2023 IIHF World Championship

The 2023 IIHF World Championship was co-hosted by Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. The tournament was held from 12 to 28 May 2023, organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
As in the 2022 edition, the tournament saw several upsets: Kazakhstan's win over Norway, Hungary's win over France, Latvia's first-ever victory over Czechia, Norway’s second-ever win over Canada, as well as Kazakhstan's first-ever victory over Slovakia. The playoffs also saw major upsets, as Latvia reached the semi-finals for the first time after defeating favourite Sweden 3–1 in the quarter-finals, Germany upset Switzerland 3–1 and the reigning Olympic and World Champion Finland lost to Canada 4–1. Czechia finished in 8th place after losing to the United States 3–0 in the quarter-finals, which is that nation's worst placement to date in the history of the World Championship. Germany reached the final for the first time since 1930 after upsetting the top-seeded USA 4–3 in overtime. Finally, this was the first time since 1950 that the medalists did not include at least one of the traditional hockey powers: Sweden, Finland, Russia (and Soviet Union) and Czechia (and Czechoslovakia.)
Canada won its 28th title by beating Germany 5–2 in the final. The silver was Germany's first medal since 1953. Latvia claimed its first ever IIHF medal after defeating the United States 4–3 in overtime and finishing third.
==Host nation bid==
The event was originally planned to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but, in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called for Russia and Belarus to be stripped of hosting rights to all international sporting events due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 26 April 2022, Russia lost their rights to host the World Championship.
After being promoted to the top division, Slovenia and Hungary bid to co-host the event in Ljubljana and Budapest. The bid was withdrawn due to Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation informing the IIHF that it did not receive the governmental guarantees to host. Finland and Latvia submitted a joint bid, with Nokia Arena in Tampere and Arena Riga in Riga as potential host venues. On 27 May 2022, the IIHF confirmed that Finland and Latvia would host the tournament, with Finland having also hosted the 2022 IIHF World Championship in Tampere (Nokia Arena) and Helsinki (Helsinki Ice Hall).
==Participants==
; Qualified as hosts
*
*
; Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2022 IIHF World Championship:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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*
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; Qualified through winning promotion at the 2022 IIHF World Championship Division I:
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==Seeding==
The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2022 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2022 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system while allowing the organizer, "to allocate a maximum of two teams to separate groups."
;Group A (Tampere)
* (1)
* (4)
* (5)
* (9)
* (10)
* (13)
* (15)
* (20)
;Group B (Riga)
* (2)
* (6)
* (7)
* (8)
* (11)
* (12)
* (16)
* (19)
==Preliminary round==
The groups were announced on 29 May 2022, with the schedule being revealed on 8 September 2022.
===Group A===
Pos	Teamv
t
e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1 	 	7 	6	1 	0 	0	34	8 	26 	20 	Quarterfinals
2 	 	7 	5	1 	1 	0	26	7 	19 	18 	Quarterfinals
3 	(H)	7 	5	0 	1 	1	28	15	13 	16 	Quarterfinals
4 	 	7 	4	0 	0 	3	27	16	11 	12 	Quarterfinals
5 	 	7 	2	1 	0 	4	19	26	−7 	8 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
6 	 	7 	0	1 	2 	4	10	31	−21	4 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
7 	 	7 	0	1 	1 	5	11	27	−16	3 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
8 	 	7 	0	1 	1 	5	12	37	−25	3 	Relegation to 2024 Division I A
 		 			
12 May 2023		 			
align=right		1–4 			
align=right		1–0 			
13 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–1 (OT) 			
align=right		1–3 			
align=right		3–4 			
14 May 2023		 			
align=right		7–1 			
align=right		3–4 (OT) 			
align=right		5–0 			
15 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–3 			
align=right		1–2 (GWS)			
16 May 2023		 			
align=right		6–2 			
align=right		2–3 (OT) 			
17 May 2023		 			
align=right		4–1 			
align=right		5–3 			
18 May 2023		 			
align=right		1–7 			
align=right		4–6 			
19 May 2023		 			
align=right		1–7 			
align=right		2–4 			
20 May 2023		 			
align=right		3–0 			
align=right		1–3 			
align=right		4–0 			
21 May 2023		 			
align=right		7–2 			
align=right		9–0 			
22 May 2023		 			
align=right		1–4 			
align=right		4–3 (GWS)			
23 May 2023		 			
align=right		5–0 			
align=right		3–4 (OT) 			
align=right		7–1 			
===Group B===
Pos	Teamv
t
e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1 	 	7 	6	0 	1 	0	29	10	19 	19 	Quarterfinals
2 	 	7 	4	1 	1 	1	25	11	14 	15 	Quarterfinals
3 	(H)	7 	3	2 	0 	2	21	17	4 	13 	Quarterfinals
4 	 	7 	4	0 	1 	2	22	16	6 	13 	Quarterfinals
5 	 	7 	3	0 	2 	2	15	15	0 	11 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
6 	 	7 	1	2 	0 	4	14	31	−17	7 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
7 	 	7 	1	1 	1 	4	9 	17	−8 	6 	Qualification for 2024 IIHF World Championship
8 	 	7 	0	0 	0 	7	9 	27	−18	0 	Relegation to 2024 Division I A
 		 			
12 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–3 			
align=right		0–6 			
13 May 2023		 			
align=right		7–0 			
align=right		3–4 (GWS)			
align=right		2–1 			
14 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–5 			
align=right		0–3 			
align=right		5–1 			
15 May 2023		 			
align=right		1–2 (GWS)			
align=right		3–4 (OT) 			
16 May 2023		 			
align=right		0–1 			
align=right		5–0 			
17 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–1 			
align=right		5–1 			
18 May 2023		 			
align=right		6–2 			
align=right		4–2 			
19 May 2023		 			
align=right		3–2 			
align=right		4–3 (GWS)			
20 May 2023		 			
align=right		0–2 			
align=right		2–3 			
align=right		0–7 			
21 May 2023		 			
align=right		0–1 			
align=right		2–4 			
22 May 2023		 			
align=right		2–3 (GWS)			
align=right		4–3 			
23 May 2023		 			
align=right		4–1 			
align=right		3–1 			
align=right		3–4 (OT) 			
==Quarter-finals==
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==Semi-finals==
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==Bronze medal game==
==Gold medal game==
==References==
==External links==
*Official website
World Ice Hockey Championships, Men's
Category:IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships