2013 IIHF World Championship

The 2013 IIHF World Championship was the 77th event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland, between 3–19 May 2013. TV4 and MTV3 served as host broadcasters of the event.

The host team Sweden won the team's ninth title in history by defeating Switzerland in the final 5–1, and became the first host team to win the tournament since the Soviet Union team won the 1986 World Championship in Moscow, Soviet Union. The Swedish team started the tournament with an unconvincing performance but managed to get a collective boost when the Sedin brothers joined the team after the Vancouver Canucks had been eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Switzerland sent a clear message about their recently improved hockey program by going undefeated through the tournament before the final; finishing first in their group (ahead of Canada and Sweden); and earning their second silver medal in history, as well as the team's first medal since 1953.

Bidding
At the semi-annual congress in Vancouver on 21 September 2007, Sweden was voted the host of the 2013 tournament, defeating the runner-up Belarus by 55 votes. Other countries in the running were Hungary, Czech Republic and Latvia (which withdrew from the race and endorsed the Swedish bid). At the congress in Bern in 2009, it was announced that Finland (the host for the 2012 World Championship) and Sweden would co-host both the 2012 and 2013 tournaments.

Format
The format of the tournament was the same as in 2012, which was also co-hosted by Helsinki and Stockholm. Sixteen teams were divided into two groups of eight, who played a seven-game round-robin within their groups. The top four teams in each group advanced to a three-round single-knockout playoff.

The only difference from 2012 was that the semifinals and medal games were played in Stockholm instead of Helsinki.

Nations

 * Europe


 * North America
 * North America
 * North America
 * North America
 * North America
 * North America
 * North America


 *  * = Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2012 IIHF World Championship
 *  ^ = Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2012 IIHF World Championship Division I
 * † = Qualified as hosts (and as automatic qualifier) 

Seeding and groups
The seeding in the preliminary round is based on the 2012 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2012 IIHF World Championship. The teams were grouped according to seeding (in parenthesis is the corresponding world ranking). However, Russia and the Czech Republic swapped their slots between their groups to optimize the seeding for the Finnish-Swedish organizers.

Group S
 * (3)
 * (4)
 * (5)
 * (8)
 * (9)
 * (12)
 * (13)
 * (18)

Group H 
 * (1)
 * (2)
 * (6)
 * (7)
 * (10)
 * (11)
 * (14)
 * (15)

Group H

 * }

All times are local (UTC+3).

Group S

 * }

All times are local (UTC+2).

Quarterfinals
The games in Stockholm are UTC+2, while the games in Helsinki are UTC+3.

Semifinals
All times are local (UTC+2).

Bronze medal game
Time is local )UTC+2).

Gold medal game
Time is local (UTC+2).

Ranking and statistics
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Final ranking
The official IIHF final ranking of the tournament: