1998 World Championship The 1998 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships were held in Switzerland from May 1 - 17 , 1998 . The format expanded to 16 teams for the first time . The teams were divided into four groups of four with the top two teams in each advancing to the next round . The two groups of four then played a round robin with the top two teams in each moving on to the semi - finals . The semi - finals were a two game total goals for series as was the final . Group A . Czech Republic 8 - 2 Japan Belarus 4 - 2 Germany Belarus 2 - 4 Czech Republic Germany 5 - 1 Japan Japan 4 - 6 Belarus Czech Republic 8 - 1 Germany Czech Republic and Belarus advanced to the next round , Germany is sent to the Qualification round . Group B . Canada 5 - 1 Austria Italy 1 - 2 Slovakia Slovakia 2 - 2 Canada Italy 5 - 1 Austria Austria 1 - 5 Slovakia Canada 5 - 2 Italy Canada and Slovakia advanced to the next round . Italy is sent to the Qualification round . Group C . USA 5 - 2 Switzerland Sweden 6 - 1 France France 3 - 1 USA Sweden 4 - 2 Switzerland USA 1 - 6 Sweden Switzerland 5 - 1 France Sweden and Switzerland advanced to the next round . USA is sent to the Qualification round . Group D . Russia 8 - 4 Kazakhstan Finland 6 - 0 Latvia Latvia 5 - 7 Russia Finland 4 - 0 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 2 - 7 Latvia Russia 4 - 2 Finland Russia and Finland advanced to the next round . Latvia is sent to the Qualification round . Qualification Round . USA 1 - 1 Germany Italy 1 - 1 Latvia Italy 4 - 0 USA Germany 0 - 5 Latvia Germany 4 - 4 Italy Latvia 3 - 2 USA Classification Round . Group E . Sweden 1 - 0 Finland Belarus 2 - 6 Canada Canada 3 - 3 Finland Sweden 2 - 1 Belarus Canada 1 - 7 Sweden Finland 5 - 2 Belarus Sweden and Finland advanced to the semi - finals . Group F . Slovakia 0 - 1 Czech Republic Russia 2 - 4 Switzerland Czech Republic 3 - 1 Switzerland Russia 6 - 1 Slovakia Czech Republic 2 - 2 Russia Switzerland 1 - 1 Slovakia Czech Republic and Switzerland advanced to the semi - finals . Semi - Finals . Sweden 4 - 1 Switzerland Switzerland 2 - 7 Sweden Czech Republic 1 - 4 Finland Finland 2 - 2 Czech Republic Bronze Medal Match . Czech Republic 4 - 0 Switzerland Gold Medal Match . Finland 0 - 1 Sweden Sweden 0 - 0 Finland Team Photos . = Team rosters = Sweden . 1 . Goaltenders : Tommy Salo , Johan Hedberg , Thomas Eriksson . Defenders : Mattias Öhlund , Kim Johnsson , Jan Mertzig , Niclas Hävelid , Mattias Norström , Hans Jonsson , Johan Tornberg . Forwards : Christer Olsson , Anders Huusko , Mikael Johansson , Tommy Westlund , Mats Sundin , Nichlas Falk , Jonas Bergqvist , Mikael Renberg , Peter Forsberg , Ulf Dahlén , Peter Nordström , Patric Kjellberg , Jörgen Jönsson , Fredrik Modin , Niklas Sundström . Coaches : Kent Forsberg , Tommy Tomth . Finland . 2 . Goaltenders : Ari Sulander , Jarmo Myllys , Vesa Toskala . Defencemen : Kimmo Timonen , Jere Karalahti , Marko Kiprusoff , Toni Lydman , Janne Laukkanen , Petteri Nummelin , Antti - Jussi Niemi , Kaj Linna . Forwards : Raimo Helminen , Ville Peltonen , Sami Kapanen , Antti Törmänen , Juah Ikonen , Mika Alatalo , Mikko Eloranta , Kimmo Rintanen , Jarkko Ruutu , Joni Lius , Olli Jokinen , Marko Tuomainen , Toni Mäkiaho . Coaches : Hannu Aravirta , Esko Nokelainen , Jari Kaarela . Czech Republic . 3 . Goaltenders : Milan Hnilička , Roman Čechmánek , Martin Prusek . Defencemen : František Kučera , František Kaberle , Jiří Vykoukal , Libor Procházka , Robert Kántor , Jiří Šlégr , Jiří Veber , Václav Burda . Forwards : Radek Bělohlav , Pavel Patera , Martin Procházka , David Výborný , Ladislav Lubina , Jiří Dopita , Marián Kacíř , Jan Hlaváč , Robert Reichel , Petr Sýkora , Josef Beránek , David Moravec , Patrik Eliáš , Milan Hejduk . Coaches : Ivan Hlinka , Slavomír Lener , Vladimír Martinec . Russia . 5 . Goaltenders : Yegor Podomatsky , Maxim Sokolov , Oleg Shevtsov . Defencemen : Marat Davydov , Sergei Fokin , Dmitri Yerofeyev , Dmitri Yushkevich , Daniil Markov , Andrei Skopintsev , Sergei Zhukov . Forwards : Sergei Berezin , Oleg Belov , Aleksei Chupin , Alexei Kovalev , Viktor Kozlov , Alexei Kudashov , Aleksey Morozov , Andrei Nazarov , Sergei Nemchinov , Sergei Petrenko , Oleg Petrov , Vitali Prokhorov , Mikhail Sarmatin . Coach : Alexander Yakushev . Slovakia . 7 . Goaltenders : Pavol Rybár , Miroslav Šimonovič , Miroslav Michalek . Defencemen : Jerguš Bača , Róbert Pukalovič , Ľubomír Višňovský , Ľubomír Sekeráš , Stanislav Jasečko , Ivan Droppa , Róbert Švehla . Forwards : Roman Stantien , Peter Pucher , Jozef Stümpel , René Pucher , Jozef Voskár , Zdeno Cíger , Branislav Jánoš , Igor Rataj , Ján Pardavý , Peter Bartoš , Radoslav Kropáč , Richard Kapuš , Jozef Daňo . Coaches : Ján Šterbák , František Hossa .