1933 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1933 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 18 and February 26, 1933, in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

1933 Ice Hockey World Championships

Tournament details
Host country	Czechoslovakia
Dates	18–26 February
Teams	12
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	United States (1st title)
Runner-up	Canada
Third place	Czechoslovakia
Fourth place	Austria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	33
Goals scored	115 (3.48 per match)
Scoring leader(s)	Josef Malecek 13 points
← 1932 1934 →

By winning its first-ever world championship, the United States deprived Canada of the world title for the first time in tournament history. The American team, the Massachusetts Rangers, was mostly made up of university students and led by standout performances of Gerry Cosby in goal and team captain Ben Langmaid on defence. Canada was represented by the Toronto National Sea Fleas, winners of the 1932 Allan Cup, and coached by the controversial hockey personality Harold Ballard.[1] The teams met on February 26 at Zimni Stadion in Stvanice. Tied 1-1 after 45 minutes of regulation time on goals by Sherman Forbes for the United States and an equalizer by Canadian Tim Kerr, defenceman John Garrison beat Canadian goalie Ron Geddes at the 6-minute mark of a dramatic "non-sudden death" overtime period. A team photograph, and a gold medal on loan from the family of Sherman Forbes, are currently on display at The Sports Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ten nations played in three groups, with the top two in each group advancing to the second round to join Canada and the United States, who both were automatically qualified through to the next round. In the second round, eight teams played in two groups; the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals, where the top qualifier in each group were seeded against the second qualifier in the opposing group. The winners of the semifinal matches played in the gold medal game, while the losers played for third place.

Fifth and sixth places were decided by a match between the third-place finishers in the two second ground groups; similarly seventh and eighth places were decided between the two last-place finishers in the second round groups. For the final four places, two classification matches were played between the bottom four finishers in the first round, which provided the seedings for the ninth and eleventh place matches.

First round

February 18 to February 20. Ten nations played in three groups with the top two in each group advancing to the second round to join Canada and the USA.

Group A

• Austria 3 - 0 Italy
• Czechoslovakia 8 - 0 Romania
• Italy 2 - 0 Romania
• Czechoslovakia 2 - 1 Austria
• Austria 7 - 1 Romania
• Czechoslovakia 3 - 1 Italy

Final Standings – Group A

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Goal Diff.	Points
1	Czechoslovakia	3	3	0	0	13: 2	+11	6:0
2	Austria	3	2	0	1	11: 3	+ 8	4:2
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	3: 6	- 3	2:4
4	Romania	3	0	0	3	1:17	-16	0:6

Group B

• Germany 6 - 0 Belgium
• Germany 2 - 0 Poland
• Poland 1 - 0 Belgium

Final Standings – Group B

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Goal Diff.	Points
1	Germany	2	2	0	0	8:0	+8	4:0
2	Poland	2	1	0	1	1:2	-1	2:2
3	Belgium	2	0	0	2	0:7	-7	0:4

Group C

• Switzerland 5 - 1 Latvia
• Switzerland 1 - 0 Hungary
• Hungary 3 - 0 Latvia

Final Standings – Group C

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Goal Diff.	Points
1	Switzerland	2	2	0	0	6:1	+7	4:0
2	Hungary	2	1	0	1	3:1	+2	2:2
3	Latvia	2	0	0	2	1:8	-7	0:4

Second round

February 21 to February 23. Eight teams played in two groups with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.

Group D

• Austria 1 - 0 o.t. Hungary
• Canada 5 - 0 Germany
• Germany 4 - 0 Hungary
• Canada 4 - 0 Austria
• Canada 3 - 1 Hungary
• Austria 2 - 0 Germany

Final Standings – Group D

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Goal Diff.	Points
1	Canada	3	3	0	0	12: 1	+11	6:0
2	Austria	3	2	0	1	3: 4	- 1	4:2
3	Germany	3	1	0	2	4: 7	- 3	2:4
4	Hungary	3	0	0	3	1: 8	- 7	0:6

Group E

• United States 7 - 0 Switzerland
• Czechoslovakia 1 - 0 Poland
• United States 4 - 0 Poland
• Czechoslovakia 1 - 0 Switzerland
• Switzerland 3 - 1 Poland
• United States 6 - 0 Czechoslovakia

Final Standings – Group E

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Goal Diff.	Points
1	United States	3	3	0	0	17: 0	+17	6:0
2	Czechoslovakia	3	2	0	1	2: 6	- 4	4:2
3	Switzerland	3	1	0	2	3: 9	- 6	2:4
4	Poland	3	0	0	3	1: 8	- 7	0:6

Final round

Semi-Finals

February 25

• United States 4 - 0 Austria
• Canada 4 - 0 Czechoslovakia

Consolation round 9–12 February 24

• Romania 3 - 2 Belgium
• Latvia 2 - 0 Italy

Finals

Gold Medal Game February 26

• United States 2 - 1 o.t. Canada

Third place Game February 26

• Czechoslovakia 2 - 0 Austria

Fifth place game February 24

• Germany 1 - 1 Switzerland

Seventh place game February 24

• Hungary 1 - 1 Poland

Ninth place game February 24

• Romania 1 - 0 Latvia

Eleventh place game

• Italy w/o Belgium (Belgium declined to play)

Final Rankings – World Championship

RF	Team
1	United States
2	Canada
3	Czechoslovakia
4	Austria
5	Germany
5	Switzerland
7	Hungary
7	Poland
9	Romania
10	Latvia
11	Italy
12	Belgium

Championship team

Medal	Country	Players
Gold	United States	Gerry Cosby, John Garrison, Ben Langmaid, Winthrop Palmer, Frank Holland, Larry Sanford, Channing Hillard, Stewart Iglehart, Sherman Forbes, Jim Breckinridge; Trainer: Walter A. Brown

Final Rankings – European Championship

RF	Team
1	Czechoslovakia
2	Austria
3	Germany
3	Switzerland
5	Hungary
5	Poland
7	Romania
8	Latvia
9	Italy
10	Belgium

Sources

• Complete results
• IIHF 100 top stories number 78
• Duplacey, James (1998). Total Hockey: The official encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. pp. 498–528. ISBN 0-8362-7114-9.
• Podnieks, Andrew (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. pp. 26, 124.

References

1. Holland, Dave (2008). Canada on Ice; The World Hockey Championships, 1920 – 2008. Canada On Ice productions. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-9808936-0-1.