1954 Ice Hockey World Championships

Description

The USSR won their first five games before meeting up with the host, and defending champion, Sweden. Sweden, having already lost 8-0 to Canada, desperately needed to beat the Soviets, but settled for a 1–1 tie. The final game of the tournament pitted the East York Lyndhursts, representing Canada, against the USSR, both teams being undefeated. Tournament organizers believed the Canadians would cruise to their seventh straight win and had begun to sell tickets for a planned tie-breaking game between the Soviets and Swedes to determine the European Championship. However the Soviets "appeared to pass too much, check too little, and skate too fast" and "thoroughly dominated" in a 7–2 win before 16,000 fans.

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) president W. B. George stated that the final game was the worst he had seen the Lyndhursts play and that they seemed afraid of being penalized. The CAHA was heavily criticized by media in Canada for the failure to win the World Championships, and writer Michael McKinley stated the loss was a "day of reckoning" and a symbol of what went wrong with the CAHA's international strategy, and the beginning of a hockey rivalry with the Soviet Union.

Beginning with this year the IIHF began giving out official awards (known as the "directorate awards") to the best forward, defensemen, and goaltender, of the tournament.

In 2013, the Soviet national team was awarded the IIHF Milestone Award for winning the gold medal, which was their country's first appearance at the World Championships and the beginning of a rivalry versus Canada.

Final round

Standings

Team members

;

• Nikolai Puchkov
• Grigori Mkrtychan
• Alfred Kuchevsky
• Dmitri Ukolov
• Alexander Vinogradov
• Genrikh Sidorenkov
• Vsevolod Bobrov
• Viktor Shuvalov
• Alexei Guryshev
• Yuri Krylov
• Mikhail Bychkov
• Alexander Uvarov
• Valentin Kusin
• Yevgeni Babich
• Nikolai Khlystov
• Alexander Komarov

Tournament awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: CAN Don Lockhart
  • Best Defenceman: SWE Lasse Björn
  • Best Forward: URS Vsevolod Bobrov

European Championships final rankings

Citations

References

• Complete results

References

1. Duplacey P. 503
2. [http://www.passionhockey.com/hockeyarchives/mondial1954.htm Tournament summary]
3. MacKenzie, Arch. (March 10, 1954). "Russians No Supermen Says C.A.H.A. President". Winnipeg Tribune.
4. McKinley, Michael. (2014). "It's Our Game: Celebrating 100 Years Of Hockey Canada". [[Viking Press]].
5. Podnieks p.30
6. (19 May 2013). "Canada's Paul Henderson, Danielle Goyette enter IIHF Hall of Fame". [[CBC Sports]].