1957 World Ice Hockey Championships

1957 World Ice Hockey Championships
Tournament details
Host nation	Soviet Union
Dates	24 February–5 March
Teams	8
Venue(s)	Luzhniki Palace of Sports (in host cities)
Champions	Sweden (2 titles)
Tournament statistics
Games played	28
Goals scored	300  (10.71 per game)
Attendance	223,700  (7,989 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Konstantin Loktev 18 points

The 1957 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held between 24 February and 5 March 1957 at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, USSR.

Trophy awarded for the 1957 World Championships

This was the last World Championships played on natural ice; and were the first World Championships held in the USSR and they are remembered for the political circumstances surrounding the games. Hungary had been recently occupied by the Soviet Army (to suppress a revolution in October and November 1956), and as a result, the United States and Canada boycotted the World Championships in protest. Joining them were Norway, West Germany, Italy and Switzerland. East Germany participated at the top level for the first time.

Competition

With the boycott, the home team USSR was heavily favoured to win the tournament, but Sweden surprised the world by pulling off an upset. The first step was taken in their third game, when they beat Czechoslovakia 2-0. This important victory was saved by the head of Leksands IF defenseman Vilgot Larsson. He literally headed the puck away from the Swedish net to save a goal, and in the days before mandatory helmets, received several stitches for his heroics. In the final game, Sweden opened with two goals, but the dynamic Soviets responded with 4 goals of their own. Down by two in the third period, goals by Eilert Määttä and Erling Lindström tied the game, and the goaltending of Thord Flodqvist and play of Sven "Tumba" Johansson guaranteed the final draw. The USSR had previously only tied Czechoslovakia, so all Sweden needed was one point, or a tie, for gold.

Karel Straka, of Czechoslovakia, was named best goaltender. Nikolaï Sologubov, of the USSR was best defenceman, and Sven "Tumba" Johansson of Sweden was best forward. Konstantin Loktev, of the USSR, led all scorers with 18 points (on 11 goals and 7 assists), followed by Nils Nilsson and Ronald Pettersson of Sweden, both with 16 points. Vsevolod Bobrov, of the USSR, led all scorers with 13 goals. Japan, competed for the first time since 1930, and finished last with one point in the standings.

Standings

Place	Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Gold	Sweden	7	6	0	1	62	11	13
Silver	Soviet Union	7	5	0	2	77	9	12
Bronze	Czechoslovakia	7	5	1	1	66	9	11
4th	Finland	7	4	3	0	28	33	8
5th	East Germany	7	3	4	0	23	48	6
6th	Poland	7	2	5	0	25	45	4
7th	Austria	7	0	6	1	8	61	1
8th	Japan	7	0	6	1	11	84	1

Final round

24 February

Finland

5–3

Poland

24 February

Soviet Union

16–0

Japan

24 February

Sweden

11–1

East Germany

24 February

Czechoslovakia

9–0

Austria

25 February

Soviet Union

11–1

Finland

25 February

Czechoslovakia

15–1

East Germany

25 February

Sweden

8–3

Poland

26 February

Austria

3–3

Japan

27 February

Sweden

2–0

Czechoslovakia

27 February

Poland

8–3

Japan

27 February

Soviet Union

22–1

Austria

27 February

Finland

5–3

East Germany

28 February

Czechoslovakia

3–0

Finland

28 February

Soviet Union

10–1

Poland

1 March

Sweden

10–0

Austria

1 March

East Germany

9–2

Japan

2 March

Finland

9-2

Austria

2 March

Soviet Union

2–2

Czechoslovakia

2 March

East Germany

6-2

Poland

2 March

Sweden

18–0

Japan

3 March

Poland

5-1

Austria

4 March

Czechoslovakia

25-1

Japan

4 March

Sweden

9-3

Finland

4 March

East Germany

0-12

Soviet Union

5 March

East Germany

3–1

Austria

5 March

Finland

5-2

Japan

5 March

Czechoslovakia

12-3

Poland

5 March

Soviet Union

4-4

Sweden

Attendance record

The final game (USSR versus Sweden for the championship) was played on the football field of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Stadium. It is reputed that over 50,000 fans (or 55,000, depending on sources) fans saw the game, the most ever for an international hockey game.

European Championship medal table

	Sweden
	Soviet Union
	Czechoslovakia
4	Finland
5	East Germany
6	Poland
7	Austria

Team rosters

Place	Team	Player
1	Sweden	Goaltenders: Thord Flodqvist, Yngve Casslind. Defensemen: Lars Björn, Vilgot Larsson, Roland Stoltz, Hans Svedberg. Forwards: Anders Andersson, Sigurd Bröms, Hans Eriksson, Erling Lindström, Lars-Eric Lundvall, Eilert Määttä, Nisse Nilsson, Ronald Pettersson, Sven Tumba Johansson, Valter Åhlén, Hans Öberg. Coach: Folke Jansson.
2	Soviet Union	Goaltenders: Nikolai Puchkov, Yevgeni Yerkin. Defensemen: Nikolay Sologubov, Ivan Tregubov, Pavel Zhiburtovich, Henrich Sidorenko. Forwards: Alexander Uvarov, Vladimir Grebennikov, Vitaly Kostarev, Yuri Pantyukhov, Alexei Guryshev. Nikolay Khlystov, Konstantin Loktev, Veniamin Alexandrov, Alexander Cherepanov, Vsevolod Bobrov, Yevgeni Babich. Coaches: Arkady Chernyshev, Vladimír Yegorov.
3	Czechoslovakia	Goaltenders: Karel Straka, Jiří Kulíček. Defensemen: Karel Gut, František Tikal, Jan Kasper, Stanislav Sventek, Stanislav Bacílek. Forwards: Slavomír Bartoň, František Vaněk, Miroslav Vlach, Jiří Pokorný, Václav Pantůček, Ladislav Grabovský, Miloslav Šašek, Miloš Vinš, Vilém Václav, Bohumil Prošek. Coaches: Vladimír Kostka, Bohumil Rejda.
4	Finland	Goaltenders: Esko Niemi, Unto Wiitala. Defensemen: Mauno Nurmi, Matti Lampainen, Olli Knuutinen, Erkki Koiso, Aki Salonen. Forwards: Yrjö Hakala, Teppo Rastio, Jorma Salmi, Voitto Soini, Matti Sundelin, Erkki Hytönen, Risto Aaltonen, Esko Luostarinen, Raimo Kilpiö, Pertti Nieminen. Coach: Aarne Honkavaara.
5	West Germany	Goaltenders: Günther Katzur, Hans Mack. Defensemen: Werner Heinicke, Lothar Zoller, Heinz Kuczera, Helmut Senftleben, Günther Schischefski. Forwards: Manfred Buder, Wolfgang Nickel, Erich Novy, Wolfgang Blümel, Joachim Rudert, Kurt Stürmer, Werner Künstler, Kurt Jablonski, Hans Frenzel, Herbert Hönig. Coach: Gerhard Kiessling
6	Poland	Goaltenders: Józef Waclaw, Wladyslaw Pabisz. Defensemen: Janusz Zawadski, Kazimierz Chodakowski, Stefan Csorich, Stanislaw Rozanski, Mieczyslaw Chmura. Forwards: Szymon Janiczko, Zdzislaw Nowak, Kazimierz Bryniarski, Bronislaw Gosztyla, Rudolf Czech, Józef Kurek, Roman Pawelczyk, Sylvester Wilczek, Stanislaw Jonczyk, Werner Kadow. Coach: Antonín Haukvic.
7	Austria	Goaltenders: Wolfgang Gerl, Robert Nusser. Defensemen: Adolf Bachura, Hermann Knoll, Franz Potucek, Rudolf Wurmbrand. Forwards: Rudolf Monitzer, Konrad Staudinger, Wolfgang Jöchl, Hans Zollner, Othmar Steiner, Walter Znenahlik, Kurt Kurz, Hans Wagner, Gerhard Springer, Gustav Tischer, Herbert Föderl. Coach: Udo Holfeld.
8	Japan	Goaltenders: Jasumoto Takagi, Tošio Sato. Defensmen: Naruhiro Mijazaki, Takeši Kikuči, Juzo Kaneda, Masami Tanabu. Forwards: Šiniči Honma, Isao Ono, Kazuo Watanabe, Jin Sakurai, Teruo Sakurai, Masahiro Sato, Mičio Sugawara, Tošiniko Jamada, Tošihiko Emori, Akria Monji, Jun Fujimori, Jošijaki Segawa, Cukasa Kawaniši. Coach: Kijoteru Nišiura.

References

• Complete results
• Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports, 498–528. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9. 
• Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press, 135. 

See also

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