2014 IIHF World Championship The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital , Minsk . Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues , the Minsk - Arena and Chizhovka - Arena . It was the first time Belarus hosted the tournament . The selection of Belarus to host this competition was the subject of much debate , with some politicians in both Europe and the United States calling for the IIHF to move the tournament to another country . Russia remained undefeated throughout the championship and captured the gold medal by defeating Finland 5 – 2 in the final . Sweden captured the bronze medal with a 3 – 0 victory over the Czech Republic . Host team Belarus made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 , losing to Sweden 3 – 2 in the quarterfinal . Italy and Kazakhstan were relegated to Division I A . Prior to the championship , Division I - III had played their tournaments to establish the rank between teams of lower levels . After the final referee Keith Kaval was rewarded by president Putin for his services . After letting Russian team to win the finals he moved to Russian and started a well paid career as KHL - league referee . This referee also has a fan page https : / / www . facebook . com / Unofficial - Lars - Br % C3 % BCggemann - and - Keith - Kaval - fanpage - 661889100527656 / that shows the highlights of this final . The tournament saw a new attendance record for the World Championship , as a total of 640 , 044 people attended games , surpassing the record set at the 2004 tournament in the Czech Republic , which had 552 , 097 spectators . Host selection . On 8 May 2009 , the Belarusian bid was successful and got 75 votes in the race for hosting the 2014 IIHF World Championship . The application with the slogan “ Welcome to the young hockey country ” beat out those from Hungary ( 24 votes ) , Latvia ( 3 ) , and Ukraine ( 3 ) . The two main venues listed as hosts for the ice hockey teams were Minsk - Arena ( capacity around 15000 ) and Chizhovka - Arena ( capacity around 9600 ) . The larger arena was completed and opened in 2010 , whereas construction of the smaller one was completed in 2012 . The selection of Belarus as hosts caused great controversy ( Minsk2014 Campaign ) . On 11 April 2011 , United States Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Michael Quigley urged the IIHF to move the World Championship to another location , citing concerns over the authoritarian government of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko . Lukashenko ' s alleged human rights violations had resulted in numerous sanctions placed on himself and 157 of his associates by the European Union and United States . Senator Durbin and Representative Quigley were supported by former Slovak ice hockey player and current Member of the European Parliament Peter Šťastný . According to a 2013 report by the U . S . organisation Freedom House , Belarus was the least democratic country in Europe at the time . However , the IIHF remarked that its statutes did not allow it to discriminate on political grounds , and spokespersons for the Latvian and Lithuanian ice hockey federations stated that they had no desire for " mixing politics with sports " . On 16 January 2012 President Lukashenko announced that any foreigners who wanted to attend the World Championships would not need a visa to enter Belarus , or the medical insurance required for entry . The only documentation required was an original or electronic copy of a ticket to a game . Rosters . Each team ' s roster consists of at least 15 skaters ( forwards and defencemen ) and two goaltender s , and at most 22 skaters and three goaltenders . All sixteen participating nations , through the confirmation of their respective national associations , have to submit a roster by the first IIHF directorate meeting . Officials . The IIHF selected 16 referees and 16 linesmen to work the 2014 IIHF World Championship . They were the following : Format . Of the 16 teams in the tournament Belarus qualified as host while Kazakhstan and Italy qualified through the 2013 IIHF World Championship Division I , the rest qualified after a top 14 placement at the 2013 IIHF World Championship . The teams are divided into two groups of which the four best from each will advance to the quarter finals . Here they will meet cross - over as indicated in the section below . In the group round , points were awarded as follows : If two or more teams finished with an equal number of points in the same group , their standings were determined by the following tiebreaking formula : Final ranking : places 1 – 4 were determined by the medal games . Other places were determined by playoff positioning , group play positioning in the group , number of points , goal difference , goals scored , and tournament seeding . The two lowest ranking teams overall were relegated to Division I A . Preliminary round . The schedule was released on 5 September 2013 . Ranking and statistics . Final ranking . The official IIHF final ranking of the tournament : Scoring leaders . List shows the top skaters sorted by points , then goals . Leading goaltenders . 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 .