2018 IIHF World Championship

The 2018 IIHF World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament hosted by the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Herning, held from 4 to 20 May 2018. The IIHF announced the winning bid on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus.^[1][2] South Korea made its debut at the World Championship, having played in the lower divisions previously.^[3]

2018 IIHF World Championship

IIHF Verdensmesterskabet 2018 (in Danish)
Tournament details
Host country	Denmark
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	4–20 May
Opened by	Margrethe II
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Sweden (11th title)
Runner-up	Switzerland
Third place	United States
Fourth place	Canada
Tournament statistics
Games played	64
Goals scored	384 (6 per game)
Attendance	520,481 (8,133 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Patrick Kane (20 points)
Awards
MVP	Patrick Kane
← 2017 2019 →

Main article: 2018 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

Sweden went undefeated at the tournament to win their second consecutive and eleventh overall title after defeating Switzerland in the final.^[4] The United States won the bronze medal game, defeating Canada 4–1.

The official mascot of the tournament was a swan,^[5] inspired by the Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale about The Ugly Duckling.^[6]

Bids

There were two bids to host this championship.^[7]

• Denmark
  • Copenhagen/Herning

Denmark is the only top-ranked IIHF country that has never hosted the tournament. The proposed arenas were the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning.^[2] Both arenas have a capacity of around 12,000 for hockey games.^[8]

• Latvia
  • Riga

Latvia hosted the IIHF World Championship in 2006. The proposed arenas were Arena Riga, and a secondary venue to be built.^[2]

The decision was announced on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus. The final tally was 95-12 in favor of Denmark.^[1][2]

Venues

Copenhagen	Copenhagen Herning	Herning
Royal Arena		Jyske Bank Boxen
Capacity: 12,500		Capacity: 12,000

Qualified teams

Mascot: Duckly

Qualified as host

•  Denmark

Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2017 IIHF World Championship

•  Belarus
•  Canada
•  Czech Republic
•  Finland
•  France
•  Germany
•  Latvia
•  Norway
•  Russia
•  Slovakia
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  United States

Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2017 IIHF World Championship Division I

•  Austria
•  South Korea

Seeding

The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2017 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2017 IIHF World Championship.^[9]

Denmark and Sweden played in separate groups, Denmark at the Jyske Bank Boxen while Sweden at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.^[10]

Group A  Russia (2)  Sweden (3)  Czech Republic (6)   Switzerland (7)  Belarus (10)  Slovakia (11)  France1 (13)  Austria (16)

Group B  Canada (1)  Finland (4)  United States (5)  Germany (8)  Norway (9)  Latvia (12)  Denmark1 (14)  South Korea (21)

¹ Denmark and France swapped sides so Denmark would not be in the same group as Sweden.

Rosters

Main article: 2018 IIHF World Championship rosters

Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament.

Officials

16 referees and linesman were announced on 21 March 2018.^[11][12]

Referees	Linesmen
Mark Lemelin Oliver Gouin Brett Iverson Jan Hribik Antonín Jeřábek Mikko Kaukokari Aleksi Rantala Gordon Schukies Roman Gofman Konstantin Olenin Tobias Wehrli Jozef Kubuš Linus Öhlund Mikael Sjöqvist Timothy Mayer Stephen Reneau	Dmitri Golyak Dustin McCrank Nathan Vanoosten Miroslav Lhotský Rene Jensen Hannu Sormunen Sakari Suominen Lukas Kohlmüller Jon Kilian Alexander Otmakhov Gleb Lazarev Nicolas Fluri Peter Šefčík Andreas Malmqvist Jake Davis Brian Oliver

Preliminary round

The schedule was released on 8 August 2017.^[13]

Group A

Main article: 2018 IIHF World Championship Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sweden	7	6	1	0	0	31	9	+22	20	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	7	5	0	1	1	32	10	+22	16
3	Czech Republic	7	3	3	0	1	27	15	+12	15
4	Switzerland	7	3	1	1	2	25	19	+6	12
5	Slovakia	7	3	0	2	2	19	20	−1	11
6	France	7	2	0	0	5	13	29	−16	6
7	Austria	7	1	0	1	5	13	30	−17	4
8	Belarus (R)	7	0	0	0	7	8	36	−28	0	Relegation to 2019 Division I A[a]

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. The rules state that "the bottom ranked two teams will be relegated" and the 2019 hosts (Slovakia) cannot be relegated by rule.^[14]

4 May 2018
Russia		7–0		France
Sweden		5–0		Belarus
5 May 2018
Switzerland		3–2 (OT)		Austria
France		6–2		Belarus
Czech Republic		3–2 (OT)		Slovakia
6 May 2018
Austria		0–7		Russia
Sweden		3–2		Czech Republic
Slovakia		0–2		Switzerland
7 May 2018
Belarus		0–6		Russia
Sweden		4–0		France
8 May 2018
Austria		2–4		Slovakia
Czech Republic		5–4 (GWS)		Switzerland
9 May 2018
Switzerland		5–2		Belarus
Sweden		7–0		Austria
10 May 2018
Slovakia		3–1		France
Czech Republic		4–3 (OT)		Russia
11 May 2018
France		5–2		Austria
Belarus		0–3		Czech Republic
12 May 2018
Slovakia		3–4 (OT)		Sweden
Austria		4–0		Belarus
Russia		4–3		Switzerland
13 May 2018
France		0–6		Czech Republic
Switzerland		3–5		Sweden
14 May 2018
Russia		4–0		Slovakia
Czech Republic		4–3		Austria
15 May 2018
Switzerland		5–1		France
Belarus		4–7		Slovakia
Russia		1–3		Sweden

Group B

Main article: 2018 IIHF World Championship Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Finland	7	5	0	1	1	38	11	+27	16[a]	Quarterfinals
2	United States	7	4	2	0	1	39	16	+23	16[a]
3	Canada	7	4	1	1	1	32	12	+20	15
4	Latvia	7	3	1	2	1	16	16	0	13
5	Denmark (H)	7	3	1	0	3	13	17	−4	11
6	Germany	7	1	1	2	3	16	20	−4	7
7	Norway	7	1	1	1	4	13	31	−18	6
8	South Korea (R)	7	0	0	0	7	4	48	−44	0	Relegation to 2019 Division I A

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Finland 6–2 United States

4 May 2018
United States		5–4 (GWS)		Canada
Germany		2–3 (GWS)		Denmark
5 May 2018
Norway		2–3 (OT)		Latvia
Finland		8–1		South Korea
Denmark		0–4		United States
6 May 2018
South Korea		0–10		Canada
Germany		4–5 (GWS)		Norway
Latvia		1–8		Finland
7 May 2018
United States		3–0		Germany
Canada		7–1		Denmark
8 May 2018
South Korea		0–5		Latvia
Finland		7–0		Norway
9 May 2018
Germany		6–1		South Korea
Finland		2–3		Denmark
10 May 2018
United States		3–2 (OT)		Latvia
Norway		0–5		Canada
11 May 2018
Denmark		3–0		Norway
United States		13–1		South Korea
12 May 2018
Latvia		3–1		Germany
Denmark		3–1		South Korea
Canada		1–5		Finland
13 May 2018
Norway		3–9		United States
Germany		3–2 (OT)		Finland
14 May 2018
South Korea		0–3		Norway
Canada		2–1 (OT)		Latvia
15 May 2018
Finland		6–2		United States
Canada		3–0		Germany
Latvia		1–0		Denmark

Playoff round

Main article: 2018 IIHF World Championship playoff round

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	17 May
	Sweden	3
					19 May
	Latvia	2
					Sweden	6
	17 May
					United States	0
	United States	3
									20 May
	Czech Republic	2
									Sweden (GWS)	3
	17 May
									Switzerland	2
	Russia	4
					19 May
	Canada (OT)	5
					Canada	2
	17 May
					Switzerland	3			Third place
	Finland	2
									20 May
	Switzerland	3
									United States	4
									Canada	1

Quarterfinals

17 May 2018 16:15

Russia

4–5 OT (0–1, 2–1, 2–2) (OT: 0–1)

Canada

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 9,017

Game reference
	Igor Shestyorkin	Goalies	Darcy Kuemper	Referees: Mark Lemelin Aleksi Rantala Linesmen: Brian Oliver Hannu Sormunen
	0–1 04:45 – Parayko (McDavid, Eberle) (PP) 0–2 31:51 – Nugent-Hopkins (McDavid, Parayko) (PP) Mikheyev (Anisimov, Zaitsev) – 32:53 1–2 Barabanov (Dadonov) (EA) – 37:32 2–2 2–3 47:11 – Turris (Schwartz) Andronov (Zaitsev, Soshnikov) – 48:44 3–3 3–4 52:36 – Dubois (Jost) Anisimov (Grigorenko, Zaitsev) – 54:34 4–4 4–5 64:57 – O'Reilly (McDavid, Ekblad) (PP)
	8 min	Penalties	2 min
	30	Shots	41

