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)
Dates	14–27 April
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (16th title)
Runners-up	Czechoslovakia
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	Canada
Tournament statistics
Games played	32
Goals scored	263 (8.22 per game)
Attendance	354,500 (11,078 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	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)

First round

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

Group 1

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 April

Soviet Union

7-0

Poland

14 April

Sweden

7-3

West Germany

15 April

Sweden

6-5

Poland

15 April

Soviet Union

3-2

West Germany

17 April

West Germany

3-3

Poland

17 April

Soviet Union

9-3

Sweden

Group 2

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 April

Canada

6-3

United States

14 April

Czechoslovakia

5-0

Finland

15 April

Czechoslovakia

4-1

Canada

15 April

United States

1-1

Finland

17 April

Canada

5-4

Finland

17 April

Czechoslovakia

2-2

United States

Final round

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 April

Soviet Union

5-2

Canada

19 April

Czechoslovakia

3-3

Sweden

21 April

Sweden

5-3

Canada

21 April

Soviet Union

11-1

Czechoslovakia

23 April

Czechoslovakia

10-6

Canada

23 April

Soviet Union

11-3

Sweden

25 April

Soviet Union

9-2

Canada

25 April

Czechoslovakia

6-3

Sweden

27 April

Canada

6-3

Sweden

27 April

Soviet Union

6-1

Czechoslovakia

Consolation round

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 April

Poland

5-5

United States

18 April

Finland

5-2

West Germany

20 April

Poland

3-4

Finland

20 April

West Germany

6-3

United States

22 April

United States

6-2

Finland

22 April

West Germany

8-1

Poland

24 April

United States

5-1

Poland

24 April

Finland

7-3

West Germany

26 April

Finland

4-2

Poland

26 April

West Germany

5-2

United States

World Championship Group B (Romania)

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

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

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 March

Hungary

2-10

East Germany

16 March

Romania

7-7

Austria

17 March

Austria

4-3

Hungary

17 March

Denmark

1-9

East Germany

18 March

Romania

4-1

Denmark

19 March

Romania

8-4

Hungary

19 March

Austria

0-7

East Germany

20 March

Hungary

1-3

Denmark

21 March

Austria

4-3

Denmark

21 March

Romania

3-4

East Germany

Group 2

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 March

Norway

5-1

Switzerland

16 March

Japan

5-6

Netherlands

17 March

Netherlands

8-1

Norway

17 March

China

4-6

Switzerland

18 March

Japan

9-3

China

19 March

Japan

3-4

Norway

19 March

Netherlands

5-2

Switzerland

20 March

Norway

6-1

China

21 March

Netherlands

10-0

China

21 March

Japan

3-4

Switzerland

Final round

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 March

East Germany

9-2

Norway

23 March

Romania

2-3

Netherlands

24 March

East Germany

3-4

Netherlands

24 March

Romania

3-2

Norway

Consolation round

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 March

Denmark

1-3

Switzerland

23 March

Austria

2-3

Japan

24 March

Denmark

4-11

Japan

24 March

Austria

2-7

Switzerland

World Championship Group C (Spain)

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 March

Spain

7-1

South Korea

16 March

Bulgaria

0-3

France

16 March

Great Britain

0-12

Italy

16 March

Australia

0-10

Yugoslavia

17 March

Australia

4-12

Italy

17 March

France

5-7

Yugoslavia

18 March

South Korea

9-6

Great Britain

18 March

Bulgaria

5-4

Spain

19 March

France

9-3

Australia

19 March

Great Britain

2-4

Bulgaria

19 March

Yugoslavia

18-0

South Korea

19 March

Spain

1-10

Italy

20 March

Australia

3-5

Great Britain

20 March

Italy

11-0

South Korea

21 March

Bulgaria

1-7

Yugoslavia

21 March

France

8-2

Spain

22 March

South Korea

0-0

Australia

22 March

Italy

8-4

Bulgaria

22 March

Great Britain

3-15

France

22 March

Yugoslavia

16-1

Spain

24 March

Spain

4-6

Great Britain

24 March

Yugoslavia

4-2

Italy

24 March

South Korea

3-15

France

24 March

Australia

1-11

Bulgaria

25 March

Great Britain

1-21

Yugoslavia

25 March

France

4-9

Italy

25 March

South Korea

3-10

Bulgaria

25 March

Spain

6-2

Australia

Ranking and statistics

1979 IIHF World Championship winners
Soviet Union 16th title

Tournament Awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Vladislav Tretiak
  • Best Defenceman: Valeri Vasiliev
  • Best Forward: Wilf Paiement
• Media All-Star Team:
  • Goaltender: Vladislav Tretiak
  • Defence: Jiří Bubla, Valeri Vasiliev
  • Forwards: Sergei Makarov, Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Petrov

Final standings

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

The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:

	Soviet Union
	Czechoslovakia
	Sweden
4	Finland
5	West Germany
6	Poland