The 1955 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 22nd edition of the

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. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

. The tournament was held in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

from February 25 to March 6, 1955. A total of 14 nations participated in this World Championship, which was a new record for the postwar era. As a result, the teams were seeded with the strongest 9 teams placed in Pool A (the championship pool) and the remaining 5 nations as well as the West German B team placed in Pool B.

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 ...

, represented by the

Penticton Vees The Penticton Vees are a junior "A" ice hockey team from Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. The junior Vees were founded in 1961, sharing the name of the senior hockey team, the Penticto ...

of the

Okanagan Senior League The Okanagan Senior Hockey League (OSHL) is a defunct Canada, Canadian ice hockey league that operated for 10 seasons (1951 to 1961) within the Okanagan region of British Columbia. This league is notable as it played hockey at the highest amate ...

, won their 16th international title. For the second straight year both the Soviets and Canadians were undefeated until they played each other in the final game of the tournament. This time Canada won 5–0, giving the Soviets the silver medal, and their second

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. Czechoslovakia won the bronze by dominating the weaker teams, drawing the Americans, and narrowly defeating the Swedes. Despite the victory,

the Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...

reported sentiments from Canadian players and spectators that "Canada should never again take part in the tournament under its present setup", and

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...

president W. B. George was concerned that the game in Europe took on political and religious meanings in which Canada did not want to become involved.

World Championship Group A (West Germany)

Final Round

Standings

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 ...

: Don Rigazio **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 ...

: Karel Gut **Best Forward: Bill Warwick

World Championship Group B (West Germany)

Final Round

Standings

Note:West Germany B games were unofficial.

European Championship medal table

Citations

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 ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

February 1955 sports events in Europe March 1955 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in Düsseldorf Sports competitions in Cologne 20th century in Düsseldorf 1950s in Cologne 20th century in Dortmund 1950s in North Rhine-Westphalia Sports competitions in Dortmund Sport in Krefeld