- 1957 World Ice Hockey Championships
The 1957 Men's
Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 24 andMarch 5 1957 at the Palace of Sports of theCentral Lenin Stadium inMoscow ,USSR .This was the last World Championships played on natural ice; and were the first World Championships held in the
USSR and they are remembered for the political circumstances surrounding the games.Hungary had been recently occupied by theSoviet Army (to suppress a revolution in October and November 1956), and as a result, theUnited States andCanada boycotted the World Championships in protest. Joining them wereNorway ,West Germany ,Italy andSwitzerland .East Germany was participating for the first time.Competition
With the boycott, the home team
USSR was heavily favoured to win the tournament, butSweden surprised the world by pulling off an upset. The first step was taken in their third game, when they beatCzechoslovakia 2-0. This important victory was saved by the head ofLeksands IF defensemanVilgot Larsson . He literally headed the puck away from the Swedish net to save a goal, and in the days before mandatory helmets, received several stitches for his heroics. In the final game,Sweden opened with two goals, but the dynamic Soviets responded with 4 goals of their own. Down by two in the third period, goals byEilert Määttä andErling Lindström tied the game, and the goaltending ofThord Flodqvist and play ofSven Tumba Johansson guaranteed the final draw. TheUSSR had previously only tiedCzechoslovakia , so allSweden needed was one point, or a tie, for gold.Karel Straka , ofCzechoslovakia , was named best goalkeeper.Nikolaï Sologubov , of theUSSR was best defenseman, andSven Tumba Johansson ofSweden was best forward.Konstantin Loktev , of the USSR, led all scorers with 18 points (on 11 goals and 7 assists), followed byNils Nilsson andRonald Pettersson ofSweden , both with 16 points.Vsevolod Bobrov , of theUSSR , led all scorers with 13 goals.Standings
Games
February 24
Finland 5 - 3 Poland
Czechoslovakia 9 - 0 Austria
Sweden 11 - 1 East Germany
USSR 16 - 0 JapanFebruary 25
Czechoslovakia 15 - 1 East Germany
Sweden 8 - 3 Poland
USSR 11 - 1 FinlandFebruary 26
Austria 3 - 3 JapanFebruary 27
Poland 8 - 3 Japan
Finland 5 - 3 East Germany
USSR 22 - 1 Austria
Sweden 2 - 0 CzechoslovakiaFebruary 28
Czechoslovakia 3 - 0 Finland
USSR 10 - 1 PolandMarch 1
East Germany 9 - 2 Japan
Sweden 10 - 0 AustriaMarch 2
Finland 9 - 2 Austria
East Germany 6 - 2 Poland
Sweden 18 - 0 Japan
USSR 2 - 2 CzechoslovakiaMarch 3
Poland 5 - 1 AustriaMarch 4
Czechoslovakia 25 - 1 Japan
Sweden 9 - 3 Finland
USSR 12 - 0 East GermanyMarch 5
East Germany 3 - 1 Austria
Finland 5 - 2 Japan
Czechoslovakia 12 - 3 Poland
USSR 4 -4 SwedenAttendance record
The final game (
USSR versusSweden for the championship) was played on the football field of the Grand Sports Arena of theLuzhniki Stadium . It is reputed that over 50,000 fans (or 55,000, depending on sources) fans saw the game, the most ever for an international hockey game. Other notable outdoor games recently have included (57,167 fans saw theMontreal Canadiens play theEdmonton Oilers outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium onNovember 22 2003 , 71,217 fans saw theBuffalo Sabres play thePittsburgh Penguins onJanuary 1 2008 atRalph Wilson Stadium . The record for an outdoor hockey game is still when 74,544 fans sawMichigan State University and theUniversity of Michigan play outdoors on SaturdayOctober 6 2001 atSpartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.)ee also
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