| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  Switzerland |
| Dates | 7–15 March |
| Teams | 4 |
| Final positions | |
Champions  |  Sweden(1st title) |
Runners-up  |  West Germany |
Third place  | Switzerland |
| Fourth place |  Italy |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 6 |
| Goals scored | 64 (10.67 per game) |
| Attendance | 53,000 (8,833 per game) |
The1953 Ice Hockey World Championships were the 20thWorld Championships and the 31stEuropean Championships inice hockey. The tournament took place between March 7 and March 15, 1953, inBasel andZürich,Switzerland.Sweden won their first World Championship title and their seventh European Championship title.
This was the first world championship tournament with only European teams; on January 12, 1953,Canadian Amateur Hockey Association presidentW. B. George stated Canada would not be sending a team to the 1953 World Championships. He told the press: "Every year we spendC$10,000 to send a Canadian hockey team to Europe to play 40 exhibition games. All these games are played to packed houses that only enrich European hockey coffers. In return we are subjected to constant, unnecessary abuse over our Canadian style of play".[1][2][3]
Also absent were the Soviet Union; it was hoped that theUSSR would participate but they did not, but they sent observers, including coachAnatoli Tarasov, to scout the tournament. It is believed that injuries to their star players, includingVsevolod Bobrov, was the reason behind the decision.[3]
Czechoslovakia were withdrawn from the tournament by General František Janda, the Chairman of the State Committee for the Physical Education and Sport, who ordered the team home when it became obvious their President,Klement Gottwald, was going to die from pneumonia he contracted at Stalin's funeral. Gottwald died the next day, March 14, 1953; subsequently, the team was disqualified, with their results being deleted from the records and their remaining games cancelled.[3]
| Date | Matches A World Championships 1953 | Result | Period. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 March |  Czechoslovakia vs. West Germany | 11–2 (annulled) | 4–1, 5–0, 2–1 | |||
| 7 March | Switzerland vs. Sweden | 2–9 | 1–2, 1–5, 0–2 | |||
| 8 March | Switzerland vs. Czechoslovakia | 4–9 (annulled) | 0–4, 1–2, 3–3 | |||
| 8 March | Sweden vs. West Germany | 8–6 | 4–1, 3–3, 1–2 | |||
| 10 March | Sweden vs. Czechoslovakia | 5–3 (annulled) | 5–1, 0–1, 0–1 | |||
| 10 March | West Germany vs. Switzerland | 2–3 | 0–1, 2–1, 0–1 | |||
| 12 March | Sweden vs. Switzerland | 9–1 | 5–1, 1–0, 3–0 | |||
| 12 March | West Germany vs. Czechoslovakia | 4–9 (annulled) | 2–4, 1–2, 1–3 | |||
| 13 March | Czechoslovakia vs. Switzerland | Cancelled | ||||
| 13 March | West Germany vs. Sweden | 2–12 | 0–2, 1–5, 1–5 | |||
| 15 March | Czechoslovakia vs. Sweden | Cancelled | ||||
| 15 March | Switzerland vs. West Germany | 3–7 | 2–4, 0–1, 1–2 | |||
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 11 | +27 | 8 |
| 2 | West Germany | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 26 | −9 | 2 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 27 | −18 | 2 |
| NC | Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Also participating was a Swiss 'B' team who (if their games counted) would have finished third.[4]
| Date | Matches B World Championships 1953 | Result | Period. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 March | Italy vs. Austria | 9–5 | 3–1, 4–3, 2–1 |
| 7 March | Switzerland B vs. Great Britain | 1–3 | 1–0, 0–1, 0–2 |
| 8 March | Austria vs. Netherlands | 5–3 | 2–0, 2–3, 1–0 |
| 8 March | Switzerland B vs. France | 7–1 | 4–1, 1–0, 2–0 |
| 10 March | Great Britain vs. Netherlands | 8–4 | 4–2, 1–2, 3–0 |
| 10 March | Switzerland B vs. Italy | 1–2 | 1–0, 0–0, 0–2 |
| 11 March | Austria vs. France | 8–1 | 2–1, 2–0, 4–0 |
| 11 March | Italy vs. Netherlands | 7–0 | 4–0, 1–0, 2–0 |
| 12 March | Great Britain vs. France | 8–3 | 3–0, 3–1, 2–2 |
| 13 March | Great Britain vs. Austria | 3–0 | 1–0, 1–0, 1–0 |
| 13 March | Switzerland B vs. Netherlands | 7–5 | 1–1, 5–2, 1–2 |
| 14 March | Italy vs. France | 5–2 | 2–1, 1–0, 2–1 |
| 14 March | Switzerland B vs. Austria | 8–2 | 2–0, 1–1, 5–1 |
| 15 March | Netherlands vs. France | 8–3 | 4–1, 2–1, 2–1 |
| 15 March | Italy vs. Great Britain | 3–2 | 3–0, 0–0, 0–2 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Italy | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 10 | +16 | 10 |
| 5 | Great Britain | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 11 | +13 | 8 |
| NC | Switzerland B | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 13 | +11 | 6 |
| 6 | Austria | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 24 | −4 | 4 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 30 | −10 | 2 |
| 8 | France | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 36 | −26 | 0 |
