1976 Ice Hockey World Championships

1976 Ice Hockey World Championships

Tournament details
Host country	Poland
Dates	8–25 April
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Czechoslovakia (4th title)
Runner-up	Soviet Union
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	United States
Tournament statistics
Matches played	40
Goals scored	289 (7.23 per match)
Attendance	219,000 (5,475 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Vladimír Martinec 20 points
← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 43rd Ice Hockey World Championships and the 54th European Championships in ice hockey. The tournament took place in Poland from 8 to 25 April, and the games were played in Katowice. Eight teams took part in the main tournament, with each team first playing each other once. The four best teams then took part in a medal play off, and the teams placed 5–8 took part in a relegation play-off. The teams took the results from the first round through to the second round with them.

In response to charges of the rules regarding amateurism being unfair a change was implemented for this year.^[1][2] The 1976 IHWC tournament was first to feature major league professionals from the NHL and WHA, although in the end only the United States made use of the new rule, recalling eight pros from the Minnesota North Stars and Minnesota Fighting Saints.^[3][4] It is important to note, that such nations as the Soviet Union, had been using pros all along, while circumventing their status by listing them in the military.^[5] The Americans promptly made the medal play off for the first time since 1962 after beating Sweden and tying Finland in the first round.

The Czechoslovakia national ice hockey team won nine games and were unbeaten, becoming world champions for the fourth time. The defending champions from the USSR finished 2nd after sensationally losing the opening game 4–6 to hosts Poland.^[6] Sweden won the bronze after beating the Americans 7-3 in the medal round. In the European standings Sweden moved up one position leaving the Soviets with the bronze for the first time ever.

World Championship Group A (Poland)[]

First round[]

	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points Difference	Points
1	Czechoslovakia	7	7	0	0	54 - 07	14
2	Soviet Union	7	5	0	2	37 - 15	10
3	Sweden	7	4	0	3	22 - 18	8
4	United States	7	3	1	3	19 - 23	7
5	Poland	7	2	1	4	21 - 36	5
6	West Germany	7	2	0	5	19 - 35	4
7	Finland	7	1	2	4	17 - 29	4
8	East Germany	7	2	0	5	11 - 37	4

8 April

West Germany

1-4 (0-1, 0-1, 1-2)

Sweden

	0–1 15:15 - 0–2 24:49 - Dan Labraaten Erich Kühnhackl - 40:39 1–2 1–3 54:37 - Roland Eriksson 1–4 56:44 -

8 April

Czechoslovakia

10-0

East Germany

8 April

United States

3-3 (0-2, 2-0, 1-1)

Finland

	0–1 00:17 - Hannu Kapanen 0–2 14:13 - Timo Nummelin - 27:56 1–2 William Schneider - 35:39 2–2 Bill Klatt - 45:07 3–2 3–3 49:04 - Tapio Koskinen

8 April

Poland

6-4 (2-0, 3-2, 1-2)

Soviet Union

	M. Jaskierski - 10:27 1–0 - 14:33 2–0 2–1 20:39 - Boris Mikhailov W. Jobczyk - 22:45 3–1 M. Jaskierski - 23:06 4–1 4–2 25:16 - Alexander Yakushev W. Jobczyk - 26:48 5–2 5–3 53:50 - Valeri Kharlamov W. Jobczyk - 58:57 6–3 6–4 59:09 - Boris Mikhailov
	30	Shots	37

9 April

Poland

0-12 (0-2, 0-2, 0-8)

Czechoslovakia

	0–1 17:53 – Jiří Holík 0–2 19:43 – Peter Šťastný 0–3 24:19 – Jiří Novák 0–4 25:44 – Jiří Holík 0–5 40:56 – Peter Šťastný 0–6 42:00 – Vladimír Martinec 0–7 45:36 – Jiří Novák 0–8 47:46 – Jiří Bubla 0–9 50:52 – Bohuslav Šťastný 0–10 53:55 – Jiří Novák 0–11 54:32 – František Černík 0–12 59:47 – Ivan Hlinka

9 April

Soviet Union

4-0 (1-0, 1-0, 2-0)

East Germany

	Viktor Zhluktov – 13:00 1–0 Valeri Kharlamov – 25:50 2–0 Boris Mikhailov – 52:50 3–0 – 57:29 4–0

10 April

West Germany

2-5 (1-0, 1-3, 0-2)

Finland

	Erich Kühnhackl – 11:26 1–0 Erich Kühnhackl – 25:44 2–0 2–1 32:56 – Timo Nummelin 2–2 38:06 – 2–3 39:40 – Matti Murto 2–4 40:11 – Matti Murto 2–5 43:50 – Jouni Rinne

10 April

Sweden

0-2 (0-1, 0-0, 0-1)

United States

	0–1 18:24 – Sarner 0–2 47:57 – Klatt

11 April

Poland

6-4 (3-0, 2-2, 1-2)

East Germany

	Potz – 01:18 1–0 Jobczyk – 04:14 2–0 Kokoszka – 18:25 3–0 Marcińczak – 21:25 4–0 4–1 24:24 – Stasche Ziętara – 38:00 5–1 5–2 38:25 – Stasche 5–3 47:20 – Patschinski 5–4 55:40 – Slapke Jobczyk – 56:54 6–4

11 April

Finland

1-8 (0-1, 1-3, 0-4)

Soviet Union

	0–1 13:25 – Zhluktov 0–2 22:02 – Korotkov Leppä – 33:59 1–2 1–3 34:24 – Maltsev 1–4 37:47 – Shalimov 1–5 54:14 – Lutchenko 1–6 56:01 – Lyapkin 1–7 56:53 – Zhluktov 1–8 59:19 – Balderis

11 April

Czechoslovakia

3-1 (0-0, 2-0, 1-1)

Sweden

	Chalupa – 25:40 1–0 Nový – 34:42 2–0 Martinec – 50:07 3–0 3–1 54:31 – Jax

12 April

Poland

3-5 (1-2, 1-1, 1-2)

West Germany

	Kokoszka – 03:45 1–0 1–1 08:51 – Köberle 1–2 14:24 – Kühnhackl Góralczyk – 31:59 2–2 2–3 Philipp – 35:56 2–4 Kretschner – 42:50 2–5 Köberle – 53:30 Góralczyk – 55:24 3–5

12 April

East Germany

2-1 (0-0, 0-0, 2-1)

United States

	Patschinski – 40:53 1–0 Müller – 45:35 2–0 2–1 57:56 – Klatt

13 April

Czechoslovakia

7-1 (1-1, 4-0, 2-0)

Finland

	0–1 01:20 – Koskinen Martinec – 19:53 1–1 Holík – 21:44 2–1 Nový – 28:12 3–1 Nový – 31:03 4–1 Šťastný – 35:20 5–1 Bubla – 43:37 6–1 Šťastný – 59:25 7–1

13 April

Soviet Union

6-1 (2-0, 2-0, 2-1)

Sweden

	Maltsev – 03:49 1–0 Mikhailov – 07:25 2–0 Maltsev – 24:10 3–0 Yakushev – 24:32 4–0 Mikhailov – 44:01 5–0 Shalimov – 49:36 6–0 6–1 50:59 – Lundberg

14 April

Poland

2-4 (0-2, 1-1, 1-1)

United States

	0–1 02:38 – Younghans 0–2 04:56 – Jensen Jobczyk – 26:39 1–2 1–3 27:17 – Schneider 1–4 49:06 – Ross Góralczyk – 51:45 2–4

14 April

East Germany

1-7

West Germany

15 April

Finland

3-4

Sweden

15 April

United States

2-10

Czechoslovakia

15 April

West Germany

2-8

Soviet Union

17 April

Sweden

8-2

East Germany

17 April

Poland

3-3

Finland

17 April

Soviet Union

2-3

Czechoslovakia

18 April

United States

5-1

West Germany

18 April

Finland

1-2

East Germany

19 April

Czechoslovakia

9-1

West Germany

19 April

Poland

1-4

Sweden

19 April

Soviet Union

5-2

United States

Final Round 1–4 place[]

	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
1	Czechoslovakia	10	9	1	0	67 - 14	19
2	Soviet Union	10	6	1	3	50 - 23	13
3	Sweden	10	6	0	4	36 - 29	12
4	United States	10	3	1	6	24 - 42	7

21 April

Czechoslovakia

5-1

United States

21 April

Soviet Union

3-4

Sweden

23 April

Sweden

3-5

Czechoslovakia

23 April

United States

1-7

Soviet Union

25 April

Sweden

7-3

United States

25 April

Czechoslovakia

3-3

Soviet Union

Consolation Round 5–8 place[]

	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points	Tie H2H Points
5	Finland	10	2	4	4	35 - 41	8	5
6	West Germany	10	3	2	5	26 - 41	8	5
7	Poland	10	3	2	5	32 - 47	8	2
8	East Germany	10	2	1	7	19 - 52	5

East Germany was relegated to Group B. Poland was also relegated to make room for the return of team Canada.