17 May 2018 16:15

United States

3–2 (2–0, 0–2, 1–0)

Czech Republic

Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 4,846

Game reference
	Keith Kinkaid	Goalies	Pavel Francouz	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Jozef Kubuš Linesmen: Dustin McCrank Sakari Suominen
	Kane (Ryan) – 10:36 1–0 Atkinson (Bonino, Gaudreau) – 12:19 2–0 2–1 24:56 – Řepík (Faksa, Gudas) 2–2 30:55 – Nečas (Pastrňák, Hronek) (PP) Kane (Ryan) – 46:58 3–2
	10 min	Penalties	2 min
	31	Shots	26

17 May 2018 20:15

Sweden

3–2 (0–0, 1–1, 2–1)

Latvia

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 12,490

Game reference
	Anders Nilsson	Goalies	Elvis Merzļikins	Referees: Timothy Mayer Konstantin Olenin Linesmen: Lukas Kohlmüller Alexander Otmakhov
	Forsberg (Kempe, Ekman-Larsson) – 26:36 1–0 1–1 31:59 – Bļugers (Ri. Bukarts) Arvidsson (Ekholm) – 41:49 2–1 Ekman-Larsson (Kempe, Rakell) (PP) – 46:27 3–1 3–2 50:21 – Balcers (Ķēniņš)
	10 min	Penalties	2 min
	34	Shots	24

17 May 2018 20:15

Finland

2–3 (1–0, 0–3, 1–0)

Switzerland

Jyske Bank Boxen, Herning Attendance: 5,634

Game reference
	Harri Säteri	Goalies	Leonardo Genoni	Referees: Antonín Jeřábek Stephen Reneau Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev Miroslav Lhotský
	Nutivaara (Koivisto, Rantanen) – 07:01 1–0 1–1 29:13 – Corvi (Fiala, Niederreiter) 1–2 32:32 – Vermin (Meier) 1–3 33:08 – Hofmann (Moser, Fora) Rantanen (Savinainen, Aho) (PP) – 48:20 2–3
	0 min	Penalties	8 min
	34	Shots	27

Semifinals

19 May 2018 15:15

Sweden

6–0 (1–0, 3–0, 2–0)

United States

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 12,490

Game reference
	Anders Nilsson	Goalies	Keith Kinkaid	Referees: Roman Gofman Oliver Gouin Linesmen: Dustin McCrank Nathan Vanoosten
	Arvidsson (De la Rose, Forsberg) – 14:43 1–0 Pääjärvi (Backlund) (SH) – 27:09 2–0 Hörnqvist (Backlund, Klingberg) (PP) – 30:05 3–0 Janmark-Nylén (Rakell) – 30:16 4–0 Arvidsson (Zibanejad) (ENG) – 51:07 5–0 Kempe (Backlund) – 57:01 6–0
	14 min	Penalties	6 min
	20	Shots	41

19 May 2018 19:15

Canada

2–3 (0–1, 1–1, 1–1)

Switzerland

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 12,166

Game reference
	Darcy Kuemper	Goalies	Leonardo Genoni	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Jozef Kubuš Linesmen: Miroslav Lhotský Brian Oliver
	0–1 18:41 – Scherwey (Untersander, Kukan) Horvat (Dubois, Pageau) – 27:20 1–1 1–2 29:40 – Hofmann (Fiala, Andrighetto) (PP) 1–3 44:14 – Haas (Andrighetto, Diaz) (PP) Parayko (McDavid, Schenn) (EA) – 57:53 2–3
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	45	Shots	17

Bronze medal game

20 May 2018 15:45

United States

4–1 (0–0, 1–1, 3–0)

Canada

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 12,111

Game reference
	Keith Kinkaid	Goalies	Curtis McElhinney	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Jozef Kubuš Linesmen: Miroslav Lhotský Sakari Suominen
	Kreider (Larkin, DeBrincat) (PP) – 26:40 1–0 1–1 38:06 – Vlasic (Horvat, Turris) Bonino (Kane) (PP) – 53:21 2–1 Lee (McAvoy) (ENG) – 57:45 3–1 Kreider (ENG) – 58:18 4–1
	4 min	Penalties	14 min
	37	Shots	25

