1965 Ice Hockey World Championships

Background

The 1965 Ice Hockey World Championships were held in Tampere, Finland, from March 4 to 14, with all games at the Tampere Ice Stadium. Eight teams competed in a single round-robin format. The Soviet Union won all their matches to claim their fifth world title, which also counted as their ninth European championship. Czechoslovakia took silver, Sweden bronze, and Canada finished fourth for the third consecutive year.

New tie-breaking rules were introduced, giving priority to head-to-head results unless teams tied or more than two were involved, in which case goal differential among the top four teams decided medals. Some thought these rules were meant for the Innsbruck Olympics. Finland hosted the tournament for the first time, with Harry Lindblad organizing it.

Fifteen nations played across two groups, with qualification games setting the tiers. From this point, the last-place team in Group A would be relegated, replaced by the Group B champion. Poland earned promotion by going undefeated, beating Switzerland and tying West Germany. Norway was relegated to 1966 Group B. Romania later joined France and Italy in qualification for Group B.