IZone MenuBar
IIHF Home About the IIHF IIHF Honor Roll Member Countries World Championships Tournaments Olympic Winter Games Pro Classics
Men's Pool A
IIHF Men's World Hockey Championships
World Championships Artifact
World Championships Photo The 1959 championship in Czechoslovakia coincided with the 50th anniversary of hockey in that country. An unprecedented eight towns hosted the tournament, which was attended by 15 countries. West Germany reached the competition by winning the six-nation "B" pool for non-qualifiers from the preliminary round. This would be the last time that a championship played separately from the Olympics would be organized in two stages. The Belleville McFarlands won the gold medal as Canada's representatives. The McFarlands easily won their three-team preliminary round group, handing the host team a 7-2 defeat in the process. Czechoslovakia gained revenge with a 5-3 victory in the medal round but blew its chance for the gold by losing 4-2 to the United States. The hosts had to settle for the bronze medal behind the silver medalists from the USSR. Sweden had a very disappointing tournament, placing fifth in the medal round with only a narrow 2-1 win over Finland to show for its efforts. McFarlands' defenseman Al Dewsbury, a former Chicago Black Hawk, made a huge impression on the Czechoslovak fans. He led the tournament in penalty minutes with 28 in eight games and amazed the crowd with heavy hits on attackers trying to enter the Canadian zone. Previously they had seen little of this in their domestic game. Despite Dewsbury's heroics, Canada's Jean-Paul Lamirande was named the best defenceman in the tournament. Bill Cleary of the United States was a surplrise winner of the award for best forward and Nikolai Puchkov of the Soviet Union was voted top goalie. The United States and Finland tied for the lowest total of penalty minutes, but the Fair Play Cup was awarded to the Americans because they finished fourth, compared to sixth for the Finns.
1959 Bratislava Summary
Click on a team below to see its roster and stats.
Rank Country Games Wins Losses Ties Points GDF GF GA
1 Canada 8 7 1 0 14      
2 USSR 8 7 1 0 14      
3 Czechoslovakia 8 5 3 0 10      
4 USA 8 5 3 0 10      
5 Sweden 8 3 4 1 7      
6 Finland 8 1 6 1 3      
N/R East Germany 8 3 5 0 6      
N/R Italy 8 3 4 1 7      
N/R Norway 8 4 3 1 9      
N/R Poland 8 1 7 0 2      
N/R Switzerland 8 1 6 1 3      
N/R West Germany 8 5 2 1 11      

Games Chronology
Statistical Leaders
Back to Games List