2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships
Tournament details
Host country	Finland
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Dates	April 26, 2003 - May 11, 2003
Teams	16
Final positions
Champions	Canada (22nd title)
Runner-up	Sweden
Third place	Slovakia
Fourth place	Czech Republic
Tournament statistics
Games played	56
Attendance	449,193 (8,021 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Žigmund Pálffy
MVP	Mats Sundin
	← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere in Finland from April 26 to May 11. This international event was the 67th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The competition also served as qualification for division placements in the 2004 competition. Canada won the gold medal, beating Sweden 3–2 in the final.

In the quarterfinal between Sweden and Finland, the Swedes completed an outstanding comeback. Being down 5–1 7 minutes into the second period, Sweden decided to change goaltender from Tommy Salo to Mikael Tellqvist. After the change, the Swedes scored 3 goals in the same period to reduce the lead to 5–4. In the third period, Peter Forsberg scored a famous goal to tie the game up, when he skated from the Swedes' zone all the way to Finland's offensive zone, scoring on a wrap around. Later in the same period, Per Johan Axelsson scored the game-winning goal to win the game 6–5 for the Swedes.

The final game and the championship title was decided by Anson Carter’s goal in overtime which needed to be reviewed by the video goal judge who needed five minutes to confirm the goal was good and the gold went to Canada.^[1]

Championship

Preliminary round

Group A

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Slovakia	3	3	0	22	5	6
Germany	3	2	1	9	8	4
Ukraine	3	1	2	9	13	2
Japan	3	0	3	6	20	0

Group B

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Russia	3	3	0	14	5	6
Switzerland	3	2	1	9	7	4
Denmark	3	1	2	8	14	2
United States	3	0	3	4	9	0

Group C

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Canada	3	3	0	12	2	6
Sweden	3	2	1	6	5	4
Latvia	3	1	2	6	9	2
Belarus	3	0	3	1	9	0

Group D

Team	GP	W	L	GF	GA	PTS
Czech Republic	3	3	0	15	4	6
Finland	3	2	1	18	3	4
Austria	3	1	2	8	15	2
Slovenia	3	0	3	4	23	0

Qualification round

Group E

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Slovakia	5	4	0	1	27	9	9
Czech Republic	5	4	0	1	22	7	9
Finland	5	2	2	1	18	10	5
Germany	5	2	2	1	11	11	5
Austria	5	1	4	0	9	27	2
Ukraine	5	0	5	0	8	31	0

Group F

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Canada	5	4	0	1	18	6	9
Sweden	5	4	1	0	20	9	8
Russia	5	2	3	0	16	14	4
Switzerland	5	2	3	0	14	16	4
Latvia	5	2	3	0	10	16	4
Denmark	5	0	4	1	8	25	1

Final round

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

May 7 - Elysee Arena

Canada	3
		May 9 - Hartwall Areena
Germany	2
		Canada	8
May 7 - Elysee Arena
		Czech Republic	4
Czech Republic	3
				May 11 – Hartwall Areena
Russia	0
				Canada	3
May 7 - Hartwall Areena
				Sweden	2
Slovakia	3
		May 9 - Hartwall Areena
Switzerland	1
		Slovakia	1
May 7 - Hartwall Areena
		Sweden	4	Third place
Sweden	6
				May 10 – Hartwall Areena
Finland	5
				Czech Republic	2

				Slovakia	4

Relegation round

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
United States	3	3	0	0	19	5	6
Belarus	3	2	1	0	9	8	4
Slovenia	3	0	2	1	8	14	1
Japan	3	0	2	1	5	14	1

Japan avoids relegation by defeating South Korea 4–1 in the Far East Qualification of the 2004 World Championship.
Belarus and Slovenia are demoted to Division I at the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

Scoring leaders

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Žigmund Pálffy	9	7	8	15	18
Jozef Stümpel	9	4	11	15	0
Ľubomír Višňovský	9	4	8	12	2
Teemu Selänne	7	8	3	11	2
Saku Koivu	7	1	10	11	4
Dany Heatley	9	7	3	10	10
Mats Sundin	7	6	4	10	10
Miroslav Šatan	9	6	4	10	2
Martin Straka	9	6	4	10	4
Kimmo Rintanen	7	5	4	9	0