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The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . They were preceded by the European Championship s which were held from 1910 to 1932, and decided at the 1920 Summer Olympics for the first time. Subsequently Ice Hockey featured at the Winter Olympics , where the World Championship was decided when the two events occurred concurrently. The last time the World Championships were decided during the Olympic Games was at the 1968 Winter Olympics . Ice Hockey World Championship 2006 will be held in Riga, Latvia . HISTORY Early years and World War II In the early days of the Championships, the teams from Canada dominated. Between 1930 and 1939 , Canadian teams won the tournament eight times. This occurred despite the fact that Canada sent a different club team each year, as in those days Senior Amateur teams typically represented Canada. The World War II years caused the Championships to be cancelled from 1940 - 46 . Post World War II through the 1970 Canadian teams continued to dominate the tournament in the early post-war era, but from 1954 onward the Championships became increasingly competitive, as USSR joined them this year, and teams Czechoslovakia and Sweden improved their skill level. While the top European players were officially able to compete in the World Championships while retaining their amateur status, players in the National Hockey League were prohibited for many years from entering in the tournament. As the great majority of NHL players were Canadian nationals, this rule was seen by many as discriminatory against Canadian players. 1970 through the End of the Cold War In 1970 , the IIHF allowed Canada to send nine professionals from the ranks of the NHL and its affiliated minor leagues (though as the tournaments were held during the Stanley Cup playoffs, only a handful of them could actually compete). However, these rules were later rescinded after officials produced many reciprocal claims against them. It upset the Canadians, who felt that they should be allowed to send their best players as well. Canada boycotted the World Championships for seven years as a result, during which the IIHF moved the championships out of the Olympics in 1972 and 1976 in an attempt to resolve the issue. In 1976 , a new president of the IIHF finally allowed professionals on all teams, and Canada returned to competition the following year. By this time, the quality of play of European hockey had improved so much that even Canadian rosters filled with NHL players whose teams had missed the playoffs could not dominate. Not until 1994 , 33 years after its previous championship, would Canada win the tournament again. Post-Cold War By the early 1990s the breakup of the Soviet Union, which dominated the Championships for much of the three decades after Canada's dominance ended, and of Czechoslovakia, which won in most of the years in which the Soviets did not, brought about unprecedented parity to the international game for two reasons: # Players in the former USSR and Czechoslovakia had the freedom to play in the NHL. Thus many European countries' best players were also competing in the NHL, and so unable to send their best to the Championships # The breakup of the USSR and Czechoslovakia meant that the remaining core states, respectively Russia and the Czech Republic, had fewer talented players to draw from, even among those not playing in the NHL during the Championships. The breakup of USSR and Czechoslovakia created a challenge for the IIHF because new national teams like Belarus, Czech Republic, Kazahkstan, Latvia, Russia, and Slovakia wanted to participate in the Championships at the highest level of play, pool A. The IIHF ruled that Czech Republic and Russia would be permitted immediate entry to pool A, but the other new national teams would have to start at pool C. It became clear that the new teams were or would soon be, better than many of the existing, but less elite, pool A teams. The Championships ran the risk of established countries being displaced from pool A by the new teams as they advanced from pool C. As the IIHF depended on advertising revenue derived from the established countries, it decided to expand pool A to accommodate the existing pool A teams plus the new rising teams. In recent championships, the two nations of the former Czechoslovakia have fared extremely well in international play, accounting for four straight championships between 1999 - 2002 – the first three by the Czech Republic and the latter by Slovakia. (The Czech side also won the 1998 Winter Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan ). Canada has recently returned to prominence with an international trophy binge, capturing the 2003 and 2004 World Championships as well as the 2002 Winter Olympic gold medal at Salt Lake City and the 2004 World Cup Of Hockey . The Czech Republic won the 2005 World Championship. THE PLAYING FORMAT The modern format for the World Championships features a minimum of 40 teams: 16 teams in the main group, 12 teams in Division I and 12 teams in Division II . If there are more than 40 teams, the rest compete in Division III . The main group features 16 teams split into 4 groups. The teams play each other in a round robin format, and the top 3 teams in each advance into another round of group play, this time with 2 groups of 6. After another robin round format, the top 4 teams in each advance into an 8 team knockout playoff, which eventually decides the championship. The bottom teams in the first groups will play in another group as well, this group will determine relegation. After round-robin format, the bottom two teams are usually relegated to the Division I. Japan was typically never relegated, as the IIHF held a "Far East Qualifier" with an automatic berth from 1998 to 2005 to develop the popularity of the sport in the Far East. Japan had always won this tournament, but due to the lack popular support in the Far East, little improvement in the quality of play, and poor prospects for any related marketing, the IIHF has discontinued the practice in the 2005 Championships , relegating Japan to compete in Division I. Below the World Championship group are two 6-team Division I roung robin groups, the winner of which is promoted to the world championship group, while each last place team is demoted to Division II. Division II works similarly to Division I, with two 6-team groups where each last place team is relegated to a Division III group. There is no relegation from Division III. IIHF EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Notes # Berlin 1932 was the last separate IIHF European Championship event. # European Championships medals were awarded to the European participants of the IIHF World Championships until 1991. IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Notes # All Olympic Hockey Ice Hockey Tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships. # The 1964 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament produced two different final standings, one for the Olympic medals and one for the World Championship. # In the Olympic years 1980, 1984 and 1988, no IIHF World Championships were staged. Medal Table Notes # Includes medals up to and including the 2005 championships. # Under the number of medals is the percentage showing the ratio of won medals to all participations. Red colored shows the highest percentage for the column. # The USSR and Russia have a combined total of 37 medals (23-8-6). # Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have a combined total of 41 medals (11-12-18). # Czechoslovakia and Slovakia have a combined total of 36 medals (7-13-16). IIHF WORLD WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIPS See: '' IIHF World Women Championships '' JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IIHF also conducts Junior World Championships in two age groups: for Under-20 and Under-18 players. They are organized according to a system similar to World Championships, with the main group and Divisions I, II and III but the number of teams is smaller. Punch up in Piešťany During the 1986-1987 World U-20 championships Canada was playing the gold medal game. During the second period a Russian player slashed Candaian Theo Fleury which instigated a bench clearing brawl. The officials could not break it up so they left ten minutes after the brawl began. The arena manager turned the lights on and off to stop the fighting. Soon the teams returned to their respective dressing rooms. The IIHF held an emergency meeting about what to do. Both teams were disqualified and the Gold medal went to Finland. IIHF World U20 Championships Medal Table IIHF World U18 Championships SEE ALSO
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