1987 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1987 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 52nd such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was also the 63rd European Championships. Teams representing 28 countries participated in four levels of competition.

In the Division A Championship held 17 April to 3 May in Vienna, Austria, each team played each other once in the preliminary round. The four best placed teams then played each other once in a championship round and, unlike the relegation round, the first round of results were not counted. Sweden won the gold medal for the fourth time and the Soviet Union won their 25th European title. In the European Championships, only the games of the first round between European teams counted. Switzerland was demoted to Division B.

Sweden's victory was a controversial one. The Germans had beaten both Canada and Finland when it was revealed that forward Miroslav Sikora had played for the Polish junior team in 1977. He was suspended, and the IIHF stripped West Germany of their two wins. The Germans took the matter to court, stating that they had been granted permission. Though Sikora remained suspended, the IIHF reinstated the two victories. If the courts had not intervened, Finland would have replaced Sweden in the medal round. Additionally, the Swedes earned the Gold over the Soviets by goal differential when the Soviets had gone undefeated and the Swedes had lost three preliminary round games. This led to further discussion of a change of format. The IIHF's account of the finale states that, "Sweden won thanks to an inflated score against Canada," however Sweden only needed to win by two (the same margin that the Czechoslovaks beat Canada by) for the Gold. In reality, the Soviets had to come from behind to capture Silver and deprive the Czechoslovaks of the Gold, and the Swedes winning by more than two ensured that the Czechoslovaks could not play to a tie and capture Gold.

Promotion and relegation was effective for 1989 as the IIHF did not run a championship in Olympic years at this time. Nations that did not participate in the Calgary Olympics were invited to compete in the final Thayer Tutt Trophy.

World Championship Group A (Austria)

Consolation round

Switzerland was relegated to Group B. Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox Template:IceHockeybox

World Championship Group B (Italy)

Played in Canazei 26 March to 5 April. The top three teams earned Olympic berths, and the fourth place team played off against the Group C winner to join them. Poland was promoted to Group A, and both the Netherlands and China 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 (Denmark)

Played in Copenhagen, Herlev and Hørsholm 20–29 March. In addition to being promoted, the winner played off against the fourth placed Group B team for the final Olympic berth. Both Japan and Denmark were promoted to Group B. On the final day, if either Romania or Yugoslavia had won, they would have been promoted, but they tied each other. Belgium was relegated to Group D, and later Romania chose to compete in Group D as well, for financial reasons. 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 D (Australia)

Played in Perth, Western Australia 13–20 March. Chinese Taipei also played four games as exhibition contests. They lost 31–3 to Australia, 24–0 to South Korea, 12–1 to New Zealand, and tied Hong Kong 2–2.

Australia was promoted to Group C. Later, when Romania declined to travel to Australia for the 1989 World Ice Hockey Championships Group C for financial reasons, South Korea was promoted to take their place. 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

1987 IIHF World Championship winners
4th title

Tournament Awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Template:Flagicon Dominik Hašek
  • Best Defenceman: Template:Flagicon Craig Hartsburg
  • Best Forward: Template:Flagicon Vladimir Krutov
• Media All-Star Team:
  • Goaltender: Template:Flagicon Dominik Hašek
  • Defence: Template:Flagicon Udo Kiessling, Template:Flagicon Viacheslav Fetisov
  • Forwards: Template:Flagicon Vladimir Krutov, Template:Flagicon Sergei Makarov, Template:Flagicon Gerd Truntschka

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

	Sweden
	Soviet Union
	Czechoslovakia
4	Canada
5	Finland
6	West Germany
7	United States
8	Switzerland

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	Czechoslovakia
File:Bronze medal icon.svg	Finland
4	Sweden
5	West Germany
6	Switzerland

Scoring leaders

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

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Template:Flagicon Vladimir Krutov	10	11	4	15	+15	8	F
Template:Flagicon Sergei Makarov	10	4	10	14	+19	8	F
Template:Flagicon Igor Larionov	10	4	8	12	+16	2	F
Template:Flagicon Aaron Broten	10	5	6	11	+6	6	F
Template:Flagicon Vyacheslav Bykov	10	5	6	11	+13	0	F
Template:Flagicon Bengt-Åke Gustafsson	10	3	8	11	+9	4	F
Template:Flagicon Gerd Truntschka	10	3	8	11	+6	13	F
Template:Flagicon Helmut Steiger	10	5	5	10	+2	12	F
Template:Flagicon Tomas Sandström	8	4	6	10	+11	6	F
Template:Flagicon Viacheslav Fetisov	10	2	8	10	+13	2	D

Source: [1]

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 50% of their team's minutes are included in this list.

Player	MIP	GA	GAA	SVS%	SO
Template:Flagicon Yevgeni Belosheikin	600	15	1.50	.923	3
Template:Flagicon Dominik Hašek	520	19	2.19	.923	0
Template:Flagicon Peter Lindmark	399	14	2.11	.901	2
Template:Flagicon Jarmo Myllys	464	27	3.49	.895	0
Template:Flagicon Sean Burke	300	12	2.40	.895	0

Source: [2]

References

• Detailed account of Championship "Story #44" of IIHF top 100 stories in history.
• Complete results