20 April

Poland

5-4

East Germany

20 April

Finland

4-4

West Germany

22 April

Poland

5-5

Finland

22 April

East Germany

1-1

West Germany

24 April

Finland

9-3

East Germany

24 April

Poland

1-2

West Germany

World Championship Group B (Switzerland)[]

Played in Aarau and Bienne 18–27 March.

	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
9	Romania	7	5	1	1	40 - 23	11
10	Japan	7	5	0	2	34 - 17	10
11	Norway	7	4	0	3	29 - 21	8
12	Switzerland	7	4	0	3	25 - 28	8
13	Yugoslavia	7	4	0	3	37 - 26	8
14	Netherlands	7	3	0	4	22 - 30	6
15	Italy	7	2	1	4	23 - 41	5
16	Bulgaria	7	0	0	7	23 - 47	0

Romania was promoted to Group A, and both Italy and Bulgaria were relegated to Group C.

18 March

Netherlands

4-3

Norway

18 March

Switzerland

5-1

Bulgaria

18 March

Italy

2-8

Yugoslavia

18 March

Romania

7-5

Japan

19 March

Italy

8-3

Bulgaria

19 March

Switzerland

5-4

Yugoslavia

20 March

Japan

4-0

Netherlands

20 March

Romania

2-1

Norway

21 March

Yugoslavia

5-2

Romania

21 March

Switzerland

4-2

Netherlands

21 March

Italy

4-2

Norway

21 March

Bulgaria

3-4

Japan

22 March

Yugoslavia

9-7

Bulgaria

22 March

Switzerland

4-1

Italy

23 March

Romania

8-1

Netherlands

23 March

Norway

3-2

Japan

24 March

Romania

5-5

Italy

24 March

Japan

3-2

Yugoslavia

24 March

Netherlands

5-3

Bulgaria

24 March

Switzerland

3-7

Norway

26 March

Japan

10-0

Italy

26 March

Norway

7-2

Bulgaria

26 March

Netherlands

1-5

Yugoslavia

26 March

Switzerland

2-7

Romania

27 March

Norway

6-4

Yugoslavia

27 March

Switzerland

2-6

Japan

27 March

Romania

9-4

Bulgaria

27 March

Netherlands

9-3

Italy

World Championship Group C (Poland)[]

Played in Gdańsk 8–13 March.

	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
17	Austria	4	4	0	0	38 - 09	8
18	Hungary	4	3	0	1	30 - 09	6
19	France	4	2	0	2	14 - 18	4
20	Denmark	4	1	0	3	16 - 24	2
21	Great Britain	4	0	0	4	06 - 44	0

Both Austria and Hungary were promoted to Group B.

8 March

Austria

4-3

Denmark

8 March

Hungary

11-0

Great Britain

9 March

Great Britain

2-21

Austria

9 March

Hungary

6-1

France

10 March

France

7-4

Denmark

11 March

Denmark

7-3

Great Britain

11 March

Austria

6-3

Hungary

12 March

France

5-1

Great Britain

13 March

Hungary

10-2

Denmark

13 March

Austria

7-1

France

Ranking and statistics[]

1976 IIHF World Championship Winners  Czechoslovakia 4th title Tournament Awards[] Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goaltender: Jiří Holeček Best Defenceman: František Pospíšil Best Forward: Vladimír Martinec Media All-Star Team: Goaltender: Jiří Holeček Defence: František Pospíšil, Mats Waltin Forwards: Valeri Kharlamov, Vladimír Martinec, Milan Nový

Final standings[]

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

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

European championships final standings[]

The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:

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

References[]

• Complete results
• Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. pp. 498–528. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
• Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. p. 145.