1966 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1966 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 33rd edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships. This important event took place in Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, which was part of SR Slovenia and SFR Yugoslavia, from March 3 to March 14, 1966.

For the fourth year in a row, the team from the Soviet Union won the championship. This was their sixth world title and tenth European title. Czechoslovakia came in second after beating strong teams like Canada and Sweden. Sweden had a surprising loss to East Germany, which moved them down to fourth place, just behind Canada who took the bronze medal.

The tournament also made changes to its structure. The lower levels, called Groups B and C, were made official. This meant teams could move up or down between these levels based on their performance. West Germany won all its games and moved back up to the top level, while Great Britain did not win any games and was replaced by Italy, the winner of Group C.

Qualifying round Group B/C (Bucharest Romania)

The qualifying round for Group B and Group C took place in Bucharest, Romania.

Romania successfully qualified for the main tournament in Group B. Meanwhile, both Italy and France earned their spots in Group C.

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Romania	2	2	0	0	17	5	+12	4
2	Italy	2	1	0	1	12	8	+4	2
3	France	2	0	0	2	5	21	−16	0

World Championship Group A (Ljubljana)

The Canadian national team wanted to stop playing in the World Championships after losing to the Czechoslovak team. They felt the referee made unfair calls during the game. Their manager, Father David Bauer, talked with them all night to convince them to keep playing, so they wouldn’t bring shame to their country.

In the final games of the tournament, Poland was moved down to a lower group for the next year’s competition.

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	7	6	1	0	55	7	+48	13
2	Czechoslovakia	7	6	0	1	32	15	+17	12
3	Canada	7	5	0	2	33	10	+23	10
4	Sweden	7	3	1	3	26	17	+9	7
5	East Germany	7	3	0	4	12	30	−18	6
6	United States	7	2	0	5	18	39	−21	4
7	Finland	7	2	0	5	18	43	−25	4
8	Poland	7	0	0	7	11	44	−33	0

World Championship Group B (Zagreb)

West Germany moved up to the top level, while Great Britain went down to Group C for 1967 but didn’t join again until 1971.

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
9	West Germany	7	7	0	0	34	12	+22	14
10	Romania	7	5	1	1	29	16	+13	11
11	Yugoslavia	7	4	2	1	25	23	+2	10
12	Norway	7	4	0	3	28	17	+11	8
13	Austria	7	3	0	4	25	30	−5	6
14	Switzerland	7	2	0	5	24	26	−2	4
15	Hungary	7	1	0	6	19	30	−11	2
16	Great Britain	7	0	1	6	15	45	−30	1

World Championship Group C (Jesenice)

A team from Yugoslavia played some games in the tournament against three other countries. This was the last time South Africa took part in the World Championships until much later.

Final round

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Italy was promoted to Group B, France decided not to participate, Yugoslavia B team participated instead of France

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Italy	5	5	0	0	54	8	+46	10
18	Denmark	5	2	1	2	21	21	0	5
19	Yugoslavia B	3	1	1	1	11	13	−2	3
20	South Africa	5	0	0	5	4	50	−46	0

Ranking and statistics

The 1966 Ice Hockey World Championships had special awards for the best players chosen by the directors. Seth Martin from Canada was named the best goaltender, Alexander Ragulin from the Soviet Union was the best defenceman, and Konstantin Loktev from the Soviet Union was the best forward.

The Media All-Star Team included Seth Martin as goaltender, Gary Begg from Canada and Alexander Ragulin from the Soviet Union as defencemen, and Veniamin Alexandrov, Fran Huck from Canada, and Konstantin Loktev from the Soviet Union as forwards.

There were also final standings for the tournament and for the European championships. Originally, Sweden was given the bronze medal, but it was later found that East Germany should have won. In 1999, the correct medals were given to the players who were still alive.

1966 IIHF World Championship winners
Soviet Union 6th title

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

	Soviet Union
	Czechoslovakia
	East Germany
4	Sweden
5	Finland
6	Poland