The 1991 Men's

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, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

was the 55th such event sanctioned by 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), and at the same time served as the 66th and last Ice Hockey European Championships. Teams representing 25 countries participated in several levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for group placements in the 1992 competition. The top Championship Group A tournament took place in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

from 19 April to 4 May 1991, with games played in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and

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 ...

. Eight teams took part, with each team playing each other once. The four best teams then played each other once more.

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

became world champions for the fifth time, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

won their 27th European title. In the European Championships, only matches between European teams in the first round were counted towards scoring. There were three significant 'lasts' in this year's championships. This would be the last year that a separate European title would be awarded, which the Soviets captured in their last appearance before the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

seven months later. Their position in Group A would be inherited by

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-ei ...

, while newly independent former Soviet member states

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 ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

began play in 1993 in qualification tournaments for Group C. The tournament itself would change significantly after this year as well. This was the last time the top level was contested by eight teams; beginning in 1992 it would expand to twelve, requiring both Groups B and C to promote four nations each. The final round of four teams was a very tight battle, except for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Getting only a tie against the last place

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, the Americans only advanced to the final round by narrowly defeating the host Finns. The USA were easily defeated by the three other teams in the final round, but were involved in a controversial finish. The Canadians, having tied both the Swedes and the Soviets, needed to win their game against the US by five goals, then hope that the Swedes and Soviets tied, ensuring Canada the gold. Winning 7–4 in the final minute, and despite playing short-handed, they scored the two goals they needed. American coach Tim Taylor, trailing 9–4, pulled his goalie in the final minute, later claiming that he was trying to score the necessary number of goals to win the bronze medal. It was the last of many questionable finishes over the years that hastened the IIHF to change the format of the tournament. The Soviets and Swedes took a 1–1 tie into the third period of the last game, which would have given the gold medal to Canada had it held up. However,

Mats Sundin Mats Johan Sundin (; born 13 February 1971) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), retiring in 2009. Originally drafted first overall in 1989, Sundin played ...

scored at 9:37, and the Swedes held on to capture gold.Summary at Passionhockey.com
/ref>

World Championship Group A (Finland)

First round

Final Round

Consolation Round

''No team was relegated because of the expansion to twelve teams.''

World Championship Group B (Yugoslavia)

Played in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

and Jesenice 28 March to 7 April. With the expansion of Group A impending, promotion was available to the top four finishers. As well, the top three qualified directly for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, with fourth place needing to defeat the winner of Group C.Olympic Qualifier
/ref> ''Italy, Norway, France, and Poland all were promoted to Group A, no one was relegated.''

World Championship Group C (Denmark)

Played in Brøndby 23 March to 3 April. With the expansion of Group A, four openings in Group B were available. In addition, the winner got to play off for the last

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

spot against the fourth place Group B finisher. ''Denmark, China, Romania and Bulgaria were all promoted. With no Group D in existence at this time, there was no relegation.''

Ranking and statistics

Tournament Awards

*Best players selected by the directorate: **Best

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 ...

Markus Ketterer Markus Jari Ketterer (born 23 August 1967 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga and also the Swedish Elitserien as a goalkeeper. He played for Jokerit, TPS as Färjestads BK, the latter wit ...

**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 scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...

Jamie Macoun Jamie Neil Macoun (born August 17, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played over 1,000 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) during a 17-year career. An undrafted player, Macoun played three seasons of college h ...

**Best Forward:

Valeri Kamensky Valeri Viktorovich Kamenski (russian: Валерий Викторович Каменский) (born 18 April 1966) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player. Playing career Before the National Hockey League (NHL), h ...

*Media All-Star Team: **Goaltender: Sean Burke **Defence: Viacheslav Fetisov,

Alexei Kasatonov Alexei Viktorovich Kasatonov (russian: link=no, Алексей Викторович Касатонов; born 14 October 1959) is a Russian former ice hockey defenceman, who was a long-time member of the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Car ...

**Forwards: Valeri Kamensky,

Jari Kurri Jari Pekka Kurri (; born May 18, 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. In 2001, he became the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017 Kurri was named ...

, Thomas Rundqvist

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

European championships final standings

The final standings of the

European championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

according to IIHF:

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 50% of their team's minutes are included in this list. Source

/small>

Citations

References

Complete results
* * {{IIHF Ice Hockey European Championships IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Men

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

1991 April 1991 sports events in Europe May 1991 sports events in Europe International sports competitions in Helsinki 1990s in Helsinki Sports competitions in Tampere International sports competitions in Turku 1990s in Turku March 1991 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in Ljubljana 1990–91 in Yugoslav ice hockey 1991 in Slovenian sport International ice hockey competitions hosted by Yugoslavia International ice hockey competitions hosted by Denmark 1990–91 in Danish ice hockey Sport in Bled Sport in Jesenice, Jesenice