1986 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1986 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in the Soviet Union from April 12 to April 28. The games were held at two big arenas, the Luzhniki Palace of Sports and the CSKA Ice Palace in Moscow. Eight teams played each other once in the first round. The top four teams then played each other again to decide the final rankings.

This event was the 51st Ice Hockey World Championships and also the 62nd ice hockey European Championships. The Soviet Union won the World Championship for the 20th time.

During these championships, future star Brett Hull made his first appearance representing the United States in international hockey. He played for the U.S. team during this important tournament.

World Championship Group A (Soviet Union)

The 1986 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in the Soviet Union from April 12 to April 28. The games were held in Moscow at two arenas: the Luzhniki Palace of Sports and the CSKA Ice Palace. Eight teams competed, and each team played against every other team once.

After the first round, the top four teams played each other again to decide the final rankings, while the other four teams played among themselves. Poland needed to win by at least four goals on the last day but only managed a tie, so they were moved down to a lower group.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	7	7	0	0	32	9	+23	14
2	Sweden	7	5	1	1	34	18	+16	11
3	Finland	7	4	2	1	28	18	+10	10
4	Canada	7	3	0	4	24	22	+2	6
5	Czechoslovakia	7	2	1	4	17	17	0	5
6	United States	7	2	0	5	27	28	−1	4
7	West Germany	7	2	0	5	17	39	−22	4
8	Poland	7	1	0	6	15	43	−28	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	3	3	0	0	18	6	+12	6
2	Sweden	3	1	1	1	12	12	0	3
3	Canada	3	1	0	2	13	16	−3	2
4	Finland	3	0	1	2	7	16	−9	1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	Czechoslovakia	10	5	1	4	38	21	+17	11
6	United States	10	4	0	6	41	43	−2	8
7	West Germany	10	2	1	7	23	52	−29	5
8	Poland	10	1	1	8	26	63	−37	3

World Championship Group B (Netherlands)

The games were held in Eindhoven from March 20 to 29. Switzerland played very well and moved up to a better group. On the last day, four teams were in danger of moving down to a lower group.

Depending on the results, two teams from Austria, Japan, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia could move down. Yugoslavia played Japan first, and Japan lost, meaning they would move down. Then Italy beat France, which kept Austria safe. The Netherlands played Austria last, and if they won, they would stay up. The Netherlands won, so Yugoslavia and Japan moved down to a lower group.

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

Switzerland was promoted to Group A. Yugoslavia and Japan were relegated to Group C.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	Switzerland	7	6	0	1	38	20	+18	12
10	Italy	7	4	0	3	21	18	+3	8
11	East Germany	7	4	0	3	25	21	+4	8
12	France	7	3	0	4	22	25	−3	6
13	Netherlands	7	3	0	4	25	32	−7	6
14	Austria	7	3	0	4	24	27	−3	6
15	Yugoslavia	7	3	0	4	24	25	−1	6
16	Japan	7	2	0	5	15	26	−11	4

World Championship Group C (Spain)

The World Championship Group C happened in Puigcerda from 23 March to 1 April. There were ten teams, split into two smaller groups of five. The top two teams from each small group played to decide the first place. The third and fourth place teams played to decide positions five through eight. The last two teams in each group moved down to Group D.

In Group 1, South Korea moved to Group D. In Group 2, Australia also moved to Group D. In the final round, Norway and China were promoted to Group B.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Norway	4	4	0	0	42	7	+35	8
2	Romania	4	3	0	1	26	9	+17	6
3	Denmark	4	2	0	2	18	13	+5	4
4	Spain	4	0	1	3	8	32	−24	1
5	South Korea	4	0	1	3	5	38	−33	1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	China	4	3	1	0	35	4	+31	7
2	Bulgaria	4	3	0	1	13	16	−3	6
3	North Korea	4	1	1	2	8	15	−7	3
4	Hungary	4	1	1	2	17	14	+3	3
5	Australia	4	0	1	3	9	33	−24	1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Norway	3	2	1	0	19	7	+12	5
18	China	3	2	1	0	16	7	+9	5
19	Bulgaria	3	1	0	2	9	23	−14	2
20	Romania	3	0	0	3	10	17	−7	0

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
21	Denmark	3	3	0	0	20	5	+15	6
22	Hungary	3	1	0	2	16	17	−1	2
23	North Korea	3	1	0	2	10	14	−4	2
24	Spain	3	1	0	2	11	21	−10	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
25	South Korea	1	1	0	0	9	7	+2	2
26	Australia	1	0	0	1	7	9	−2	0

Ranking and statistics

The tournament gave awards to top players chosen by the directorate and named a Media All-Star Team. Peter Lindmark from Sweden was named the best goaltender, Viacheslav Fetisov from the Soviet Union was the best defenceman, and Vladimir Krutov from the Soviet Union was the best forward. The Media All-Star Team also included Lindmark as goaltender, Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov as defencemen, and Krutov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov as forwards.

The final standings of the tournament and the European championships are shown in tables, along with the top scorers and leading goaltenders based on save percentage.

1986 IIHF World Championship winners
Soviet Union 20th title

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

	Soviet Union
	Sweden
	Finland
4	West Germany
5	Poland
6	Czechoslovakia

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Sergei Makarov	10	4	14	18	+21	12	F
Vladimir Krutov	10	7	10	17	+23	14	F
Viacheslav Fetisov	10	6	9	15	+20	10	D
Vladimír Růžička	10	4	11	15	+15	6	F
Jiří Hrdina	10	7	5	12	+14	12	F
Vyacheslav Bykov	10	6	6	12	+6	2	F
Anders Carlsson	10	6	6	12	+5	12	F
Thomas Steen	8	8	3	11	+13	16	F
Brett Hull	10	7	4	11	+1	16	F
Brent Sutter	8	4	7	11	+2	8	F

Player	MIP	GA	GAA	SVS%	SO
Yevgeni Belosheikin	420	11	1.57	.915	2
Dominik Hašek	538	19	2.12	.901	0
Chris Terreri	286	20	4.20	.895	1
Jacques Cloutier	298	15	3.02	.893	0
Hannu Kamppuri	299	16	3.21	.880	0