2021 IIHF World Championship

2021 IIHF World Championship

2021. gada Pasaules čempionāts hokejā
Tournament details
Host country	Latvia
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Dates	21 May – 6 June
Opened by	Egils Levits
Teams	16
Tournament statistics
Games played	32
Goals scored	167 (5.22 per game)
Attendance	0 (0 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Nicklas Jensen (7 points)

The 2021 IIHF World Championship (Latvian: 2021. gada Pasaules čempionāts hokejā) is taking place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017. Their joint bid won by a very tight margin against the Finnish bid with the cities of Tampere and Helsinki. On 18 January 2021 the IIHF decided to remove Belarus as a co-host due to security reasons. On 2 February the IIHF voted to confirm Latvia as the sole host for the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocols, the tournament will be held in a "bubble" behind closed doors with no spectators. Prior to the beginning of the tournament, and against objections by Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and Minister of Health, Daniels Pavļuts, the Latvian parliament voted in favour of a notion ordering the government to develop a plan for allowing spectators who are either fully vaccinated or otherwise immune due to recent infection.

Venues

The Minsk Arena was originally planned to be used for the Championship.

Riga	Riga	Riga
	Arēna Rīga	Olympic Sports Centre
	56°58′4.5″N 24°7′17″E	56.9679°N 24.1243°E / 56.9679; 24.1243 (Riga)
	Capacity: 10,300	Capacity: 6,200

Belarus hosting controversy

Despite similar political opposition in 2014 when Belarus was the sole host of the IIHF World Championship, Belarus was to be the co-host for the 2021 IIHF Championship. However, in the wake of the ongoing 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, several political groups, politicians and international entities, including the European Parliament and Krišjānis Kariņš, the Prime Minister of Latvia, which was set to co-host the championship, protested tournament matches being held in Belarus, and called for the country to be stripped of co-hosting duties. Several sponsors of the tournament reportedly threatened to withdraw from sponsoring the event if it took place in Belarus.

On 18 January 2021, the IIHF, citing "safety and security issues," decided that the World Championship would not be played in Belarus. Latvia would remain as a co-host for the time being, but the IIHF was considering whether to go with another site, due to COVID-19 constraints and the desirability for single-site travel. Both Denmark and Slovakia (the tournament hosts in 2018 and 2019 respectively) reportedly offered to step in as hosts.

Belarus flag controversy

Controversial flagpoles of the teams at the 2021 IIHF World Championship in Riga, Latvia

On 24 May 2021, following the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident, Latvian officials replaced the Belarusian state flag in Riga with the former flag defaced with the former coat of arms used by opposition groups, including at the 2021 IIHF World Championship display of flags, which was replaced by Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs. As a result, Belarus expelled the entire Latvian embassy from their country. The IIHF issued a statement protesting the replacement of the flag, and IIHF president René Fasel asked the mayor to remove the IIHF name, its flag and its symbols from such sites, or to restore the flag, insisting that the IIHF is an "apolitical sports organization". In response, Staķis said he would remove the IIHF flags. On 28 May 2021, Belarus opened criminal case against Staķis and Rinkēvičs for incitement to national hatred.

Participants

Map of the countries participating at the 2021 IIHF World Championship

Qualified as host

• Latvia

Automatic qualifier after the cancellation of the 2020 IIHF World Championship

• Belarus (Originally co-host)
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Norway
• ROC¹
• Slovakia
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United States

¹ Pursuant to a December 2020 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on doping sanctions, Russian athletes and teams are prohibited from competing under the Russian flag or using the Russian national anthem at any Olympic Games or world championships through 16 December 2022, and must compete as "neutral athlete[s]." For IIHF tournaments, the Russian team will play under the name "ROC".

Seeding

The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2020 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2019 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system with a swap between Canada and ROC to "accommodate special organizational needs".

Group A

• ROC (2)
• Sweden (4)
• Czech Republic (5)
• Switzerland (8)
• Slovakia (9)
• Denmark (12)
• Belarus (13)
• Great Britain (19)

Group B

• Canada (1)
• Finland (3)
• United States (6)
• Germany (7)
• Latvia (10)
• Norway (11)
• Italy (15)
• Kazakhstan (16)

Rosters

Main article: 2021 IIHF World Championship rosters

Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 25 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament.

Summary

This tournament was notable for the amount of upsets which occurred in the preliminary round, including Denmark and Belarus' victory over Sweden, Kazakhstan's victory over Finland, Slovakia's victory over Russia, and Latvia's victory over Canada.

Match officials

18 referees and linesmen were announced on 7 April 2021.

Referees	Linesmen
Christoph Sternat Maxim Sidorenko Oliver Gouin Antonín Jeřábek Martin Fraňo Robin Šír Mads Frandsen Lassi Heikkinen Kristian Vikman André Schrader Andris Ansons Roman Gofman Yevgeni Romasko Peter Staňo Tobias Björk Mikael Nord Michael Tscherrig Andrew Bruggeman	Elias Seewald Dmitri Golyak Dustin McCrank Daniel Hynek Jiří Ondráček Andreas Krøyer Lauri Nikulainen Hannu Sormunen Nicolas Constantineau Jonas Merten Dāvis Zunde Gleb Lazarev Nikita Shalagin Šimon Synek Ludvig Lundgren Emil Yletyinen David Obwegeser Brian Oliver

Mascot

The official mascot of the tournament was revealed in February 2020 by the IIHF. His name is Spiky the Hedgehog and he was voted by the fans in Belarus and Latvia. Hedgehog is very popular animal in the hosting countries and it represents the fighting spirit and determination of the Belarus and Latvian national hockey teams.

Preliminary round

The groups were announced on 20 May 2020. The schedule was released on 5 February 2021.

Group A

Main article: 2021 IIHF World Championship Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	ROC	7	5	1	0	1	28	10	+18	17	Quarterfinals
2	Switzerland	7	5	0	0	2	27	17	+10	15
3	Czech Republic	7	3	2	0	2	27	18	+9	13
4	Slovakia	7	4	0	0	3	17	22	−5	12
5	Sweden	7	3	0	1	3	21	14	+7	10
6	Denmark	7	2	1	1	3	13	15	−2	9
7	Great Britain	7	1	0	1	5	13	31	−18	4
8	Belarus	7	1	0	1	5	10	29	−19	4

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best-ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament
Notes:

21 May 2021
ROC		4–3		Czech Republic
Belarus		2–5		Slovakia
22 May 2021
Denmark		4–3		Sweden
Great Britain		1–7		ROC
Czech Republic		2–5		Switzerland
23 May 2021
Great Britain		1–2		Slovakia
Sweden		0–1		Belarus
Denmark		0–1		Switzerland
24 May 2021
Slovakia		3–1		ROC
Czech Republic		3–2 (OT)		Belarus
25 May 2021
Great Britain		2–3 (OT)		Denmark
Switzerland		0–7		Sweden
26 May 2021
ROC		3–0		Denmark
Belarus		3–4		Great Britain
27 May 2021
Switzerland		8–1		Slovakia
Sweden		2–4		Czech Republic
28 May 2021
Sweden		v		Great Britain
Denmark		v		Belarus
29 May 2021
Czech Republic		v		Great Britain
Switzerland		v		ROC
Slovakia		v		Denmark
30 May 2021
Belarus		v		Switzerland
Sweden		v		Slovakia
31 May 2021
Czech Republic		v		Denmark
ROC		v		Sweden
1 June 2021
Switzerland		v		Great Britain
Slovakia		v		Czech Republic
ROC		v		Belarus

Group B

Main article: 2021 IIHF World Championship Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	7	6	0	0	1	21	8	+13	18	Quarterfinals
2	Finland	7	4	2	1	0	19	10	+9	17
3	Germany	7	4	0	0	3	22	14	+8	12
4	Canada	7	3	0	1	3	19	18	+1	10
5	Kazakhstan	7	2	2	0	3	22	18	+4	10
6	Latvia (H)	7	2	0	3	2	15	16	−1	9
7	Norway	7	2	1	0	4	17	21	−4	8
8	Italy	7	0	0	0	7	11	41	−30	0

