1993 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
The 1993 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Germany 18 April - 2 May. The games were played in Munich and Dortmund. Twelve teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of six, and the four best teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. This was the 57th World Championships, and Russia beat the reigning world champions Sweden to win the World Championships for the first time. The bronze medal was won by the Czech Republic, defeating Canada in their first major tournament as an independent country after their split with Slovakia at the beginning of the calendar year.
While Latvia had last competed in 1939, this year marked the World Championship debut of three national teams. Kazakhstan, Slovenia, and the Ukraine, played for the first time, in Group C. Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, and Lithuania all did not make it out of the autumn qualifiers and had to wait at least another year. Also waiting until the following year was Slovakia, who did however debut a youth team.
Eleven of the twelve openings for the Lillehammer Olympics were established in Group A. Switzerland, by being relegated, was excluded, and the final nation had to qualify in a tournament the next fall. The top two teams from Group B, the Group C champion, the top Asian nation, and Slovakia all were given the opportunity to fill the final vacancy.
Read more about 1993 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships: Medal Table, World Championship Group B (Netherlands)
Famous quotes containing the words men, world and/or ice:
“They are more than men at the outset of their battles; at the end they are less than the women.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“People like us are unhappy in this world and in the next, I guess if we made it to heaven, we’d have to help make it thunder.”
—Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
“‘Line in nature is not found;
Unit and universe are round;
In vain produced, all rays return;
Evil will bless, and ice will burn.’
As Uriel spoke with piercing eye,
A shudder ran around the sky;”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)