1996 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

1–2

21 April

3–3

22 April

1–5

22 April

6–2

23 April

4–2

23 April

0–4

24 April

5–1

25 April

2–1

25 April

1–3

26 April

0–3

26 April

6–4

27 April

4–3

28 April

0–6

28 April

5–1

29 April

4–1

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Czech Republic	5	4	1	0	27	12	+15	9
2	Finland	5	2	2	1	23	15	+8	6
3	Sweden	5	2	2	1	14	12	+2	6
4	Italy	5	2	1	2	20	26	−6	5
5	Norway	5	1	2	2	6	11	−5	4
6	France	5	0	0	5	12	26	−14	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

21 April

3–1

21 April

1–1

22 April

5–6

23 April

4–0

23 April

2–4

24 April

2–1

24 April

2–2

25 April

3–6

25 April

3–3

26 April

2–9

27 April

9–2

27 April

3–0

28 April

5–9

28 April

5–5

29 April

3–1

Playoff round

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final

30 April

United States	3
		3 May
Sweden	2
		United States	0
1 May
		Czech Republic	5
Czech Republic	6
				5 May
Germany	1
				Czech Republic	4
30 April
				Canada	2
Finland	1
		3 May
Canada	3
		Canada (GWS)	3
1 May
		Russia	2	Third place
Russia	5
				4 May
Italy	2
				Russia	3

				United States (OT)	4

Quarterfinals

30 April

3–2

30 April

1–3

1 May

5–2

1 May

6–1

Consolation round 11–12 place

1 May

3–6

2 May

3–6

Austria was relegated to Group B.

Semifinals

3 May

0–5

3 May

3–2 (GWS)

Match for third place

4 May

3–4 (OT)

Final

5 May
15:00

Czech Republic

4–2
(1–1, 1–1, 2–0)

Wiener Stadthalle, Wien
Attendance: 9,500

Roman Turek

Goalies

Curtis Joseph

Referee:

Müller
Linesmen:

Rautavuori

Rönnmark

	0–1	05:29 − Steve Thomas
Robert Lang – 07:49	1–1
Robert Lang – 26:02	2–1
	2–2	29:40 − Steve Thomas
Martin Procházka – 59:41	3–2
Jiří Kučera – 59:54	4–2

World Championship Group B (Netherlands)

Played 10–20 April in Eindhoven. Latvia won at this level for the first time. In their final game, superb goaltending by Artūrs Irbe kept them in it, and a late tying goal by Oļegs Znaroks sealed the tournament victory.^[3] The final game had high drama for the host crowd, the Japanese and Danish teams among them. If the Netherlands were to lose to Poland, they would finish last and be relegated, a tie and Japan would be last, a win and Denmark would be last. A third period goal by Poland sealed Japan's fate.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
13	Latvia	7	6	1	0	41	16	+25	13
14	Switzerland	7	5	1	1	37	13	+24	11
15	Belarus	7	5	0	2	29	18	+11	10
16	Great Britain	7	4	1	2	29	23	+6	9
17	Poland	7	1	2	4	18	27	−9	4
18	Denmark	7	1	1	5	14	32	−18	3^[a]
19	Netherlands	7	1	1	5	12	35	−23	3^[b]
20	Japan	7	0	3	4	14	30	−16	3^[c]

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ 3 head-to-head points
^ 2 head-to-head points
^ 1 head-to-head point

Latvia was promoted to Group A while Japan was relegated to Group C.

10 April

6–5

10 April

3–3

10 April

0–3

10 April

2–4

11 April

1–6

11 April

2–7

12 April

3–4

12 April

2–3

13 April

5–3

13 April

7–2

13 April

4–2

14 April

2–6

14 April

4–1

15 April

1–10

15 April

3–6

15 April

1–2

16 April

4–2

16 April

3–3

17 April

6–1

17 April

5–1

18 April

2–5

18 April

3–15

19 April

7–2

19 April

5–1

20 April

2–4

20 April

2–2

20 April

1–1

20 April

2–2

World Championship Group C (Slovenia)

Played 22–31 March in Jesenice and Kranj. For the fourth year in row the Kazakhs and Ukrainians met in Group C. For the first time the Kazakhs came out on top, and it was the difference in winning the tournament.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
21	Kazakhstan	7	6	0	1	51	10	+41	12
22	Ukraine	7	6	0	1	40	13	+27	12
23	Slovenia	7	5	0	2	41	19	+22	10
24	Hungary	7	3	1	3	34	25	+9	7
25	Estonia	7	3	1	3	36	29	+7	7
26	Romania	7	3	0	4	32	27	+5	6
27	China	7	1	0	6	17	68	−51	2
28	Croatia	7	0	0	7	11	71	−60	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Kazakhstan was promoted to Group B while Croatia was relegated to Group D.

22 March

9–2

22 March

13–2

22 March

4–1

22 March

2–4

23 March

2–7

23 March

4–1

23 March

2–7

23 March

10–2

25 March

6–3

25 March

11–1

25 March

3–5

25 March

15–0

26 March

3–11

26 March

12–0

26 March

5–5

26 March

2–4

28 March

2–3

28 March

4–6

28 March

3–2

28 March

4–3

29 March

7–2

29 March

0–10

29 March

0–7

29 March

10–2

31 March

5–2

31 March

13–2

31 March

4–3

31 March

2–8

World Championship Group D (Lithuania)

Played in Kaunas and Elektrenai 25–31 March. To narrow the field of the bottom tier to eight nations, two regional qualifying tournaments were used.

Qualifying round

Group 1 (Australia)

Played 5 and 6 November 1995 in Sydney.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Australia	2	2	0	0	12	2	+10	4
2	New Zealand	2	0	0	2	2	12	−10	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

5 November 1995

6–0

6 November 1995

6–2

Group 2 (Israel)

Played 27–29 January 1996 in Metulla.

The Greek team originally won both their games, but it was later found that they had used ineligible players. Both games were declared 5–0 forfeits in favour of the opposing team.^[3]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Israel	2	2	0	24	0	+24	4
2	Turkey	2	1	1	5	19	−14	2
3	Greece	2	0	2	0	10	−10	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

27 January 1996

1–4
5–0 by default

Greece

28 January 1996

Turkey

0–19
5–0 by default

Greece

29 January 1996

19–0

Turkey

First round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Yugoslavia	3	3	0	0	14	5	+9	6
2	Spain	3	1	1	1	15	6	+9	3
3	South Korea	3	1	1	1	15	10	+5	3
4	Australia	3	0	0	3	8	31	−23	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

25 March

Yugoslavia

7–1

Australia

25 March

1–1

South Korea

26 March

11–1

26 March

3–1

27 March

13–6

27 March

4–3

Group 2

The Israeli team, that had qualified for the tournament after the Greek forfeits, had to forfeit its first two games because they used two Russian players who did not have the proper clearance to play.^[3]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Lithuania	3	3	0	19	2	+17	6
2	Belgium	3	2	1	10	13	−3	4
3	Bulgaria	3	1	2	7	6	+1	2
4	Israel	3	0	3	0	15	−15	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

25 March

3–3
5–0 by default

25 March

11–2

26 March

3–2

26 March

7–2
5–0 by default

27 March

5–0

27 March

3–0

Final Round 29–32 Place

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
29	Lithuania	3	3	0	25	4	+21	6
30	Yugoslavia	3	2	1	10	8	+2	4
31	Spain	3	1	2	10	16	−6	2
32	Belgium	3	0	3	5	22	−17	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Host Lithuania won all five games to earn promotion to Group C.

29 March

Yugoslavia

5–2

29 March

11–1

31 March

6–1

31 March

3–1

Yugoslavia

Consolation round 33–36 place

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
33	South Korea	3	2	1	0	22	13	+9	5
34	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	14	10	+4	4
35	Israel	3	1	1	1	10	10	0	3
36	Australia	3	0	0	3	12	25	−13	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

28 March

5–4

Australia

28 March

3–3

South Korea

30 March

7–2

Australia

30 March

South Korea

6–4