The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022, as the

International Ice Hockey Federation 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 ...

(IIHF) announced on 19 May 2017 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The host cities of the World Championships were

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

and

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, of which Tampere's brand-new Nokia Arena served as the main venue of the games. Since all lower divisions of the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, all 16 teams from the previous year's top division were set to return this year. However, in the midst of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

were suspended from competing in all IIHF tournaments for at least a year. This marked the first time that Russia missed the top division of the World Championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. For this tournament, the suspended nations were replaced by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the two highest-ranked teams in 2021 that had not already qualified. Additionally, the venue in Helsinki was moved from

Helsinki Halli Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...

, previously known as Hartwall Arena, to

Helsinki Ice Hall Helsinki Ice Hall ( fi, Helsingin jäähalli, sv, Helsingfors ishall) is an indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. The arena has a seating capacity of 8,200. History Helsinki Ice Hall has been the home arena of HIFK of Liiga since its cons ...

due to the former being owned by

Russian oligarchs Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Finland defeated Canada 4–3 in overtime in the gold medal game for their fourth title and their first medal ever won on home ice. This marked the first time since the introduction of the playoff round in 1992 that the same two teams met in the gold medal game three tournaments in a row. Czechia won the bronze medal, their first medal since 2012, after an 8–4 win over the United States. The tournament saw multiple historic upsets: Austria's first victory against Czechia, and Denmark's first victory against Canada. In addition, it suffered from the lowest attendance in two decades, excluding the 2021 tournament played without audience; some attribute this to the absence of Russia.

Venues

Participants

IIHF World Championship flags Nokia Arena

Qualified as host * Automatic qualifiers after the cancellation of the 2021 IIHF lower division championships * (expelled)² * * * * * * * * * *¹ (expelled)² * * * * Qualifiers after Russia and Belarus were expelled *³ *³ ¹ Pursuant to a December 2020 ruling by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

on doping sanctions, Russian athletes and teams were prohibited from competing under the Russian flag or using the Russian national anthem at any Olympic Games or world championships through 16 December 2022, and could only compete as "neutral athlete " For IIHF tournaments, the Russian team was to play under the name " ROC". Instead of the Russian national anthem being played at the 2021 World Championship, Piano Concerto No.1 by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

was to be played.
² However, on 28 February 2022, the

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 ...

decided to expel ROC and

from the tournament due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

.
³ Austria and France replaced Russia and Belarus.

Seeding

The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2021

IIHF World Ranking The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tour ...

, as of the end of the

2021 IIHF World Championship The 2021 IIHF World Championship () took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. Their joint bid won by a very tight margi ...

, using the serpentine system while allowing the organizer, "to allocate a maximum of two teams to separate groups". ;Group A (Helsinki) * (1) * (3) * (5) * (8) * (9) * (12) * (13) * (17) * (replaces ROC) (15) ;Group B (Tampere) * (2) * (4) * (6) * (7) * (10) * (11) * (14) * (16) * (replaces Belarus) (18)

Rosters

Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters ( forwards, and

defencemen Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

) and 2

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

s, and at most 25 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.

Match officials

16 referees and linesmen were announced on 12 May 2022.

Preliminary round

The groups were announced on 7 June 2021, with the schedule being revealed on 18 August 2021.

Group A

Group B

Playoff round

Final standings

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position''
Source
IIHF.com
/small>

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. ''TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA =

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending ...

; Sv% = save percentage; SO =

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s''
Source
IIHF.com
/small>

Awards

The awards were announced on 29 May 2022.

Individual awards

Media All Stars

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:IIHF World Championship, 2022 Men 2022 Men 2022 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships International ice hockey competitions hosted by Finland 2022 in ice hockey 2022 in Finnish sport International sports competitions in Helsinki Sports competitions in Tampere May 2022 sports events in Finland 2020s in Helsinki Sports events affected by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine