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Men's Pool A
IIHF Men's World Hockey Championships
World Championships Artifact
World Championships Photo As proposed by the Swedish Hockey Union, the 1969 championship in Stockholm was played in two rounds. The top six countries competed in a double round-robin instead of the eight-team, single-round format of previous years, meaning each team played 10 games instead of seven. The IIHF Council hoped the new format would increase competition, as the world title had been won by the Soviet Union for six straight years. Soviet coach Anatoly Tarasov disagreed. "I think our team will look better in the second round," he said. "As a matter of fact, the two-round system is to our advantage - our players rehabilitate faster and they know how to play with injuries." Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August of 1968, the Czechoslovak national team hit the ice at the 1969 World Championship in Stockholm with fire in its eyes. They defeated the USSR twice, but because the Czechoslovaks lost twice to Sweden and the Soviets beat Sweden twice, the three teams finish in a tie for first place. Since the Soviets had the best goals for and against differential, they won the gold medal. Sweden won the silver and Czechoslovakia the bronze. If the Swedes had scored another goal in their 1-0 victory over Czechoslovakia in the final game, they would have been World Champions. Czechoslovakia would have claimed the gold if they could have tied the game. As it was, the Soviets, with seven rookies on the roster, won their seventh straight world title to establish a new international hockey record. Canada made one of its worst showings in history, losing all six matches it played against the medalists and finished fourth. Among the best players in the tournament were Czechoslovak defenceman Jan Suchy, along with goalie Leif Holmqvist and forward Ulf Sterner of Sweden.
1969 Stockholm Summary
Click on a team below to see its roster and stats.
Rank Country Games Wins Losses Ties Points GDF GF GA
1 USSR 10 8 2 0 16      
2 Sweden 10 8 2 0 16      
3 Czechoslovakia 10 8 2 0 16      
4 Canada 10 4 6 0 8      
5 Finland 10 2 8 0 4      
6 USA 10 0 10 0 0      

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