2006 IIHF World Championship

The 2006 Men's Ice Hockey Championships was held in May 2006 in Riga, Latvia. It was the 70th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

One of the requirements of the IIHF for Latvia to host the event was that a new arena would be constructed. Sweden was the stand-by organizer in case the arena was delayed, but the construction was completed on schedule, marking the first time a former Soviet state apart from Russia has hosted the event. The mascot of the championships was a beaver called RIX (after Riga International Airport's IATA code.)

It was preceded two months earlier by the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where ice hockey was also a major event.

In the gold medal game, Sweden won against the Czech Republic and thus became the first hockey team to win both the Winter Olympics and the World Championships in the same year.

Nations
The following 16 nations qualified for the elite-pool tournament – 13 nations from Europe, two nations from North America and one nation from Asia are represented.


 * Asia
 * Europe
 * Europe


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


 *  * = Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2005 IIHF World Championship
 *  ^ = Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2005 IIHF World Championship Division I
 * † = Qualified as hosts (and as automatic qualifier) 

Preliminary round
Sixteen participating teams were placed in the following four groups. After playing a round-robin, the top three teams in each group advanced to the Qualifying Round. The last team in each group competed in the Relegation Round.

Groups A and D were played in Kloten, groups B and C in Berne.

Group A
All times local (UTC +3)

Group B
All times local (UTC +3)

Group C
All times local (UTC +3)

Group D
All times local (UTC +3)

Qualifying round
The top three teams from each group in the Preliminary round advance to the Qualifying Round. The top three teams from Groups A and D advance to Group E, and the top three teams from Groups B and C advance to Group F.

Teams in the Qualifying Round carry forward the results and points gained in the Preliminary Round with the teams that they have played and advance with. Teams, which have played in the Preliminary Round, do not meet again in the Qualifying Round.

Group E
All times local (UTC+3)

Group F
All times local (UTC +3)

Relegation round
The relegation round is composed of the four teams that placed last in Groups A through D. They play in a round-robin fashion, and the bottom two teams get relegated to the Division I group in next year's World Championships.

Group G
All times local (UTC +3)

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