1996 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships


The 1996 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 60th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 36 countries participated in several levels of competition, with Slovakia making their first appearance in the top Champions Group A, in their fourth tournament since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the formation of the separate Czech Republic and Slovakia men's national ice hockey teams. The competition also served as qualifications for group placements in the 1997 competition.
The top Championship Group A tournament took place in Austria from 21 April to 5 May 1996, with all games played in Vienna. Twelve teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of six, with the first four from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. The Czech Republic beat Canada in the final to become World Champions for the first time. The final game was tied at two apiece before Martin Procházka scored with nineteen seconds left, followed by an empty net goal to seal the victory. In the bronze medal game, Brian Rolston scored at 4:48 of overtime to win the first medal in 34 years for team USA. The unfortunate Russians, competing in their fifth tournament since being created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, did not lose a game in regulation time in the entire tournament, but finished fourth.

World Championship Group A (Austria)

First Round

Group 1

Group 2

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Consolation Round 11–12 Place

Austria was relegated to Group B.

Semifinals

Match for third place

Final

World Championship Group B (Netherlands)

Played 10–20 April in Eindhoven. Latvia won at this level for the first time. In their final game, superb goaltending by Artūrs Irbe kept them in it, and a late tying goal by Oļegs Znaroks sealed the tournament victory. The final game had high drama for the host crowd, the Japanese and Danish teams among them. If the Netherlands were to lose to Poland, they would finish last and be relegated, a tie and Japan would be last, a win and Denmark would be last. A third period goal by Poland sealed Japan's fate.
TeamGamesWonDrawnLostGoal differencePointsTie breaker
H2H Points
13761041 - 1613-
14751137 - 1311-
15750229 - 1810-
16741229 - 239-
17712418 - 274-
18711514 - 3233
19711512 - 3532
20703414 - 3031

Latvia was promoted to Group A while Japan was relegated to Group C.

World Championship Group C (Slovenia)

Played 22–31 March in Jesenice and Kranj. For the fourth year in row the Kazakhs and Ukrainians met in Group C. For the first time the Kazakhs came out on top, and it was the difference in winning the tournament.
TeamGamesWonDrawnLostGoal differencePoints
21760151 - 1012
22760140 - 1312
23750241 - 1910
24731334 - 257
25731336 - 297
26730432 - 276
27710617 - 682
28700711 - 710

Kazakhstan was promoted to Group B while Croatia was relegated to Group D.

World Championship Group D (Lithuania)

Played in Kaunas and Elektrenai 25–31 March. To narrow the field of the bottom tier to eight nations, two regional qualifying tournaments were used.

Qualifying Round

Group 1 (Australia)

Played 5th and 6 November 1995 in Sydney.
TeamGamesWonDrawnLostGoal differencePoints
1220012 - 024
2200202 - 120

Group 2 (Israel)

Played 27–29 January 1996 in Metulla.
The Greek team originally won both their games, but it was later found that they had used ineligible players. Both games were declared 5–0 forfeits in favour of the opposing team.
TeamGamesWonDrawnLostPoints differencePoints
1220024 - 004
2210105 - 192
3200200 - 100

First Round

Group 1

Group 2

The Israeli team, that had qualified for the tournament after the Greek forfeits, had to forfeit its first two games because they used two Russian players who did not have the proper clearance to play.
TeamGamesWonDrawnLostGoal differencePoints
1330019 - 026
2320110 - 134
3310207 - 062
4300300 - 150

Final Round 29–32 Place

Host Lithuania won all five games to earn promotion to Group C.

Consolation Round 33–36 Place

Ranking and statistics

Tournament Awards

The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Player
Yanic Perreault8639+40F
Robert Lang8549+72F
Sergei Berezin8459+22F
Alexei Yashin8459+44F
Travis Green8538+28F
Teemu Selänne8538+70F
Bruno Zarrillo6448+44F
Dmitri Kvartalnov844804F
Robert Reichel8448+80F
Pavel Patera8358+12F
Source:

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list.
Player
Rob Schistad24061.50.9710
Andrei Trefilov31061.16.9560
Roman Turek480151.88.9521
Boo Ahl300102.00.9421
Klaus Merk299163.21.9381
Source:

Citations