1978 Ice Hockey World Championships

1978 Ice Hockey World Championships

Tournament details
Host country	Czechoslovakia
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	26 April – 14 May
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (15th title)
Runner-up	Czechoslovakia
Third place	Canada
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Games played	40
Goals scored	322 (8.05 per game)
Attendance	362,642 (9,066 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Erich Kühnhackl 16 points
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Prague, Czechoslovakia from 26 April to 14 May. Eight teams took part, with each team playing each other once in the first round, and then the four best teams meeting in a new round. This was the 45th World Championships, and also the 56th European Championships. The USSR won for the 15th time, narrowly defeating the incumbent Czechoslovaks.

On the final day, there was essentially a gold medal game, and a bronze medal game. The Soviets played the Czechoslovaks and needed to win by at least two to win the Championship.^[1] They took a three nothing lead, and hung to win by two, capturing gold by being even head-to-head with the Czechoslovaks, but having a cumulative two goal advantage against everyone else. Canada and Sweden came into the final game even, so the winner would claim the bronze. Pat Hickey scored with a minute left in the game to give Canada a three to two victory, and the medal.^[2]

Because of the allowance of professionals from the NHL into the tournament, a peculiar (and new) situation arose during this year's tournament. The Minnesota North Stars had players representing Canada (2), Sweden (3), and the United States (4).^[3]