The 1996 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 60th such event sanctioned by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF). Teams representing 36 countries participated in several levels of competition, with

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

making their first appearance in the top Champions Group A, in their fourth tournament since the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

and the formation of the separate

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Slovakia men's national ice hockey team The Slovakia men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Slovakia and is controlled by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation. A successor to the Czechoslovakia national team, it is one of the most successful national ice hockey ...

s. The competition also served as qualifications for group placements in the 1997 competition. The top Championship Group A tournament took place in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

from 21 April to 5 May 1996, with all games played in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Twelve teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of six, with the first four from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. The Czech Republic beat

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the final to become World Champions for the first time. The final game was tied at two apiece before

Martin Procházka Martin Procházka (, born March 3, 1972, in Slaný, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player. Procházka was drafted 135th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft and played 32 games in the Nation ...

scored with nineteen seconds left, followed by an empty net goal to seal the victory. In the bronze medal game,

Brian Rolston Brian Lee Rolston (born February 21, 1973) is an American former professional ice hockey player who most recently played for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995, and the ...

scored at 4:48 of overtime to win the first medal in 34 years for team USA.Podnieks page 160 The unfortunate

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, competing in their fifth tournament since being created after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, did not lose a game in regulation time in the entire tournament, but finished fourth.

World Championship Group A (Austria)

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Consolation round 11–12 place

was relegated to Group B.''

Semifinals

Match for third place

Final

World Championship Group B (Netherlands)

Played 10–20 April in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

. Latvia won at this level for the first time. In their final game, superb goaltending by

Artūrs Irbe Artūrs Irbe (born 2 February 1967) is a Latvian professional ice hockey coach and former goaltender. Born during the Soviet era, Irbe played for various Soviet league teams and the Soviet Union national team before moving to North America in 199 ...

kept them in it, and a late tying goal by

Oļegs Znaroks Oleg Valerievich Znarok (, ; born 2 January 1963) is a Soviet-Latvian professional ice hockey player. In 2022, he was the head coach of Ak Bars Kazan in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and consultant of the Russia men's national ice hockey t ...

sealed the tournament victory. The final game had high drama for the host crowd, the Japanese and Danish teams among them. If the Netherlands were to lose to Poland, they would finish last and be relegated, a tie and Japan would be last, a win and Denmark would be last. A third period goal by Poland sealed Japan's fate. ''

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

was promoted to Group A while

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

was relegated to Group C.''

World Championship Group C (Slovenia)

Played 22–31 March in

Jesenice Jesenice (, ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is the tenth-largest town in Slovenia, located in the traditional province of Upper C ...

and

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

. For the fourth year in row the Kazakhs and Ukrainians met in Group C. For the first time the Kazakhs came out on top, and it was the difference in winning the tournament.

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

was promoted to Group B while

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

was relegated to Group D.

World Championship Group D (Lithuania)

Played in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

and Elektrenai 25–31 March. To narrow the field of the bottom tier to eight nations, two regional qualifying tournaments were used.

Qualifying round

Group 1 (Australia)

Played 5 and 6 November 1995 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Group 2 (Israel)

Played 27–29 January 1996 in Metulla. The Greek team originally won both their games, but it was later found that they had used ineligible players. Both games were declared 5–0 forfeits in favour of the opposing team.Summary at Passionhockey.com
/ref>

First round

Group 1

Group 2

The Israeli team, that had qualified for the tournament after the Greek forfeits, had to forfeit its first two games because they used two Russian players who did not have the proper clearance to play.

Final Round 29–32 Place

''Host

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

won all five games to earn promotion to Group C.''

Consolation round 33–36 place

Ranking and statistics

Tournament awards

*Best players selected by the directorate: **Best

Goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

Roman Turek Roman Turek (born May 21, 1970) is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames in a nine-year National Hockey League (NHL) career. He last played in the Czech Extraliga for ...

**Best

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

Alexei Zhitnik Alexei Zhitnik (, ; born October 10, 1972) is a Ukrainian-Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He has represented the Soviet Union, CIS, and Russia internationally; and Ukraine during two NHL All-Star Games. His number, 13, has been ...

**Best

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Yanic Perreault Yanic Jacques Perreault (born April 4, 1971) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played a total of fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League. He is often considered one of the best face-off men in league history and holds ...

*Media All-Star Team: **Goaltender: Roman Turek **Defence: Michal Sýkora, Alexei Zhitnik **Forwards:

Paul Kariya Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (born October 16, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Known as a skilled and fast-skating offensive player, he played in the NHL for the Mig ...

Robert Reichel Robert Reichel (born June 25, 1971) is a Czech former professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and coach. He began his career with HC Litvínov of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League; his 49 goals in 1989–90 was the second high ...

, Otakar Vejvoda

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey tourn ...

Scoring leaders

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

/small>

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list. Source

/small>

Citations

References

Complete results
* *

External links

Official World Championship Group A website (via the Internet Archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Hockey World Championships,Men

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

World Championship Group A (Austria)

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Consolation round 11–12 place

Semifinals

Match for third place

Final

World Championship Group B (Netherlands)

World Championship Group C (Slovenia)

World Championship Group D (Lithuania)

Qualifying round

Group 1 (Australia)

Group 2 (Israel)

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Final Round 29–32 Place

Consolation round 33–36 place

Ranking and statistics

Tournament awards

Final standings

Scoring leaders

Leading goaltenders

Citations

See also

References

External links