (6th title) |
Runner-up  |  Russia |
Third place  |  Sweden |
| Fourth place | Germany |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 56 |
| Goals scored | 277 (4.95 per game) |
| Attendance | 548,788 (9,800 per game) |
| Scoring leader(s) | Ilya Kovalchuk (12 points) |
| MVP | Dennis Endras |
The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannheim, and one game at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen. The Russian team was the defending champion, having won the previous two championships.
The Czech Republic, after an early 2–3 upset loss to Norway in the preliminary round, ultimately claimed their sixth world championship title by defeating defending champions, two years running, Russia, 2–1 in the final. Sweden won against Germany 3–1 for the bronze medal.
Canada, which three months earlier, had won the 2010 Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey Gold on home-ice in Vancouver, after beating the Russians 7–3 in the Quarterfinals, had a disappointing tournament. They clinched the last spot in the playoff round and lost their quarterfinal 2–5 in a rematch versus Russia. They finished 7th overall, their second-worst finish in tournament history, after their 1992 8th-place finish.
The tournament stands as the most watched IIHF championship in history, with an estimated cumulative audience of over 650 million over the course of the tournament and viewers in over 100 countries and dependencies worldwide.[1] It also was a considerable success regarding attendance for the tournament; it ranked as the second most attended ice hockey world championship of all time, narrowly behind the 2004 edition. In total 548,788 people attended, compared with 552,097 in 2004 in the Czech Republic. It since slipped to the fourth place, behind 2014 and 2015 editions.
The host nation of Germany had their best finish at the tournament since it switched to the current 16 nation format, and a player representing Germany (goaltender Dennis Endras) was named MVP for the first time in the history of the championship.[2]
- ^ "Referee assignments". IIHF. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Referee assignments". IIHF. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.