2019 IIHF World Championship

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]

2019 IIHF World Championship

Majstrovstvá sveta v ľadovom hokeji 2019 (in Slovak)
Tournament details
Host country	Slovakia
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	10–26 May
Opened by	Andrej Kiska
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Finland (3rd title)
Runners-up	Canada
Third place	Russia
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played	64
Goals scored	412 (6.44 per game)
Attendance	470,853 (7,357 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	William Nylander (18 points)
Awards
MVP	Mark Stone
← 2018 2020 (cancelled) →

Main article: 2019 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

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.

Venues

Bratislava	Košice Bratislava		Košice
Ondrej Nepela Arena			Steel Arena
48°08′38″N 17°06′35″E			48°43′16″N 21°15′27″E
Capacity: 10,055[4]			Capacity: 8,347[4]

Rule changes

In December 2018, the IIHF announced changes to the overtime procedures beginning at this tournament: all overtime periods would be 3-on-3 regardless of round (rather than progressing from 3-on-3 to 4-on-4 and 5-on-5 over the course of the tournament), and the gold medal game would no longer go to a shootout; play would continue in 20-minute periods of 3-on-3 until a winning goal would be scored.^[5]

In the semifinals, there was no set bracket. After the quarterfinals, a re-seeding took place with the highest seed plays the lowest remaining seed. Seeds were determined by performance in the preliminary round.^[6]

Participants

Macejko, was the mascot for the tournament.

Qualified as host

•  Slovakia

Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2018 IIHF World Championship

•  Austria
•  Canada
•  Czech Republic
•  Denmark
•  Finland
•  France
•  Germany
•  Latvia
•  Norway
•  Russia
•  Sweden
•   Switzerland
•  United States

Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I

•  Great Britain
•  Italy

Seeding

The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2018 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2018 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system. On 22 May 2018, the IIHF and the local organizing committee announced the groups, in which Slovakia and Norway switched places so that Slovakia would play in Košice and the Czech Republic and Austria would play in Bratislava.^[7]

Group A (Košice)  Canada (1)  United States (4)  Finland (5)  Germany (8)  Slovakia (10)  Denmark (12)  France (13)  Great Britain (22)

Group B (Bratislava)  Sweden (2)  Russia (3)  Czech Republic (6)   Switzerland (7)  Norway (9)  Latvia (11)  Austria (17)  Italy (19)

Rosters

Main article: 2019 IIHF World Championship rosters

Each team's roster consists 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 the tournament.

Officials

16 referees and linesman were announced on 1 March 2019.^[8][9]

Referees	Linesmen
Manuel Nikolic Maxim Sidorenko Oliver Gouin Brett Iverson Jan Hribik Martin Fraňo Mikko Kaukokari Aleksi Rantala Gordon Schukies Roman Gofman Yevgeni Romasko Peter Stano Linus Öhlund Tobias Bjork Stephen Reneau Jeremy Tufts	Dmitri Golyak Dustin McCrank Nathan Vanoosten Jiří Ondráček Miroslav Lhotský Rene Jensen Hannu Sormunen Lauri Nikulainen Andrew Dalton Joep Leermakers Dmitri Shishlo Gleb Lazarev Roman Kaderli Andreas Malmqvist William Hancock Brian Oliver

Preliminary round

The schedule was announced on 15 August 2018.^[10]

Group A

Main article: 2019 IIHF World Championship Group A

Group A matches were played at the Steel Arena in Košice.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Canada	7	6	0	0	1	36	11	+25	18	Quarterfinals
2	Finland	7	5	0	1	1	22	11	+11	16
3	Germany	7	5	0	0	2	18	18	0	15
4	United States	7	4	1	0	2	27	15	+12	14
5	Slovakia (H)	7	3	1	0	3	28	19	+9	11
6	Denmark	7	1	1	1	4	18	23	−5	6
7	Great Britain	7	0	1	0	6	9	41	−32	2[a]
8	France (R)	7	0	0	2	5	14	34	−20	2[a]	Relegation to 2020 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. France 3–4 (OT) Great Britain

