1981 World Ice Hockey Championships

The 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Scandinavium arena in Gothenburg, Sweden 12–26 April 1981. Eight teams took part, firstly splitting into two groups of two, with the best two from each group advancing to the final group. These teams then play each other in the final round. This was the 47th World Championships, and also the 58th European Championships. The Soviet Union became World Champions for the 17th time, and also won their twentieth European title. Don Cherry commented, "This is the best Russian team I've ever seen."Summary
The Dutch team had won Group C and Group B in successive years to play in this tournament, but did not fare well. Their best game was a narrow one goal loss to the Americans, a goal scored on a penalty shot by Dave Christian with eleven seconds left. It was their first appearance at the top level since 1950 and they have not returned since.Ponieks page 95
==World Championship Group A (Sweden)==
===First Round===
===Group 1===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
1	 	3 	3 	0 	0 	25 - 04 	6
2	 	3 	2 	0 	1 	14 - 12 	4
3	 	3 	1 	0 	2 	16 - 14 	2
4	 	3 	0 	0 	3 	05 - 30 	0
===Group 2===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
1	 	3 	2 	1 	0 	20 - 07 	5
2	 	3 	2 	1 	0 	11 - 07 	5
3	 	3 	1 	0 	2 	14 - 21 	2
4	 	3 	0 	0 	3 	10 - 20 	0
===Final Round===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
1	 	6 	4 	2 	0 	38 - 12 	10
2	 	6 	3 	1 	2 	16 - 26 	7
3	 	6 	2 	2 	2 	20 - 22 	6
4	 	6 	0 	1 	5 	16 - 30 	1
===Consolation Round===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
5	 	6 	4 	1 	1 	35 - 28 	9
6	 	6 	3 	2 	1 	33 - 21 	8
7	 	6 	3 	1 	2 	40 - 30 	7
8	 	6 	0 	0 	6 	22 - 51 	0
The Netherlands were relegated to Group B.
==World Championship Group B (Italy)==
Played in Urtijëi March 20-29. The hosts went undefeated to win, led by former Pittsburgh Penguin and Edmonton Oiler Wayne Bianchin and backstopped by former Oiler Jim Corsi.
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
9 	 	7 	6 	1 	0 	38 - 18 	13
10	 	7 	5 	1 	1 	49 - 25 	11
11	 	7 	4 	2 	1 	28 - 20 	10
12	 	7 	4 	1 	2 	37 - 25 	9
13	 	7 	2 	0 	5 	25 - 30 	4
14	 	7 	2 	0 	5 	21 - 39 	4
15	 	7 	1 	1 	5 	23 - 44 	3
16	 	7 	1 	0 	6 	18 - 38 	2
Italy was promoted to Group A, both Yugoslavia and Japan were relegated to Group C.
==World Championship Group C (China PR)==
Played in Beijing March 6–15.
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
17	 	7 	7 	0 	0 	43 - 05 	14
18	 	7 	6 	0 	1 	46 - 14 	12
19	 	7 	4 	1 	2 	38 - 22 	9
20	 	7 	3 	1 	3 	36 - 27 	7
21	 	7 	3 	0 	4 	48 - 36 	6
22	 	7 	3 	0 	4 	22 - 32 	6
23	 	7 	1 	0 	6 	18 - 66 	2
24	 	7 	0 	0 	7 	11 - 60 	0
Both Austria and China were promoted to Group B.
==Ranking and statistics==
{| style="float:right;"
|-
| style="width:3px;;"|  
|
===Final standings===
The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:
align=center	
align=center	
align=center	
4 	
5 	
6 	
7 	
8 	
===European championships final standings===
The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:
align=center	
align=center	
align=center	
4 	
5 	
6 	
==Team Photos==
81Sweden.jpg|Sweden
==Citations==
==References==
*Complete results
*
*
==External links==
*IIHF World Ice Hockey Championships at SVT's open archive (including the 1981 tournament) 
Category:IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
World Championships