1971 World Ice Hockey Championships

The 1971 World Ice Hockey Championships was the 38th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships, which also doubled as the 49th European ice hockey championships. The Pool A, Pool B and Pool C tournaments were hosted by the following nations:


 * Pool A in Switzerland (Bern and Geneva), 19 March – 3 April 1971
 * Pool B in Switzerland (Bern, Geneva, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Lyss), 5–14 March 1971
 * Pool C in the Netherlands, 26 February – 7 March 1971

A record 22 nations participated in the tournaments. The Pool A tournament featured the top six nations, playing a double round-robin tournament for the amateur world championship. Teams #7-#14 participated in the Pool B tournament with the winner qualifying for the 1972 Pool A championship while the two last-place teams were demoted to the 1972 Pool C tournament. The bottom eight teams participated in the Pool C tournament with the top two teams qualifying for the 1972 Pool B tournament.

This was the last international tournament in which goaltenders did not have to wear face masks.

Qualifying round (A/B)
The Pool A tournament was held in Bern and Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 March to 3 April 1971. The East German team declined to participate. West Germany participated instead after beating Poland in two qualifying games arranged in November 1970 for the vacant slot. West Germany had placed second in last year's Pool B, while Poland had finished 6th in last year's Pool A.

 – 6:3 (2:0, 3:2, 1:1)

8 November 1970 – Munich

 – 4:4 (2:0, 2:0, 0:4)

12 November 1970 – Łódź

World Championship Group A (Switzerland)
For the ninth straight year, the Soviet Union won the world championship, although Czechoslovakia won the 49th European championship as the Czech opening loss against the Americans did not count in the European standings. Team USA was demoted to the 1972 Pool B tournament. The Americans came into their final game needing to win by five goals, and led five to zero in the third period, but the Germans scored the only goal of the frame claiming the advantage in the tie-breaker for 5th place.

 – 	1:5 (1:3, 0:1, 0:1)

19 March 1971 – Bern

 – 11:2 (2:2, 3:0, 6:0)

19 March 1971 – Bern

 – 2:4 (1:1, 1:1, 0:2)

20 March 1971 – Bern

 – 3:4 (1:2, 1:1, 1:1)

20 March 1971 – Bern

 – 	5:6 (1:2, 2:0, 2:4)

21 March 1971 – Bern

 – 1:8 (1:1, 0:2, 0:5)

21 March 1971 – Bern

 – 	9:1 (1:0, 3:1, 5:0)

22 March 1971 – Bern

 – 10:2 (1:0, 7:1, 2:1)

22 March 1971 – Bern

 – 2:7 (0:3, 1:2, 1:2)

23 March 1971 – Bern

 – 4:7 (0:2, 3:3, 1:2)

23 March 1971 – Bern

 – 1:1 (1:0, 0:0, 0:1)

24 March 1971 – Bern

 – 	3:3 (1:1, 1:1, 1:1)

24 March 1971 – Bern

 – 2:7 (0:2, 1:3, 1:2)

25 March 1971 – Bern

 – 0:8 (0:4, 0:1, 0:3)

26 March 1971 – Bern

 – 	5:0 (0:0, 3:0, 2:0)

26 March 1971 – Bern

 – 	5:0 (0:0, 3:0, 2:0) 27 March 1971 – Geneva  – 2:12 (1:1, 0:7, 1:4)

27 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 4:3 (1:0, 1:3, 2:0)

28 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 7:2 (3:0, 0:1, 4:1)

28 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 10:1 (5:1, 1:0, 4:0)

29 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 	3:1 (1:0, 1:0, 1:1)

29 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 	4:0 (1:0, 1:0, 2:0)

30 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 5:7 (1:1, 2:5, 2:1)

30 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 1:2 (1:0, 0:2, 0:0)

31 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 7:3 (1:1, 3:1, 3:1)

31 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 2:1 (0:0, 2:0, 0:1)

1 April 1971 – Geneva

 – 	5:2 (1:1, 1:1, 3:0)

1 April 1971 – Geneva

 – 1:5 (0:1, 0:4, 1:0)

2 April 1971 – Geneva

 – 	4:2 (2:1, 1:1, 1:0)

3 April 1971 – Geneva

 – 6:3 (2:1, 0:2, 4:0)

3 April 1971 – Geneva

World Championship Group B (Switzerland)

 * Switzerland qualify for 1972 Pool A championship tournament; Austria and Italy demoted to 1972 Pool C tournament. Additionally, the top six qualify for the Sapporo Olympics.