Gold medal game

20 May 2018 20:15 (UTC+2)

Sweden

3–2 GWS (1–1, 1–1, 0–0) (OT: 0–0) (SO: 1–0)

Switzerland

Royal Arena, Copenhagen Attendance: 12,490

Game reference
	Anders Nilsson	Goalies	Leonardo Genoni	Referees: Roman Gofman Oliver Gouin Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev Nathan Vanoosten
	0–1 16:38 – Niederreiter (Josi, Fiala) Nyquist (Ekholm) – 17:54 1–1 1–2 23:13 – Meier (Corvi, Josi) (PP) Zibanejad (Ekman-Larsson) (PP) – 34:53 2–2
	Zibanejad Rakell Ekman-Larsson Forsberg	Shootout	Andrighetto Fiala Corvi Haas Niederreiter
	4 min	Penalties	10 min
	38	Shots	27

Final ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	A	Sweden	10	8	2	0	0	43	13	+30	28	Champions
2	A	Switzerland	10	5	1	2	2	33	26	+7	19	Runners-up
3	B	United States	10	6	2	0	2	46	25	+21	22	Third place
4	B	Canada	10	4	2	1	3	40	23	+17	17	Fourth place
5	B	Finland	8	5	0	1	2	40	14	+26	16	Eliminated in Quarter-finals
6	A	Russia	8	5	0	2	1	36	15	+21	17
7	A	Czech Republic	8	3	3	0	2	29	18	+11	15
8	B	Latvia	8	3	1	2	2	18	19	−1	13
9	A	Slovakia	7	3	0	2	2	19	20	−1	11	Eliminated in Group stage
10	B	Denmark (H)	7	3	1	0	3	13	17	−4	11
11	B	Germany	7	1	1	2	3	16	20	−4	7
12	A	France	7	2	0	0	5	13	29	−16	6
13	B	Norway	7	1	1	1	4	13	31	−18	6
14	A	Austria	7	1	0	1	5	13	30	−17	4
15	A	Belarus	7	0	0	0	7	8	36	−28	0	2019 IIHF World Championship Division I
16	B	South Korea	7	0	0	0	7	4	48	−44	0

Source: IIHF.com
Rules for classification: 1) position in the group; 2) number of points; 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) seeding before tournament.^[15][16]
(H) Host

Scoring leaders

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

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Patrick Kane	10	8	12	20	−2	0	F
Sebastian Aho	8	9	9	18	+15	2	F
Connor McDavid	10	5	12	17	+6	10	F
Rickard Rakell	10	6	8	14	+7	6	F
Teuvo Teräväinen	8	5	9	14	+14	8	F
Cam Atkinson	10	7	4	11	−3	2	F
Mika Zibanejad	10	6	5	11	+10	0	F
Mikko Rantanen	8	5	6	11	+1	6	F
Mattias Janmark	10	4	6	10	+8	8	F
Chris Kreider	10	4	6	10	+7	2	F

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position
Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders

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

Player	TOI	GA	GAA	SA	Sv%	SO
Anders Nilsson	440:00	8	1.09	174	95.40	3
Frederik Andersen	362:56	10	1.65	178	94.38	1
Igor Shestyorkin	204:57	5	1.46	86	94.19	2
Elvis Merzļikins	360:35	9	1.50	151	94.04	2
Harri Säteri	298:31	7	1.41	114	93.86	1

TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

Awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Frederik Andersen
  • Best Defenceman: John Klingberg
  • Best Forward: Sebastian Aho

Source: IIHF.com

• Media All-Stars:
  • MVP: Patrick Kane
  • Goaltender: Anders Nilsson
  • Defencemen: Adam Larsson / Oliver Ekman-Larsson
  • Forwards: Rickard Rakell / Patrick Kane / Sebastian Aho

Source: IIHF.com

IIHF honors and awards

The 2018 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees and award recipients were honored during the World Championship medal ceremonies in Copenhagen.^[17]

IIHF Hall of Fame inductees

• Daniel Alfredsson, Sweden^[18]
• Rob Blake, Canada^[19]
• Chris Chelios, United States^[20]
• Philippe Lacarrière, France^[21]
• Jere Lehtinen, Finland^[22]
• Bob Nadin, Canada^[19]

Award recipients

• Kirovs Lipmans of Latvia received the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.^[23]
• Jesper Damgaard of Denmark received the Torriani Award for a player with an outstanding career from non-top hockey nation.^[24]