The 2024 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Czechia from 10 to 26 May 2024. It was held in Prague and Ostrava, and organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was the most attended Hockey Championship in history with a total attendance of 797,727 spectators.
Hosts Czechia won the title for the seventh time, beating Switzerland 2–0 in the final. Czechia ended their 14-year gold drought after winning it for the first time since 2010. It was the third title won on homesoil in the 21st century, after Sweden in 2013 and Finland in 2022. Sweden won the bronze medal, defeating Canada 4–2 in the third place match. This tournament marked the first time since 2014 that all three medalists were European teams.
Bids Prague and Ostrava were officially announced as venues of the championship on 24 May 2019 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The two cities co-hosted the 2015 IIHF World Championship, the last tournament to be held in the country. The city of Brno wanted to build a new ice hockey hall to co-host the championship. Martin Urban, general secretary of the hockey association, confirmed Brno would not be considered as a host city without the new arena.
Rosters
Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters (forwards and defencemen) and two goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and three goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of the tournament.
Marketing According to estimates, fans' spending during the championship could reach two billion CZK. The medal weighing 250 grams with cut glass was produced by the Kolektiv Ateliers studio in Nový Bor. As in the previous Czech World Championship 2015, the mascots were announced as rabbit duo Bob and Bobek. For this tournament, they have blue jerseys instead of their previous red, with their numbers 20 and 24 corresponding to the year of the event. The total attendance was 797,727 viewers, it broke the audience record of World Championship 2015.
Venues PragueOstrava O2 ArenaCapacity: 17,413 Ostravar ArénaCapacity: 9,109
Participants
Qualified as hosts
Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2023 IIHF World Championship
Qualified through winning promotion at the 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I
Seeding The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2023 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2023 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system while allowing the organizer, "to allocate a maximum of two teams to separate groups."
Group A (Prague) (1) (2) (7) (8) (11) (12) (16) (20)
Group B (Ostrava) (4) (5) (6) (9) (10) (13) (15) (22)
Match officials 16 referees and linesmen were announced on 9 May 2024.
Referees Linesmen Michael Campbell Mark Pearce Martin Fraňo Jan Hribik Riku Brander Lassi Heikkinen Mikko Kaukokari Kristian Vikman André Schrader Andris Ansons Tomáš Hronský Tobias Björk Christoffer Holm Mikael Holm Michael Tscherrig Sean MacFarlane Tarrington Wyonzek Daniel Hynek Jiří Ondráček Josef Špůr Lauri Nikulainen Tim Heffner Andreas Hofer Dāvis Zunde Oto Durmis Ludvig Lundgren Anders Nyqvist Emil Yletyinen Dario Fuchs Kevin Briganti Nick Briganti Shane Gustafson
Preliminary round The groups were announced on 28 May 2023, with the schedule being revealed on 15 August 2023.
Group A
10 May 2024 5–2 1–0 (GWS) 11 May 2024 2–4 1–5 3–6 12 May 2024 8–0 1–5 5–6 13 May 2024 1–4 2–1 (GWS) 14 May 2024 0–2 7–6 (OT) 15 May 2024 7–4 3–0 16 May 2024 2–3 4–1 17 May 2024 3–4 4–0 18 May 2024 0–8 5–3 4–1 19 May 2024 1–4 2–3 20 May 2024 2–5 3–1 21 May 2024 2–4 4–3 (OT) 1–3
Group B
10 May 2024 4–6 5–2 11 May 2024 1–3 4–5 (OT) 6–1 12 May 2024 6–2 3–2 (OT) 5–1 13 May 2024 4–5 (OT) 1–6 14 May 2024 0–2 2–4 15 May 2024 8–1 4–0 16 May 2024 1–3 5–0 17 May 2024 8–2 1–4 18 May 2024 2–7 4–2 2–4 19 May 2024 10–1 2–3 (GWS) 20 May 2024 3–1 3–1 21 May 2024 3–6 3–6 6–1
Playoff round
Final
Final standings Teams finishing fifth in the preliminary round were ranked ninth and tenth, teams finishing sixth were ranked 11th and 12th, and so on.
Statistics Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Matt Boldy 8 6 8 14 +8 2 F Kevin Fiala 8 7 6 13 +6 27 F Brady Tkachuk 8 7 6 13 +7 4 F Marcus Johansson 9 6 6 12 +14 2 F Roman Josi 10 3 9 12 +4 4 D Dylan Cozens 10 9 2 11 +3 2 F Nico Hischier 10 6 5 11 +6 2 F Erik Karlsson 10 6 5 11 +9 0 D André Burakovsky 10 4 7 11 +8 0 F Johnny Gaudreau 8 3 8 11 +8 0 F GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF
Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40 % of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
Player TOI GA GAA SA Sv% SO Leonardo Genoni 431:07 10 1.39 169 94.08 1 Lukáš Dostál 492:18 13 1.58 213 93.90 3 Samuel Hlavaj 306:57 13 2.54 174 92.53 1 Henrik Haukeland 297:00 13 2.63 155 91.61 1 Kristers Gudļevskis 207:05 11 3.19 117 90.60 1 TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF
Awards
The awards were announced on 26 May 2024.
Media All Stars Position Player Goaltender Lukáš Dostál Defenceman Roman Josi Defenceman Erik Karlsson Forward Kevin Fiala Forward Dylan Cozens Forward Roman Červenka MVP Kevin Fiala
Individual awards Position Player Goaltender Lukáš Dostál Defenceman Roman Josi Forward Kevin Fiala
IIHF contributors' awards The first annual IIHF contributors' awards ceremony was held prior to the semifinal games of the men's championship.
Award recipients Anatolii Brezvin of Ukraine received the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey. Dezső Varga of Romania received the Torriani Award for a player with an outstanding career from non-top hockey nation. The IIHF Milestone Award was given to the 1998 Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team. Markus Graf of Switzerland received the Johan Bollue Award for contributions to growth and development in youth ice hockey. Al Michaels of ABC Sports received the IIHF Media Award for outstanding contributions to international hockey through television, print, and radio.
IIHF Hall of Fame induction The annual IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held during the medal presentations of the men's championship.
IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Natalie Darwitz, United States Melody Davidson, Canada Jaromír Jágr, Czechia Kenny Jönsson, Sweden Igor Liba, Slovakia Petteri Nummelin, Finland Jaroslav Pouzar, Czechia Ryan Smyth, Canada
Notes
References
External links Official website