2019 IIHF World Championship

2019 IIHF World Championship
Tournament details
Host country Slovakia
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates10–26 May
Opened byAndrej Kiska
Teams16
Final positions
Champions  Finland (3rd title)
Runner-up  Canada
Third place  Russia
Fourth place Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played64
Goals scored412 (6.44 per game)
Attendance470,853 (7,357 per game)
Scoring leader(s)Sweden William Nylander (18 points)
MVPCanada Mark Stone
← 2018
2020 (cancelled) →

The 2019 IIHF World Championship was hosted from 10 to 26 May 2019 by Slovakia. It was the second time that Slovakia has hosted the event as an independent country, as was the case in 2011. The host cities were Bratislava and Košice, as announced by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on 15 May 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic.[1]

Finland won their third title by defeating Canada in the final.[2] The Finns had 18 first-timers for the 2019 IIHF World Championship and were widely regarded as an outsider to win any medal at all.[2] Despite this, the Finns won their third World Championship and lost only two games in the tournament (against the USA, and Germany). Russia secured the bronze medal after a penalty-shootout win over the Czech Republic.[3] This tournament was also the first time since the 2006 IIHF World Championship that both promoted teams (Great Britain and Italy) stayed in the top division.

  1. ^ "Back to Slovakia, Switzerland". iihfworlds2015.com. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Finns repeat in Slovakia". iihf.com. 26 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Russia shoots down Czechs for bronze". iihf.com. 26 May 2019.