1957 World Ice Hockey Championships

The 1957 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 24 and March 5 1957 at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, 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 the Soviet Army (to suppress a revolution in October and November 1956), and as a result, the United States and Canada boycotted the World Championships in protest. Joining them were Norway, West Germany, Italy and Switzerland. East Germany was participating for the first time.

Competition

With the boycott, the home team USSR was heavily favoured to win the tournament, but Sweden surprised the world by pulling off an upset. The first step was taken in their third game, when they beat Czechoslovakia 2-0. This important victory was saved by the head of Leksands IF defenseman Vilgot 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 by Eilert Määttä and Erling Lindström tied the game, and the goaltending of Thord Flodqvist and play of Sven Tumba Johansson guaranteed the final draw. The USSR had previously only tied Czechoslovakia, so all Sweden needed was one point, or a tie, for gold.

Karel Straka, of Czechoslovakia, was named best goalkeeper. Nikolaï Sologubov, of the USSR was best defenseman, and Sven Tumba Johansson of Sweden was best forward. Konstantin Loktev, of the USSR, led all scorers with 18 points (on 11 goals and 7 assists), followed by Nils Nilsson and Ronald Pettersson of Sweden, both with 16 points. Vsevolod Bobrov, of the USSR, 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 Japan

February 25
Czechoslovakia 15 - 1 East Germany
Sweden 8 - 3 Poland
USSR 11 - 1 Finland

February 26
Austria 3 - 3 Japan

February 27
Poland 8 - 3 Japan
Finland 5 - 3 East Germany
USSR 22 - 1 Austria
Sweden 2 - 0 Czechoslovakia

February 28
Czechoslovakia 3 - 0 Finland
USSR 10 - 1 Poland

March 1
East Germany 9 - 2 Japan
Sweden 10 - 0 Austria

March 2
Finland 9 - 2 Austria
East Germany 6 - 2 Poland
Sweden 18 - 0 Japan
USSR 2 - 2 Czechoslovakia

March 3
Poland 5 - 1 Austria

March 4
Czechoslovakia 25 - 1 Japan
Sweden 9 - 3 Finland
USSR 12 - 0 East Germany

March 5
East Germany 3 - 1 Austria
Finland 5 - 2 Japan
Czechoslovakia 12 - 3 Poland
USSR 4 -4 Sweden

Attendance record

The final game (USSR versus Sweden for the championship) was played on the football field of the Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki 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 the Montreal Canadiens play the Edmonton Oilers outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium on November 22 2003, 71,217 fans saw the Buffalo Sabres play the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 1 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The record for an outdoor hockey game is still when 74,544 fans saw Michigan State University and the University of Michigan play outdoors on Saturday October 6 2001 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.)

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