# 1973 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1973 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 40th Ice Hockey World Championships and the 51st European Championships of ice hockey. The tournament took place in the Soviet Union from 31 March to 15 April and the games were played at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow.
Six teams took part in the main tournament, with each team playing each other twice. The Soviet Union took back their world title and became World Champions for the 12th time.

## World Championship Group A (Soviet Union)

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 18 | +82 | 20 |
| 2 | Sweden | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 53 | 23 | +30 | 15 |
| 3 | Czechoslovakia | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 48 | 20 | +28 | 13 |
| 4 | Finland | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 24 | 39 | −15 | 7 |
| 5 | Poland | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 76 | −62 | 3 |
| 6 | West Germany | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 19 | 82 | −63 | 2 |
West Germany was relegated to Group B.

## World Championship Group B (Austria)

Played in Graz, 22 to 31 March. The Austrian team was coached by Father David Bauer who had established the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 7 | East Germany | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 21 | +35 | 14 |
| 8 | United States | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 52 | 23 | +29 | 11 |
| 9 | Yugoslavia | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 22 | +14 | 10 |
| 10 | Romania | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 9 |
| 11 | Austria | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 44 | −23 | 4 |
| 12 | Japan | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 28 | −5 | 4 |
| 13 | Switzerland | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 26 | 44 | −18 | 4 |
| 14 | Italy | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 54 | −36 | 0 |
East Germany was promoted to Group A, both Switzerland and Italy were relegated to group C. Rating Austria, Japan and Switzerland against each other head to head, they each had two points, Austria had a goal differential of +2, Japan +1, and Switzerland -3.

## World Championship Group C (Netherlands)

Played in Geleen, Rotterdam, Nijmegen, Utrecht, Tilburg and The Hague, from 9 to 18 March.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 15 | Norway | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 14 | +39 | 14 |
| 16 | Netherlands | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 21 | +31 | 10 |
| 17 | Hungary | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 24 | +20 | 10 |
| 18 | Bulgaria | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 28 | +1 | 7 |
| 19 | China | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 28 | −7 | 6 |
| 20 | France | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 29 | −6 | 6 |
| 21 | Denmark | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 58 | −36 | 2 |
| 22 | Great Britain | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 60 | −42 | 1 |
Norway and the Netherlands were promoted to Group B.

## Ranking and statistics

* 1973 IIHF World Championship winners
* Soviet Union 12th title

### Tournament Awards

* Best players selected by the directorate:
** Best Goaltender: Jiří Holeček
** Best Defenceman: Valeri Vasiliev
** Best Forward: Boris Mikhailov
* Media All-Star Team:
** Goaltender: Jiří Holeček
** Defence: Alexander Gusev, Börje Salming
** Forwards: Valeri Kharlamov, Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Petrov

### Final standings

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:
| | Soviet Union |
| | Sweden |
| | Czechoslovakia |
| 4 | Finland |
| 5 | Poland |
| 6 | West Germany |

### European championships final standings

The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:
| | Soviet Union |
| | Sweden |
| | Czechoslovakia |
| 4 | Finland |
| 5 | Poland |
| 6 | West Germany |