10 May 2019
Finland		3–1		Canada
United States		1–4		Slovakia
11 May 2019
Denmark		5–4 (GWS)		France
Germany		3–1		Great Britain
Slovakia		2–4		Finland
12 May 2019
United States		7–1		France
Denmark		1–2		Germany
Great Britain		0–8		Canada
13 May 2019
United States		3–2 (OT)		Finland
Slovakia		5–6		Canada
14 May 2019
Great Britain		0–9		Denmark
Germany		4–1		France
15 May 2019
United States		6–3		Great Britain
Germany		3–2		Slovakia
16 May 2019
Canada		5–2		France
Finland		3–1		Denmark
17 May 2019
France		3–6		Slovakia
Finland		5–0		Great Britain
18 May 2019
Denmark		1–7		United States
Canada		8–1		Germany
Great Britain		1–7		Slovakia
19 May 2019
Germany		1–3		United States
France		0–3		Finland
20 May 2019
France		3–4 (OT)		Great Britain
Canada		5–0		Denmark
21 May 2019
Finland		2–4		Germany
Slovakia		2–1 (GWS)		Denmark
Canada		3–0		United States

Group B

Sweden - Switzerland

Main article: 2019 IIHF World Championship Group B

Group B matches were played at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Russia	7	7	0	0	0	36	7	+29	21	Quarterfinals
2	Czech Republic	7	6	0	0	1	39	14	+25	18
3	Sweden	7	5	0	0	2	41	21	+20	15
4	Switzerland	7	4	0	0	3	27	14	+13	12
5	Latvia	7	3	0	0	4	21	20	+1	9
6	Norway	7	2	0	0	5	19	33	−14	6
7	Italy	7	0	1	0	6	5	48	−43	2
8	Austria (R)	7	0	0	1	6	9	40	−31	1	Relegation to 2020 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.
(R) Relegated

10 May 2019
Russia		5–2		Norway
Czech Republic		5–2		Sweden
11 May 2019
Switzerland		9–0		Italy
Latvia		5–2		Austria
Norway		2–7		Czech Republic
12 May 2019
Russia		5–0		Austria
Italy		0–8		Sweden
Latvia		1–3		Switzerland
13 May 2019
Russia		3–0		Czech Republic
Norway		1–9		Sweden
14 May 2019
Italy		0–3		Latvia
Switzerland		4–0		Austria
15 May 2019
Switzerland		4–1		Norway
Russia		10–0		Italy
16 May 2019
Sweden		9–1		Austria
Czech Republic		6–3		Latvia
17 May 2019
Austria		3–5		Norway
Czech Republic		8–0		Italy
18 May 2019
Latvia		1–3		Russia
Italy		1–7		Norway
Sweden		4–3		Switzerland
19 May 2019
Austria		0–8		Czech Republic
Switzerland		0–3		Russia
20 May 2019
Sweden		5–4		Latvia
Austria		3–4 (GWS)		Italy
21 May 2019
Czech Republic		5–4		Switzerland
Norway		1–4		Latvia
Sweden		4–7		Russia

Playoff round

Main article: 2019 IIHF World Championship playoff round

Seeding order

The semi-final pairings were determined according to the seeding after the preliminary round. The seeding is determined by following criteria in the order presented:^[6]

1. higher position in the group;
2. higher number of points;
3. better goal difference;
4. higher number of goals scored for;
5. better seeding number entering the tournament (i.e., place in the 2018 IIHF World Ranking).

Rank	Team	Grp	Pos	GP	Pts	GD	GF	Seed
1	Russia	B	1	7	21	+29	36	3
2	Canada	A	1	7	18	+25	36	1
3	Czech Republic	B	2	7	18	+25	39	6
4	Finland	A	2	7	16	+11	22	5
5	Sweden	B	3	7	15	+20	41	2
6	Germany	A	3	7	15	0	18	8
7	United States	A	4	7	14	+12	27	4
8	Switzerland	B	4	7	12	+13	27	7

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	23 May
	Canada (OT)	3
					25 May
	Switzerland	2
					Canada	5
	23 May
					Czech Republic	1
	Czech Republic	5
									26 May
	Germany	1
									Canada	1
	23 May
									Finland	3
	Russia	4
					25 May
	United States	3
					Russia	0
	23 May
					Finland	1			Third place
	Finland (OT)	5
									26 May
	Sweden	4
									Russia (GWS)	3
									Czech Republic	2

Quarterfinals

23 May 2019 16:15

Canada

3–2 OT (0–1, 1–1, 1–0) (OT: 1–0)

Switzerland

Steel Aréna, Košice Attendance: 6,157

Game reference
	Matt Murray	Goalies	Leonardo Genoni	Referees: Martin Fraňo Aleksi Rantala Linesmen: Miroslav Lhotský Hannu Sormunen
	0–1 18:06 – Andrighetto (Diaz, Fiala) (PP) Stone (Fabbro, Dubois) – 25:45 1–1 1–2 39:57 – Hischier (Martschini, Niederreiter) (PP) Severson (Stone) (EA) – 59:59 2–2 Stone (Dubois, Theodore) – 65:07 3–2
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	42	Shots	24

23 May 2019 16:15

Russia

4–3 (2–0, 0–1, 2–2)

United States

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Andrei Vasilevskiy	Goalies	Cory Schneider	Referees: Tobias Bjork Oliver Gouin Linesmen: Andreas Malmqvist Jiří Ondráček
	Gusev (Sergachev, Kucherov) – 01:07 1–0 Sergachev (Gusev) (PP) – 15:47 2–0 2–1 22:22 – Skjei (Kane, Gaudreau) Kaprizov (Gusev, Sergachev) – 41:31 3–1 3–2 45:53 – Hanifin (J. Hughes) Grigorenko (Malkin, Dadonov) – 47:02 4–2 4–3 57:10 – DeBrincat (Kane, J. Hughes) (EA)
	2 min	Penalties	2 min
	43	Shots	32

23 May 2019 20:15

Finland

5–4 OT (1–2, 2–2, 1–0) (OT: 1–0)

Sweden

Steel Aréna, Košice Attendance: 6,304

Game reference
	Kevin Lankinen	Goalies	Henrik Lundqvist	Referees: Roman Gofman Brett Iverson Linesmen: William Hancock Dmitri Shishlo
	Mikkola (Pesonen, Manninen) – 01:00 1–0 1–1 02:38 – Klingberg (Nylander, Wennberg) (PP) 1–2 16:57 – Hörnqvist (Ekman-Larsson, Larsson) 1–3 20:25 – E. Pettersson (Landeskog, Ekman-Larsson) Lindbohm (Manninen, Pesonen) – 25:04 2–3 Hakanpää (Manninen) – 29:08 3–3 3–4 39:35 – Gustafsson (Landeskog, Wennberg) Anttila (Ojamäki, Lehtonen) (EA) – 58:31 4–4 Manninen (Lankinen) – 61:37 5–4
	4 min	Penalties	0 min
	32	Shots	18

23 May 2019 20:15

Czech Republic

5–1 (0–0, 1–1, 4–0)

Germany

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Patrik Bartošák	Goalies	Philipp Grubauer	Referees: Linus Öhlund Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Dmitri Golyak Lauri Nikulainen
	Kovář – 33:41 1–0 1–1 37:46 – Mauer (Tiffels) Voráček (Simon) – 44:19 2–1 Kubalík (Kovář, Hronek) – 51:41 3–1 Palát (Kolář) – 53:08 4–1 Kovář (Moravčík) (EN) – 59:54 5–1
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	34	Shots	22

Semifinals

25 May 2019 15:15

Russia

0–1 (0–0, 0–0, 0–1)

Finland

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Andrei Vasilevskiy	Goalies	Kevin Lankinen	Referees: Tobias Bjork Martin Fraňo Linesmen: Brian Oliver Nathan Vanoosten
	0–1 50:18 – Anttila (Jokiharju, Kiviranta)
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	32	Shots	29

25 May 2019 19:15

Canada

5–1 (1–0, 2–0, 2–1)

Czech Republic

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Matt Murray	Goalies	Patrik Bartošák Pavel Francouz	Referees: Mikko Kaukokari Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev Hannu Sormunen
	Stone (Stecher) – 05:18 1–0 Nurse (Couturier) – 20:10 2–0 Dubois (Marchessault, Stone) – 25:06 3–0 Turris (Mantha) – 46:26 4–0 Chabot (Henrique, Strome) – 53:00 5–0 5–1 53:59 – Zohorna (Kolář)
	12 min	Penalties	6 min
	30	Shots	41

Bronze medal game

26 May 2019 15:45

Russia

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

Czech Republic

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Andrei Vasilevskiy	Goalies	Šimon Hrubec	Referees: Oliver Gouin Mikko Kaukokari Linesmen: Andreas Malmqvist Brian Oliver
	Grigorenko (Sergachev) – 13:00 1–0 1–1 13:41 – Řepík (Sklenička, Rutta) 1–2 18:34 – Kubalík (Kovář, Gulaš) Anisimov (Gusev) – 20:39 2–2
	Kovalchuk Kucherov Gusev	Shootout	Vrána Kubalík Kovář Hronek
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	31	Shots	50

Gold medal game

Main article: 2019 IIHF World Championship Final

26 May 2019 20:15 (UTC+2)

Canada

1–3 (1–0, 0–1, 0–2)

Finland

Ondrej Nepela Arena, Bratislava Attendance: 9,085

Game reference
	Matt Murray	Goalies	Kevin Lankinen	Referees: Tobias Björk Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Gleb Lazarev Miroslav Lhotský
	Theodore (Mantha, McCann) – 10:02 1–0 1–1 22:35 – Anttila (Manninen, Ojamäki) (PP) 1–2 42:35 – Anttila (Savinainen) 1–3 55:54 – Pesonen (Tyrväinen, Hakanpää)
	6 min	Penalties	8 min
	44	Shots	22

Final ranking and statistics

Celebrations of the 2019 IIHF World Championship victory at Helsinki Market Square, Finland

Final ranking

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	A	Finland	10	7	1	1	1	31	16	+15	24	Champions
2	A	Canada	10	7	1	0	2	45	17	+28	23	Runners-up
3	B	Russia	10	8	1	0	1	43	13	+30	26	Third place
4	B	Czech Republic	10	7	0	1	2	47	23	+24	22	Fourth place
5	B	Sweden	8	5	0	1	2	45	26	+19	16	Eliminated in Quarter-finals
6	A	Germany	8	5	0	0	3	19	23	−4	15
7	A	United States	8	4	1	0	3	30	19	+11	14
8	B	Switzerland	8	4	0	1	3	29	17	+12	13
9	A	Slovakia (H)	7	3	1	0	3	28	19	+9	11	Eliminated in Group stage
10	B	Latvia	7	3	0	0	4	21	20	+1	9
11	A	Denmark	7	1	1	1	4	18	23	−5	6
12	B	Norway	7	2	0	0	5	19	33	−14	6
13	A	Great Britain	7	0	1	0	6	9	41	−32	2
14	B	Italy	7	0	1	0	6	5	48	−43	2
15	A	France	7	0	0	2	5	14	34	−20	2	2020 IIHF World Championship Division I
16	B	Austria	7	0	0	1	6	9	40	−31	1

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) position in the group; 2) number of points; 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) seeding before tournament.^[11][12]
(H) Host

Scoring leaders

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

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
William Nylander	8	5	13	18	+16	0	F
Nikita Kucherov	10	6	10	16	+11	4	F
Nikita Gusev	10	4	12	16	+12	0	F
Jakub Voráček	10	4	12	16	+10	2	F
Mark Stone	10	8	6	14	+10	0	F
Anthony Mantha	9	7	7	14	+9	16	F
Michael Frolík	10	7	7	14	+8	2	F
Dominik Kubalík	10	6	6	12	+10	0	F
Dominik Simon	10	4	8	12	+10	2	F
Patrick Kane	8	2	10	12	0	4	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
Andrei Vasilevskiy	488:02	13	1.60	240	94.58	2
Kevin Lankinen	480:41	12	1.50	207	94.20	2
Mathias Niederberger	237:14	7	1.77	120	94.17	0
Leonardo Genoni	241:30	8	1.99	129	93.80	0
Sebastian Dahm	307:18	10	1.95	138	92.75	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: Andrei Vasilevskiy
  • Best Defenceman: Filip Hronek
  • Best Forward: Nikita Kucherov

Source: IIHF.com

• Media All-Stars:
  • MVP: Mark Stone
  • Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy
  • Defencemen: Filip Hronek / Mikko Lehtonen
  • Forwards: Mark Stone / William Nylander / Jakub Voráček

Source: IIHF.com

IIHF honors and awards

The 2019 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees and award recipients were honored during the World Championship medal ceremonies in Bratislava.^[13]

IIHF Hall of Fame inductees

• Boris Aleksandrov, Kazakhstan^[14]
• Jörgen Jönsson, Sweden^[15]
• Mike Modano, United States^[16]
• Žigmund Pálffy, Slovakia^[17]
• Miroslav Šatan, Slovakia^[17]
• Hayley Wickenheiser, Canada^[18]

Award recipients

• Jim Johannson of the United States received the Paul Loicq Award posthumously for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.^[13]
• Konstantin Mihailov of Bulgaria received the Torriani Award for a player with an outstanding career from non-top hockey nation.^[19]