The 1974 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 41st

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

and the 52nd

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in ice hockey. The tournament took place in Finland from 5 to 20 April and the games were played in the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

, Helsinki. Six teams took part in the main tournament, all playing each other twice. The Soviet Union won the world championships for the 13th time, and also won their 16th European title. The event was the second Ice Hockey World Championships hosted by Finland, and was organized by

Harry Lindblad Harry Gustaf Lindblad (30 July 1912 – 2 February 1984) was a Finnish ice hockey administrator, coach and player. He served as the Finnish Ice Hockey Association president for 18 years, after five years as its vice-president. During this time, ...

, president of the

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association ( fi, Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto, sv, Finlands Ishockeyförbund) is the governing body of ice hockey in Finland. In 1927, the Finnish Skating Association introduced ice hockey as part of its program and, throu ...

. For the first time in ice hockey World Championship history, two players were suspended for doping. They were the Swede Ulf Nilsson and the Finn

Stig Wetzell Stig Wetzell (born October 7, 1945 in Vaasa, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for HJK and HIFK. Playing career Stig Wetzell started his SM-liiga career in 1967. He played in SM-liiga fo ...

who failed a drug test for the forbidden substance ephedrine. Both players were suspended for the rest of the tournament. Nilsson failed the test after Sweden's game against Poland, which Sweden won 4–1. The game was awarded to Poland as a 5–0 forfeit. The Finn, Wetzell, failed the test after Finland's match against Czechoslovakia, which Finland won 5–2, which was also awarded to Czechoslovakia as a 5–0 forfeit. The Finns were able to defeat Czechoslovakia again on the last day, which would have earned the Finns their first medal in history, if not for the points lost in the forfeited win.

World Championship Group A (Finland)

''East Germany were very unlucky to be relegated to Group B, as Poland's only win was the awarded default for a doping violation against Sweden.''

World Championship Group B (Yugoslavia)

Played in Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana, SR Slovenia,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Y ...

21–30 March. ''The USA was promoted to Group A, and both Norway and Austria were relegated to Group C.''

World Championship Group C (France)

Played in Grenoble, Gap and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

, 8–17 March. This was North Korea's first World Championship. ''Switzerland and Italy were promoted to Group B.''

Ranking and statistics

Tournament Awards

*Best players selected by the directorate: **Best Goaltender:

Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Considered ...

**Best Defenceman:

Lars-Erik Sjöberg Lars-Erik "Taxen" Sjöberg (4 May 1944 in Falun, Sweden – 20 October 1987 in Uppsala, Sweden) was a Swedish ice hockey defenceman. He played in Sweden from 1962 to 1974 (Leksands IF 1962–65 and 1967–69, Djurgårdens IF Hockey 1965–67, a ...

**Best Forward:

Václav Nedomanský Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czech hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a memb ...

*Media All-Star Team: **Goaltender: Curt Larsson **Defence: Lars-Erik Sjöberg,

Valeri Vasiliev Valeri Ivanovich Vasiliev (russian: Валерий Иванович Васильев; August 3, 1949 – April 19, 2012) was a Soviet and Russian ice hockey defenceman, who competed for the USSR. An eight-time Soviet all-star, Vasiliev was capt ...

**Forwards:

Vladimír Martinec Vladimír Martinec (born December 22, 1949) is a Czech retired ice hockey right wing who played both nationally and internationally in the 1970s and early 1980s. He won the Golden Hockey Stick award as top player in Czechoslovakia four times, in ...

, Václav Nedomanský,

Alexander Yakushev Alexander Sergeyevich Yakushev (russian: Александр Серге́евич Якушев) (born January 2, 1947) is a former ice hockey player and coach for the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow, Soviet Union, Alexander Yakushev is best known to ...

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

European championships final standings

The final standings of the

European championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

according to

References

Complete results
* * {{IIHF Ice Hockey European Championships IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

International sports competitions in Helsinki

1970s in Helsinki

International ice hockey competitions hosted by Yugoslavia International ice hockey competitions hosted by France Sports competitions in Ljubljana 1970s in Ljubljana Sports competitions in Grenoble 20th century in Grenoble Sports competitions in Lyon 20th century in Lyon 1973–74 in French ice hockey 1973–74 in Yugoslav ice hockey 1974 in Slovenia