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host
Notes:

21 May 2021
Germany		9–4		Italy
Canada		0–2		Latvia
22 May 2021
Norway		1–5		Germany
Finland		2–1		United States
Latvia		2–3 (GWS)		Kazakhstan
23 May 2021
Norway		4–1		Italy
Kazakhstan		2–1 (GWS)		Finland
Canada		1–5		United States
24 May 2021
Latvia		3–0		Italy
Germany		3–1		Canada
25 May 2021
United States		3–0		Kazakhstan
Finland		5–2		Norway
26 May 2021
Kazakhstan		3–2		Germany
Canada		4–2		Norway
27 May 2021
United States		4–2		Latvia
Finland		3–0		Italy
28 May 2021
Kazakhstan		v		Canada
Latvia		v		Norway
29 May 2021
Italy		v		Kazakhstan
Norway		v		United States
Germany		v		Finland
30 May 2021
Italy		v		Canada
Finland		v		Latvia
31 May 2021
United States		v		Germany
Norway		v		Kazakhstan
1 June 2021
Canada		v		Finland
Italy		v		United States
Germany		v		Latvia

Playoff round

Main article: 2021 IIHF World Championship playoff round

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	3 June
	2B Finland	1
					5 June
	3A Czech Republic	0
					3 Finland	2
	3 June
					6 Germany	1
	2A Switzerland	2
									6 June
	3B Germany (GWS)	3
									3 Finland	2
	3 June
									8 Canada (OT)	3
	1B United States	6
					5 June
	4A Slovakia	1
					1 United States	2
	3 June
					8 Canada	4			Third place
	1A ROC	1
									6 June
	4B Canada (OT)	2
									1 United States	6
									6 Germany	1

Final

Main article: 2021 IIHF World Championship Final

6 June 2021 20:15

WSF1

v

WSF2

Arēna Rīga, Riga

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Nicklas Jensen	4	4	3	7	−1	2	F
Peter Cehlárik	4	2	5	7	+6	4	F
Grégory Hofmann	4	4	2	6	0	0	F
Trevor Moore	4	4	2	6	+5	2	F
Marcel Noebels	4	2	4	6	+4	2	F
Anton Burdasov	4	3	2	5	0	0	F
Matthias Plachta	4	3	2	5	+4	0	F
Jan Kovář	4	2	3	5	−1	2	F
Dominik Kubalík	4	2	3	5	+2	0	F
Lukas Reichel	4	2	3	5	+5	0	F
Jason Robertson	4	2	3	5	+5	0	D

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position
Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.

Player	TOI	GA	GAA	SA	Sv%	SO
Harri Säteri	125:00	1	0.48	30	96.67	1
Reto Berra	119:57	1	0.50	28	96.43	1
Nikita Boyarkin	250:00	8	1.92	147	94.56	0
Adam Reideborn	174:44	4	1.37	73	94.52	1
Danny Taylor	166:13	5	1.80	84	94.05	1

TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

Broadcasting rights

These are the broadcasters for the 2021 IIHF World Championship.

Country	Broadcaster
Austria	ORF
Belarus	BTRC
Canada	TSN
	RDS
Croatia	Arena Sport
Czech Republic	ČT Sport
Denmark	TV 2 Sport
Estonia	ERR
Finland	MTV3
	C More
France	L'Équipe
Georgia	Silk Sport
Germany	SPORT1
Hungary	Sport 1
Italy	DAZN
Israel	Sport 1
Kazakhstan	Qazsport
Latvia	LTV
Norway	V Sport
Poland	TVP
Portugal	Sport TV
Russia	Channel One
	Match TV
Slovakia	RTVS
Slovenia	RTV
Sweden	SVT
Switzerland	SRG SSR
Turkey	Tivibu Spor
United Kingdom	FreeSports
United States	NHL Network

References

External links

• Official website