1981 Ice Hockey World Championships

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox international ice hockey competition 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."

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. It was their first appearance at the top level since 1950 and they have not returned since.

World Championship Group A (Sweden)

Consolation round

Note: one game from previous round carried forward
The Netherlands were relegated to Group B. Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox

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

World Championship Group C (China PR)

Played in Beijing 6–15 March. Both Austria and China were promoted to Group B. Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox

Ranking and statistics

Template:Stack begin
Template:(! class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0 auto;" |- ! 1981 IIHF World Championship winners  |- |
17th title Template:!)

Tournament Awards

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

File:Gold medal icon.svg	Soviet Union
File:Silver medal icon.svg	Sweden
File:Bronze medal icon.svg	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). Template:ISBN. Template:ISBN.

References

• Complete results
• To hear the Fanfare of the Championships

External links

• IIHF World Ice Hockey Championships at SVT's open archive (including the 1981 tournament) Template:In lang