 – 6:3 (2:0, 2:1, 2:2)

5 March 1971 – Bern

 – 6:2 (2:0, 2:1, 2:1)

5 March 1971 – Bern

 – 9:4 (0:1, 4:1, 5:2)

5 March 1971 – Bern

 – 4:1 (2:0, 1:0, 1:1)

5 March 1971 – Lyss

 – 3:1 (2:0, 1:1, 0:0)

6 March 1971 – Bern

 – 4:4 (1:0, 0:2, 3:2)

6 March 1971 – Bern

 – 3:2 (0:1, 2:0, 1:1)

6 March 1971 – Lyss

 – 7:4 (3:0, 1:4, 3:0)

7 March 1971 – Bern

 – 7:2 (2:1, 3:1, 2:0)

8 March 1971 – Bern

 –  6:2 (2:0, 2:0, 2:2)

8 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 5:3 (2:1, 1:1, 2:1)

8 March 1971 – Bern

 – 4:4 (2:0, 1:3, 1:1)

8 March 1971 – La Chaux-de-Fonds

 – 11:0 (5:0, 1:0, 5:0)

9 March 1971 – Bern

 – 7:2 (1:0, 5:0, 1:2) 9 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 8:5 (0:1, 3:2, 5:2)

9 March 1971 – La Chaux-de-Fonds

 –  6:4 (2:0, 1:2, 3:2)

10 March 1971 – Lyss

 – 11:3 (3:1, 5:1, 3:1)

11 March 1971 – Lyss

 – 4:4 (2:2, 1:1, 1:1)

11 March 1971 – Bern

 – 8:1 (0:0, 5:0, 3:1)

11 March 1971 – Bern

 – 4:1 (1:0, 3:0, 0:1)

11 March 1971 – La Chaux-de-Fonds

 – 10:6 (5:1, 0:3, 5:2)

13 March 1971 – La Chaux-de-Fonds

 – 4:0 (1:0, 0:0, 3:0)

13 March 1971 – Bern

 – 6:0 (1:0, 1:0, 4:0)

13 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 3:1 (2:0, 0:1, 1:0)

13 March 1971 – Bern

 – 7:6 (1:2, 5:0, 1:4)

14 March 1971 – Bern

 – 3:2 (0:0, 2:0, 1:2)

14 March 1971 – Geneva

 – 8:4 (1:0, 4:2, 3:2)

14 March 1971 – La Chaux-de-Fonds

 – 5:0 (2:0, 2:0, 1:0)

14 March 1971 – Lyss

World Championship Group C (Netherlands)

 * Romania and France qualify for 1972 Pool B tournament, and the Sapporo Olympics.

 – 7:6 (1:0, 4:2, 2:4)

26. February 1971 – Nijmegen

 – 1:7 (0:0, 1:2, 0:5)

26. February 1971 – Utrecht

 – 18:2 (8:0, 4:0, 6:2)

26. February 1971 – Eindhoven

 – 3:1 (2:0, 0:0, 1:1)

26. February 1971 – Tilburg

 – 1:6 (0:0, 0:2, 1:4)

27. February 1971 – Rotterdam

 – 1:18 (0:7, 0:7, 1:4)

27. February 1971 – Utrecht

 – 7:6 (3:1, 1:2, 3:3)

27. February 1971 – Tilburg

 – 0:7 (0:4, 0:1, 0:2)

27. February 1971 – Geleen

 – 2:1 (0:1, 0:0, 2:0)

1 March 1971 – Tilburg

 – 3:3 (3:1, 0:0, 0:2)

1 March 1971 – Eindhoven

 – 21:1 (8:0, 5:0, 8:1) '''

1 March 1971 – Rotterdam

 – 4:7 (0:3, 3:1, 1:3)

1 March 1971 – s-Hertogenbosch

 – 5:4 (1:2, 3:2, 1:0)

2 March 1971 – Nijmegen

 – 4:8 (2:3, 0:2, 2:3)

2 March 1971 – Rotterdam

 – 2:12 (1:2, 1:6, 0:4)

2 March 1971 – Utrecht

 – 18:0 (5:0, 8:0, 5:0)

2 March 1971 – Eindhoven

 – 6:4 (0:1, 4:3, 2:0)

4 March 1971 – Groningen

 – 5:4 (0:2, 3:1, 2:1)

4 March 1971 – Heerenveen

 – 31:1 (9:1, 9:0, 13:0)

4 March 1971 – s-Hertogenbosch

 – 2:10 (2:4, 0:5, 0:1)

4 March 1971 – Tilburg

 – 5:5 (2:1, 1:2, 2:2)

5 March 1971 – Heerenveen

 – 21:0 (7:0, 7:0, 7:0)

5 March 1971 – Tilburg

 – 1:5 (0:3, 0:1, 1:1)

5 March 1971 – Groningen

 – 3:4 (0:1, 1:1, 2:2)

5 March 1971 – Rotterdam

 – 11:1 (4:0, 4:0, 4:1)

7 March 1971 – Rotterdam

 – 0:2 (0:1, 0:0, 0:1)

7 March 1971 – Eindhoven

 – 11:2 (3:0, 4:1, 4:1)

7 March 1971 – Geleen

 – 2:9 (1:4, 0:3, 1:2)

7 March 1971 – Utrecht

Ranking and statistics
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Final standings
The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

European championships final standings
The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF: