The 1972 World Ice Hockey Championships was the 39th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships

Ice Hockey World Championships

The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual international tournament. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European...

. The tournament was held in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 from April 7 to April 22, 1972, and the Czechoslovakia national team won the tournament, the third time they had done so and first since 1949

1949 World Ice Hockey Championships

The 16th Ice Hockey World Championships and 27th European Hockey Championships was held from February 12 to 20, 1949, in Stockholm, Sweden. In the initial round, the ten teams participating were divided into three groups: two groups of three and one of four...

, ending the Soviet Union's streak of nine consecutive titles. For the first time, a separate tournament is held for both the World Championships and the Winter Olympics. Previously, the Winter Olympics tournament was held in lieu of a world championships, with the winner being declared world champion for that year. It also marked the first time in international ice hockey that all goaltenders were required to wear face masks.

World Championship Group A (Czechoslovakia)

	Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1		10	9	0	1	72	16	19
2		10	7	1	2	78	17	16
3		10	5	4	1	49	33	11
4		10	4	6	0	47	48	8
5		10	2	8	0	21	76	4
6		10	1	9	0	19	96	2

World Championship Group B (Romania)

Played in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 from March 24th to April 2nd.

	Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
7		6	6	0	0	41	12	12
8		6	5	1	0	39	22	10
9		6	4	2	0	31	18	8
10		6	3	3	0	25	26	6
11		6	1	4	1	20	49	3
12		6	1	5	0	25	28	2
13		6	0	5	1	15	41	1

Poland was promoted to Group A, both Norway and France were relegated to Group C. The French team boycotted the tournament in a protest over their federation's failure to finance the team's participation in the Sapporo Olympics

Ice hockey at the 1972 Winter Olympics

At the 1972 Winter Olympics held in Sapporo, Japan, one ice hockey event was held: men's ice hockey. Games were held at the Makomanai Ice Arena and at the Tsukisamu Indoor Skating Rink.-Team USA:...

World Championship Group C (Romania)

Played in Miercurea-Ciuc

Miercurea-Ciuc

Miercurea-Ciuc is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt River valley.The city administers three villages:* Ciba / Csiba...

from March 3rd to the 12th. The Chinese won their first game ever played in a World Championship.

	Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
14		6	5	0	1	21	12	11
15		6	4	1	1	31	13	9
16		6	2	2	2	31	24	6
17		6	3	3	0	20	19	6
18		6	2	2	2	19	20	6
19		6	1	5	0	13	25	2
20		6	1	5	0	11	33	2

Both Austria and Italy were promoted to Group B.