2018 IIHF World Championship


The 2018 IIHF World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament hosted by the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Herning, held from 4 to 20 May 2018. The IIHF announced the winning bid on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus. South Korea made its debut at the World Championship, having played in the lower divisions previously.
Sweden went undefeated at the tournament to win their second consecutive and eleventh overall title after defeating Switzerland in the final. The United States won the bronze medal game, defeating Canada 4–1.
The official mascot of the tournament was a swan, inspired by the Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale about The Ugly Duckling.

Bids

There were two bids to host this championship.
The decision was announced on 23 May 2014 in Minsk, Belarus. The final tally was 95-12 in favor of Denmark.

Venues

Qualified teams

; Qualified as host:
; Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2017 IIHF World Championship:
; Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2017 IIHF World Championship Division I:

Seeding

The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2017 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
Denmark and Sweden played in separate groups, Denmark at the Jyske Bank Boxen while Sweden at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
;Group A
  • 1
;Group B
  • 1

  • Rosters

Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters and 2 goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament.

Officials

16 referees and linesman were announced on 21 March 2018.
RefereesLinesmen

  • Preliminary round

The schedule was released on 8 August 2017.

Group A

Group B

Playoff round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal game

Gold medal game

Final ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
PlayerGPGAPts+/−PIMPOS

Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
PlayerTOIGAGAASASv%SO

Awards

Source:
Source:

IIHF honors and awards

The 2018 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees and award recipients were honored during the World Championship medal ceremonies in Copenhagen.
IIHF Hall of Fame inductees
  • Daniel Alfredsson, Sweden
  • Rob Blake, Canada
  • Chris Chelios, United States
  • Philippe Lacarrière, France
  • Jere Lehtinen, Finland
  • Bob Nadin, Canada
Award recipients
  • Kirovs Lipmans of Latvia received the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.
  • Jesper Damgaard of Denmark received the Torriani Award for a player with an outstanding career from non-top hockey nation.