1978 World Ice Hockey Championships

The 1978 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Prague, Czechoslovakia from 26 April to 14 May. Eight teams took part, with each team playing each other once in the first round, and then the four best teams meeting in a new round. This was the 45th World Championships, and also the 56th European Championships. The USSR won for the fifteenth time, narrowly defeating the incumbent Czechoslovaks.
On the final day, there was essentially a gold medal game, and a bronze medal game. The Soviets played the Czechoslovaks and needed to win by at least two to win the Championship.Tie breaker They took a three nothing lead, and hung to win by two, capturing gold by being even head to head with the Czechoslovaks, but having a cumulative two goal advantage against everyone else. Canada and Sweden came into the final game even, so the winner would claim the bronze. Pat Hickey scored with a minute left in the game to give Canada a three to two victory, and the medal.Tournament summary
Because of the allowance of professionals from the NHL into the tournament, a peculiar (and new) situation arose during this year's tournament. The Minnesota North Stars had players representing Canada (2), Sweden (3), and the USA (4).Duplacey page 506
==World Championship Group A (Czechoslovakia)==
===First round===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points Difference	Points
1	 	7 	7 	0 	0 	44 - 15 	14
2	 	7 	6 	0 	1 	46 - 23 	12
3	 	7 	4 	0 	3 	32 - 26 	8
4	 	7 	4 	0 	3 	35 - 21 	8
5	 	7 	2 	1 	4 	23 - 35 	5
6	 	7 	1 	1 	5 	25 - 42 	3
7	 	7 	1 	1 	5 	13 - 45 	3
8	 	7 	1 	1 	5 	23 - 34 	3
===Final Round 1-4 place===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
1	 	10 	9 	0 	1 	61 - 26 	18
2	 	10 	9 	0 	1 	54 - 21 	18
3	 	10 	5 	0 	5 	38 - 36 	10
4	 	10 	4 	0 	6 	39 - 37 	8
===Consolation Round 5-8 place===
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
5	 	10 	3 	3 	4 	35 - 43 	9
6	 	10 	2 	2 	6 	38 - 58 	6
7	 	10 	2 	2 	6 	37 - 44 	6
8	 	10 	1 	3 	6 	20 - 57 	5
East Germany was relegated to Group B.
==World Championship Group B (Yugoslavia)==
Played in Belgrade March 17–26.
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
9 	 	7 	6 	1 	0 	51 - 19 	13
10	 	7 	5 	1 	1 	26 - 17 	11
11	 	7 	4 	1 	2 	42 - 32 	9
12	 	7 	3 	1 	3 	41 - 29 	7
13	 	7 	3 	0 	4 	21 - 36 	6
14	 	7 	2 	1 	4 	29 - 34 	5
15	 	7 	1 	1 	5 	32 - 41 	3
16	 	7 	1 	0 	6 	14 - 48 	2
Undefeated Poland was promoted to Group A, and both Italy and Yugoslavia were relegated to Group C.
==World Championship Group C (Spain)==
Played in the Canary Islands (Las Palmas) 10–19 March.
 	Team	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points difference	Points
17	 	7 	6 	1 	0 	74 - 17 	13
18	 	7 	5 	1 	1 	65 - 31 	11
19	 	7 	4 	1 	2 	59 - 25 	9
20	 	7 	4 	0 	3 	47 - 30 	8
21	 	7 	3 	1 	3 	27 - 30 	7
22	 	7 	3 	0 	4 	46 - 39 	6
23	 	7 	1 	0 	6 	26 - 84 	2
24	 	7 	0 	0 	7 	13 - 101 	0
The Netherlands and Austria were both promoted to Group B. China and Denmark also ended up being promoted to alleviate a political situation between the Chinese and the South Koreans.Group B and C summaries 1979
==Ranking and statistics==
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===Final standings===
The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:
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4 	
5 	
6 	
7 	
8 	
===European championships final standings===
The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:
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4 	
5 	
6 	
==Photos==
78USSR.jpg|Champion Soviet Union
Prha_78-3.jpg|Finland
Praha78-2.jpg|Canada
Praha78-1.jpg|Soviet Union
77SweUSSR.jpg|Program from the Swedish-Soviet game
1978Czech.jpg|Czechoslovakia team photo
1978Belgium.jpg|Belgium team photo
==Citations==
==References==
*Complete results
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Category:IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
World Championships