1982 Ice Hockey World Championships
The 1982 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Finland from the 15 April to the 29 April. The games were played in Helsinki and Tampere. Eight teams took part, and each played each other once. The four best teams then played each other once more. This was the 48th World Championships, and also the 59th European Championships of ice hockey. The Soviet Union became World Champions for the 18th time, and also won their 21st European Championship. The tournament is notable since Canada, reinforced by Wayne Gretzky after the Edmonton Oilers were shockingly knocked  out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by Los Angeles, would have won the silver if the Soviet team had won against Czechoslovakia in the final game. However, the teams tied the game 0–0. Gretzky did score more points than any other player in the tournament (14), in his only appearance at the World Championships, but the Soviet Union's Viktor Shalimov was selected as the "Best Forward" of the tournament. Other notable events include: The Czechoslovaks lost to West Germany for the first time in forty-five years. The Italians, by beating the Americans, became the first promoted team since  the tournament expanded to eight, to survive relegation. And they did so using seventeen Italian Canadians. World Championship Group A (Finland). First Round. "The United States was relegated to Group B." World Championship Group B (Austria). Played in Klagenfurt March 18–27. Like the finals of Group A, Group B ended with controversy. After the Chinese had defeated the Dutch (relegating them), only a tie between Romania and Switzerland would offer China relegation. The "scandalous parody game" ended in a three all tie, with Romania having three head-to-head points, Switzerland two, and China one. "East Germany was promoted to  Group A, and both China and the Netherlands were relegated." World Championship Group C (Spain). Played in Jaca March 19–28. "Both Japan and Yugoslavia were promoted to Group B." Ranking. Final standings. The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF: European championships final standings. The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF: Scoring leaders. List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.