1998 IIHF World Championship

The 1998 IIHF World Championship was held in Switzerland from 1–17 May 1998. The format expanded to 16 teams for the first time. The teams were divided into four groups of four with the top two teams in each advancing to the next round. The two groups of four then played a round robin with the top two teams in each moving on to the semi-finals. The semi-finals were a two-game total goals for series as was the final.

1998 IIHF World Championship

Eishockey-Weltmeisterschaft der Herren 1998 (in German) Championnat du monde de hockey sur glace 1998 (in French) Campionato mondiale di hockey su ghiaccio maschile 1998 (in Italian)
Tournament details
Host country	Switzerland
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	1–17 May
Opened by	Flavio Cotti
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Sweden (7th title)
Runners-up	Finland
Third place	Czech Republic
Fourth place	Switzerland
Tournament statistics
Games played	49
Goals scored	276 (5.63 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Peter Forsberg (11 pts)
← 1997 All Groups 1999 →

Main article: 1998 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

Venues

Zürich	Basel Zürich	Basel
Hallenstadion Capacity: 12,500		St. Jakobshalle Capacity: 9,000

Qualifying Round (Austria)

Played 6–9 November 1997 in Klagenfurt. The Kazakhs, Austrians, and Norwegians finished virtually even. In head-to-head match-ups they each had one win and one loss, they each had scored as many as they had allowed. The Kazakhs scored six goals, the other two both five, pushing them to first. The Norwegians had beaten Poland by three, on the final day the Austrians pushed their advantage over Poland to four, giving them the final spot in the World Championship.^[1]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kazakhstan	3	2	0	1	12	7	+5	4
2	Austria	3	2	0	1	9	5	+4	4
3	Norway	3	2	0	1	8	5	+3	4
4	Poland	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Kazakhstan and Austria advanced to Group A, Norway and Poland competed in Group B.

6 November 1997

Kazakhstan

6-1

Poland

6 November 1997

Austria

1-3

Norway

8 November 1997

Norway

3-0

Poland

8 November 1997

Austria

4-2

Kazakhstan

9 November 1997

Kazakhstan

4-2

Norway

9 November 1997

Austria

4-0

Poland

First round

In each group, the top two nations advanced to the next round. Third place teams played a final round against each other to determine who escaped having to qualify for next year's tournament. Fourth place teams did not play further, they were automatically entered in qualifiers for next year's tournament. The highlight of the round was the French victory of the US, the first ever in an official match.^[2]

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Czech Republic	3	3	0	0	20	5	+15	6
2	Belarus	3	2	0	1	12	10	+2	4
3	Germany	3	1	0	2	8	13	−5	2
4	Japan	3	0	0	3	7	19	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Japan was relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

1 May

Czech Republic

8-2

Japan

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

1 May

Belarus

4-2

Germany

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

3 May

Belarus

2-4

Czech Republic

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

3 May

Germany

5-1

Japan

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

5 May

Japan

4-6

Belarus

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

5 May

Czech Republic

8-1

Germany

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Canada	3	2	1	0	12	5	+7	5
2	Slovakia	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5	5
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	8	8	0	2
4	Austria	3	0	0	3	3	15	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Austria was relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

1 May

Canada

5-1

Austria

Hallenstadion, Zürich

1 May

Italy

1-2

Slovakia

Hallenstadion, Zürich

3 May

Slovakia

2-2

Canada

Hallenstadion, Zürich

3 May

Italy

5-1

Austria

Hallenstadion, Zürich

5 May

Austria

1-5

Slovakia

Hallenstadion, Zürich

5 May

Canada

5-2

Italy

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sweden	3	3	0	0	16	4	+12	6
2	Switzerland	3	1	0	2	9	10	−1	2
3	United States	3	1	0	2	7	11	−4	2
4	France	3	1	0	2	5	12	−7	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

France was relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

2 May

United States

5-2

Switzerland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

2 May

Sweden

6-1

France

Hallenstadion, Zürich

4 May

France

3-1

United States

Hallenstadion, Zürich

4 May

Sweden

4-2

Switzerland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

6 May

United States

1-6

Sweden

Hallenstadion, Zürich

6 May

Switzerland

5-1

France

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Russia	3	3	0	0	19	11	+8	6
2	Finland	3	2	0	1	12	4	+8	4
3	Latvia	3	1	0	2	12	15	−3	2
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	6	19	−13	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Kazakhstan was relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

2 May

Russia

8-4

Kazakhstan

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

2 May

Finland

6-0

Latvia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

4 May

Latvia

5-7

Russia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

4 May

Finland

4-0

Kazakhstan

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

6 May

Kazakhstan

2-7

Latvia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

6 May

Russia

4-2

Finland

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

Consolation Round 9-12 Place

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	Latvia	3	2	1	0	9	3	+6	5
10	Italy	3	1	2	0	9	5	+4	4
11	Germany	3	0	2	1	5	10	−5	2
12	United States	3	0	1	2	3	8	−5	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Germany and the United States were relegated to the qualifiers for the 1999 IIHF World Championship.

8 May

United States

1-1

Germany

Hallenstadion, Zürich

8 May

Italy

1-1

Latvia

Hallenstadion, Zürich

10 May

Italy

4-0

United States

Hallenstadion, Zürich

10 May

Germany

0-5

Latvia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

11 May

Germany

4-4

Italy

Hallenstadion, Zürich

11 May

Latvia

3-2

United States

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Second round

Group 2 and 3 first place teams played against group 1 and 4 second place teams in group 5, group 1 and 4 first place teams played against group 2 and 3 second place teams. The top two, from each group, advanced to the semi-finals.

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sweden	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8	6
2	Finland	3	1	1	1	8	6	+2	3
3	Canada	3	1	1	1	10	12	−2	3
4	Belarus	3	0	0	3	5	13	−8	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

7 May

Sweden

1-0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-0)

Finland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

	25:28 (PP1) − Mattias Öhlund 1-0

7 May

Belarus

2-6

Canada

Hallenstadion, Zürich

9 May

Canada

3-3

Finland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

9 May

Sweden

2-1

Belarus

Hallenstadion, Zürich

10 May

Canada

1-7

Sweden

Hallenstadion, Zürich

10 May

Finland

5-2

Belarus

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Group 6

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Czech Republic	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	5
2	Switzerland	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	3
3	Russia	3	1	1	1	10	7	+3	3
4	Slovakia	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

7 May

Slovakia

0-1

Czech Republic

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

7 May

Russia

2-4

Switzerland

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

9 May

Czech Republic

3-1

Switzerland

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

9 May

Russia

6-1

Slovakia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

10 May

Czech Republic

2-2

Russia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

10 May

Switzerland

1-1

Slovakia

St. Jakobshalle, Basel

Final round

medal of the tournament

Bracket

	Semifinals						Finals
	12 and 14 May – Zürich
	Sweden	4	7	2
							16 and 17 May – Zürich
	Switzerland	1	2	0
							Sweden	1	0	1
	12 and 14 May – Zürich
							Finland	0	0	0
	Czech Republic	1	2	0
	Finland	4	2	1
							Bronze medal game
							15 May – Zürich
							Czech Republic			4
							Switzerland			0

Semifinals

12 May

Sweden

4–1 (1–0, 0–0, 3–1)

Switzerland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

12 May

Czech Republic

1–4 (1–1, 0–1, 0–2)

Finland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

14 May

Switzerland

2–7 (0–4, 0–1, 2–2)

Sweden

Hallenstadion, Zürich

14 May

Finland

2–2 (0–0, 0–1, 2–1)

Czech Republic

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Match for third place

15 May

Czech Republic

4–0 (0–0, 3–0, 1–0)

Switzerland

Hallenstadion, Zürich

Final

16 May

Finland

0–1 (0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Sweden

Hallenstadion, Zürich Attendance: 9,300

	Ari Sulander	Goalies	Tommy Salo	Referee: Alex Dell
	0–1 50:07 − Johan Tornberg

---

17 May

Sweden

0–0 (0–0, 0–0, 0–0)

Finland

Hallenstadion, Zürich Attendance: 12,500

	Tommy Salo	Goalies	Ari Sulander

Ranking and statistics

1998 IIHF World Championship winners
Sweden 7th title

Tournament Awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Ari Sulander
  • Best Defenceman: František Kučera
  • Best Forward: Peter Forsberg
• Media All-Star Team:
  • Goaltender: Tommy Salo
  • Defence: Jere Karalahti, František Kučera
  • Forwards: Peter Forsberg, Ville Peltonen, Mats Sundin

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

	Sweden
	Finland
	Czech Republic
4	Switzerland
5	Russia
6	Canada
7	Slovakia
8	Belarus
9	Latvia
10	Italy
11	Germany
12	United States
13	France
14	Japan
15	Austria
16	Kazakhstan

Places eleven through sixteen were not relegated but had to play in qualifying tournaments for inclusion in the 1999 championship.

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Peter Forsberg	7	6	5	11	+9	0	F
Mats Sundin	10	5	6	11	+13	6	F
Raimo Helminen	10	2	9	11	0	0	F
Ville Peltonen	10	4	6	10	0	8	F
Radek Bělohlav	9	6	3	9	+7	2	F
Pavel Patera	9	6	3	9	+6	12	F
Viktor Kozlov	6	4	5	9	+5	0	F
Sergei Berezin	6	6	2	8	+2	2	F
Oleg Znaroks	6	5	3	8	+4	2	F
Mikael Renberg	10	5	3	8	+6	6	F

Source: quanthockey.com

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list.

Player	MIP	GA	GAA	SVS%	SO
Tommy Salo	540	7	0.78	.959	3
Ari Sulander	477	10	1.26	.956	2
Mike Rosati	299	8	1.61	.950	1
Milan Hnilička	430	10	1.40	.940	2
François Gravel	94	4	2.55	.938	0

Source: quanthockey.com

IIHF honors and awards

The 1998 IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony has held in Zürich during the World Championships. Wolf-Dieter Montag of Germany was given the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.^[3]

IIHF Hall of Fame inductees

• Canada: W. A. Hewitt,^[4] Marshall Johnston,^[5] Terry O'Malley,^[5] Harry Watson^[4]
• Czech Republic: Karel Gut,^[6] Jiří Holeček^[7]
• Finland: Pekka Marjamäki^[8]
• France: Jacques Lacarrière^[9]
• Germany: Gustav Jaenecke,^[10] Xaver Unsinn^[11]
• Great Britain: Carl Erhardt^[12]
• Latvia: Helmuts Balderis^[13]
• Romania: Eduard Pană^[14]
• Russia: Anatoli Firsov,^[15] Valeri Kharlamov,^[15] Viktor Tikhonov,^[15] Valeri Vasiliev^[15]
• Slovakia: Vladimír Dzurilla,^[16] Jozef Golonka^[17]
• Sweden: Lasse Björn,^[18] Håkan Loob,^[19] Börje Salming,^[20] Arne Strömberg^[21]
• Switzerland: Ferdinand Cattini,^[22] Hans Cattini,^[22] Cesar Lüthi^[23]
• United States: Bill Christian,^[24] Jack McCartan,^[25] Robert Ridder,^[26] John P. Riley Jr.^[27]

See also

• 1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships