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1981 Ice Hockey World Championships

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1981 Ice Hockey World Championships
Tournament details
Host country	Sweden
Venue(s)	1 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	12–26 April 1981
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (17th title)
Runner-up	Sweden
Third place	Czechoslovakia
Fourth place	Canada
Tournament statistics
Games played	32
Goals scored	288 (9 per game)
Attendance	171,675 (5,365 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Holger Meitinger 20 points
← 1979 1982 →

The 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Sweden between 12 and 26 April 1981, with games being played in the arenas of Scandinavium in Gothenburg and Johanneshovs isstadion in Stockholm. Eight teams took part, first splitting into two groups of four, with the best two from each group advancing to the final group. These teams then play each other in the final round. This was the 47th World Championships, and also the 58th European Championships. The Soviet Union became World Champions for the 17th time, and also won their 20th European title. Don Cherry commented, "This is the best Russian team I've ever seen."^[1]

The Dutch team had won Group C and Group B in successive years to play in this tournament, but did not fare well. Their best game was a narrow one goal loss to the Americans, a goal scored on a penalty shot by Dave Christian with eleven seconds left.^[1] It was their first appearance at the top level since 1950 and they have not returned since.^[2]

World Championship Group A (Sweden)

First round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	3	3	0	0	25	4	+21	6
2	Canada	3	2	0	1	14	12	+2	4
3	Finland	3	1	0	2	16	14	+2	2
4	Netherlands	3	0	0	3	5	30	−25	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

12 April

4–3

12 April

10–1

13 April

8–1

13 April

7–1

15 April

8–2

15 April

12–3

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	3	2	1	0	20	7	+13	5
2	Sweden	3	2	1	0	11	7	+4	5
3	United States	3	1	0	2	14	21	−7	2
4	West Germany	3	0	0	3	10	20	−10	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

12 April

11–2

12 April

4–2

14 April

4–2

14 April

6–2

15 April

3–3

15 April

10–6

Final round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	6	4	2	0	38	12	+26	10
2	Sweden	6	3	1	2	16	26	−10	7
3	Czechoslovakia	6	2	2	2	20	22	−2	6
4	Canada	6	0	1	5	16	30	−14	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

18 April

7–4

18 April

4–1

20 April

3–1

20 April

8–3

22 April

4–4

22 April

4–2

24 April

4–2

24 April

13–1

26 April

4–3

26 April

1–1

Consolation round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	United States	6	4	1	1	35	28	+7	9
6	Finland	6	3	2	1	33	21	+12	8
7	West Germany	6	3	1	2	40	30	+10	7
8	Netherlands	6	0	0	6	22	51	−29	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

The Netherlands were relegated to Group B.

17 April

7–6

17 April

6–3

19 April

9–2

19 April

6–4

21 April

6–2

21 April

4–2

23 April

7–3

23 April

4–4

25 April

12–6

25 April

3–3

World Championship Group B (Italy)

Played in Urtijëi 20–29 March. The hosts went undefeated to win, led by former Pittsburgh Penguin and Edmonton Oiler Wayne Bianchin and backstopped by former Oiler Jim Corsi.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	Italy	7	6	1	0	38	18	+20	13
10	Poland	7	5	1	1	49	25	+24	11
11	Switzerland	7	4	2	1	28	20	+8	10
12	East Germany	7	4	1	2	37	25	+12	9
13	Romania	7	2	0	5	25	30	−5	4
14	Norway	7	2	0	5	21	39	−18	4
15	Yugoslavia	7	1	1	5	23	44	−21	3
16	Japan	7	1	0	6	18	38	−20	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Italy was promoted to Group A, both Yugoslavia and Japan were relegated to Group C.

20 March

4–3

20 March

5–6

20 March

5–2

20 March

6–4

21 March

3–3

21 March

0–2

21 March

11–3

21 March

3–2

23 March

1–6

23 March

13–4

23 March

7–3

23 March

4–2

24 March

2–11

24 March

3–2

24 March

6–1

24 March

2–1

26 March

4–4

26 March

5–1

26 March

6–3

26 March

4–1

28 March

6–2

28 March

8–3

28 March

3–7

28 March

9–2

29 March

4–8

29 March

3–7

29 March

4–3

29 March

6–6

World Championship Group C (China PR)

Played in Beijing 6–15 March.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Austria	7	7	0	0	43	5	+38	14
18	China	7	6	0	1	46	14	+32	12
19	Hungary	7	4	1	2	38	22	+16	9
20	Denmark	7	3	1	3	36	27	+9	7
21	France	7	3	0	4	48	36	+12	6
22	Bulgaria	7	3	0	4	22	32	−10	6
23	North Korea	7	1	0	6	18	66	−48	2
24	Great Britain	7	0	0	7	11	60	−49	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Both Austria and China were promoted to Group B.

6 March

10–0

6 March

8–0

6 March

7–0

6 March

5–1

7 March

2–11

7 March

6–2

7 March

5–9

7 March

7–0

9 March

10–3

9 March

4–6

9 March

1–7

9 March

12–2

10 March

11–6

10 March

2–9

10 March

2–13

10 March

0–3

12 March

4–2

12 March

17–1

12 March

4–2

12 March

3–1

13 March

10–3

13 March

1–5

13 March

2–2

13 March

5–0

15 March

7–2

15 March

1–6

15 March

3–5

15 March

10–2

Ranking and statistics

1981 IIHF World Championship winners
Soviet Union 17th title

Tournament Awards

Best players selected by the directorate:
- Best Goaltender: Peter Lindmark
- Best Defenceman: Larry Robinson
- Best Forward: Alexander Maltsev
Media All-Star Team:
- Goaltender: Peter Lindmark
- Defence: Larry Robinson, Valeri Vasiliev
- Forwards: Sergei Kapustin, Sergei Makarov, Alexander Maltsev

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

	Soviet Union
	Sweden
	Czechoslovakia
4	Canada
5	United States
6	Finland
7	West Germany
8	Netherlands

European championships final standings

The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:

	Soviet Union
	Sweden
	Czechoslovakia
4	Finland
5	West Germany
6	Netherlands

Fanfare of the Championships

The fanfare for the Championships was written by Benny Andersson (from ABBA) in 1981. It was later used as the jingle/opening theme for the television special Dick Cavett Meets ABBA aired later in 1981. Reference - Palm, Carl Magnus: ABBA - The Complete Recordings Sessions, page 106. Verulam Publishing Ltd (13 October 1994). ISBN 0-907938-10-8. ISBN 978-0-907938-10-1.

Citations

^ ^a ^b Summary
^ Ponieks page 95

References

Complete results
Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. pp. 498–528. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. p. 148.
To hear the Fanfare of the Championships

External links

IIHF World Ice Hockey Championships at SVT's open archive (including the 1981 tournament) (in Swedish)

Ice Hockey World Championships

Current champions (2024): Czechia

2024 Championship
teams

Tournaments

Championships
(Top Division)

Editions	Switzerland 1998 Norway 1999 Russia 2000 Germany 2001 Sweden 2002 Finland 2003 Czech Republic 2004 Austria 2005 Latvia 2006 Russia 2007 Canada 2008 Switzerland 2009 Germany 2010 Slovakia 2011 Finland / Sweden 2012 Sweden / Finland 2013 Belarus 2014 Czech Republic 2015 Russia 2016 Germany / France 2017 Denmark 2018 Slovakia 2019 ~~Switzerland 2020~~ Latvia 2021 Finland 2022 Finland / Latvia 2023 Czechia 2024 Sweden / Denmark 2025 Switzerland 2026 Germany 2027 France 2028
Finals	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022 2023 2024
Rosters	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 ~~2020~~ 2021 2022 2023 2024

~~2020~~
~~2021~~
2022
2023
2024
2025

IIHF Ice Hockey European Championships

Medals were awarded to the best European participants of the World Championships or Olympic Games (marked in italics).

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