1962 Ice Hockey World Championships
First non-Olympic IIHF Worlds in North America; Sweden won.
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The 1962 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 29th edition of the tournament, held in Colorado Springs and Denver, United States from 8 to 18 March 1962. It was the first World Championship hosted in North America that was not part of ice hockey at the Olympic Games, and it remains the only IIHF World Championship ever held in the United States that was not also part of the Olympics.
Background
The tournament was placed in jeopardy due to the political situation in Europe, specifically the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. NATO responded with travel restrictions that prevented the East Germany national ice hockey team from attending. Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Jack Roxburgh felt that politics should not affect sports and called for the IIHF to unite in opposition to the NATO decision.
Teams from the Soviet Union and other communist countries ultimately chose to withdraw in protest. With the absences of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, the top two nations from the 1961 'B' pool (Norway and Great Britain) were elevated, and a qualifying game filled the third spot. Switzerland qualified in Group A, Austria in Group B. In the 'B' pool, the Australian team defeated Denmark for their first victory ever.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: 1962 Ice Hockey World Championships (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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