1938 Ice Hockey World Championships

The 1938 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 11 and February 20, 1938, at Štvanice Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It marked the 30th anniversary of the IIHF, and a special celebration was held with famous hockey players from all over Europe in attendance. Also a yearbook was produced for the twenty-two member nations which documented which European country had the most hockey clubs (Czechoslovakia 361) and the most artificial rinks (Great Britain 21).

1938 Ice Hockey World Championships

Tournament details
Host country	Czechoslovakia
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	11–20 February
Teams	14
Final positions
Champions	Canada (10th title)
Runner-up	Great Britain
Third place	Czechoslovakia
Fourth place	Germany
Tournament statistics
Games played	40
Goals scored	159 (3.98 per game)

Fourteen teams participated in this World Championship. It was first divided into three preliminary round groups — two groups of five and a group with four teams. In the preliminary round, the top three teams in each group advanced to the second round. The nine teams advancing to the second round were divided into three groups of three teams each. The three group winners and the best second-place team advanced to the semifinals.

The Canadians won the World Championship title for the tenth time beating Great Britain 3-1 in the final, leaving the British with their fourth European Championship title (the third in a row). In the bronze-medal game, Czechoslovakia defeated Germany 3-0, and in a match for fifth place Sweden defeated Switzerland 2-0. The Swiss were very unhappy with the IIHF's decision to pick Germany as the fourth semi-finalist, as the two of them, and Sweden, finished the second round in an absolute tie. The decision was made to advance Germany because they had lost to Canada, so they were the best European nation in their group.

World Men's Hockey Championships (in Prague, Czechoslovakia)

First round

Group A

11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Switzerland	–	Hungary		1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Lithuania	–	Romania		1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
12 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Switzerland	–	Romania		8:1 (2:0,1:1,5:0)
12 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Poland	–	Lithuania		8:1 (4:0,3:0,1:1)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Poland	–	Romania		3:0 (1:0,2:0,0:0)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Hungary	–	Lithuania		10:1 (2:0,4:0,4:1)
14 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Switzerland	–	Lithuania		15:0 (9:0,2:0,4:0)
14 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Poland	–	Hungary		3:0 (1:0,1:0,1:0)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Hungary	–	Romania		3:1 (1:1,1:0,1:0)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Switzerland	–	Poland		7:1 (3:0,1:0,3:1)

Standings - Group A

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Switzerland	4	4	0	0	31: 2	+29	8:0
2	Poland	4	3	0	1	15: 8	+ 7	6:2
3	Hungary	4	2	0	2	13: 6	+ 7	4:4
4	Lithuania	4	1	0	3	3:33	-30	2:6
5	Romania	4	0	0	4	2:15	-13	0:8

Group B

11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Latvia	–	Norway		3:1 OT (1:0,0:1,0:0,2:0)
11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	Germany		1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
12 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	United States	–	Latvia		1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
12 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	Norway		8:0 (2:0,1:0,5:0)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	United States	–	Norway		7:1 (3:0,4:0,0:1)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Germany	–	Latvia		1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
14 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	Latvia		5:1 (1:0,2:0,2:1)
14 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	United States	–	Germany		1:0 (1:0,0:0,0:0)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Germany	–	Norway		8:0 (2:0,1:0,5:0)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	United States		1:1 OT (0:0,0:0,1:1,0:0,0:0,0:0)

Standings - Group B

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Great Britain	4	3	1	0	15: 2	+13	7:1
2	United States	4	3	1	0	10: 2	+ 8	7:1
3	Germany	4	2	0	2	9: 2	+ 7	4:4
4	Latvia	4	1	0	3	4: 8	- 4	2:6
5	Norway	4	0	0	4	2:26	-24	0:8

Group C

11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Sweden		3:2 (1:0,1:2,1:0)
11 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Austria		1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Austria		3:0 (1:0,1:0,1:0)
13 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Sweden		0:0 OT (0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Canada		0:3 (0:2,0:0,0:1)
15 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Sweden	–	Austria		1:1 OT (0:1,1:0,0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0)

Standings - Group C

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Canada	3	3	0	0	9:2	+7	6:0
2	Czechoslovakia	3	1	1	1	1:3	-2	3:3
3	Sweden	3	0	2	1	3:4	-1	2:4
4	Austria	3	0	1	2	1:5	-4	1:5

Second round

Group A

16 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	United States		2:0 (0:0,1:0,1:0)
17 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Switzerland	–	United States		1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
18 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Switzerland		3:2 OT. (0:1,1:0,0:0,2:1)

Standings - Group A

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Czechoslovakia	2	2	0	0	5:2	+3	4:0
2	Switzerland +	2	1	0	1	3:3	0	2:2
3	United States	2	0	0	2	0:3	-3	0:4

Group B

16 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	Sweden		3:2 (0:0,1:1,2:1)
17 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Sweden	–	Poland		1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
18 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Great Britain	–	Poland		7:1 (3:1,4:0,0:0)

Standings - Group B

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Great Britain	2	2	0	0	10: 3	+7	4:0
2	Sweden +	2	1	0	1	3: 3	0	2:2
3	Poland	2	0	0	2	1: 8	-7	0:4

Group C

16 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Germany		3:2 OT. (1:1,0:1,1:0,1:0)
17 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Germany	–	Hungary		1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
18 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Hungary		1:1 OT. (1:1,0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0,0:0)

Standings—Group C

Pos.	Team	GP	Wins	Ties	Losses	Goals	Diff.	Points
1	Canada	2	1	1	0	4:3	+1	3:1
2	Germany +	2	1	0	1	3:3	0	2:2
3	Hungary	2	0	1	1	1:2	-1	1:3

+ Germany, Switzerland and Sweden ended with identical records. The Organizing Committee awarded the semifinal position to Germany because it had to play Canada.

Consolation round 5–6 place

19 February 1938

Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague

Sweden

–

Switzerland

2:0 (1:0,0:0,1:0)

Final round

Semifinals
19 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Germany		1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
19 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Great Britain		0:1 (0:0,0:0,0:1)
Game for 3rd place
20 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Czechoslovakia	–	Germany		3:0 (1:0,2:0,0:0)
Final
20 February 1938	Zimní stadión Štvanice, Prague	Canada	–	Great Britain		3:1 (3:1,0:0,0:0)

Final Rankings – World Championships

The bronze-medal match between Czechoslovakia and Germany. Czechoslovakia won 3–0.

	Canada
	Great Britain
	Czechoslovakia
4	Germany
5	Sweden
6	Switzerland
7	Hungary
7	Poland
7	United States
10	Austria
10	Latvia
10	Lithuania
13	Norway
13	Romania

World Champion 1938
Canada

Members of team

Sudbury Wolves

Pos.	Team	Players
1	CAN	Pat McReavy, Roy Heximer, Mel Albright, Johnny Godfrey, Glen Sutherland, Gordie Bruce, Jimmy Russell, Buster Portland, Jack Marshall, John Coulter, Percy Allen, Reg Chipman, Archie Burnie; Trainer: Max Silverman

Final Rankings – European Championships

	Great Britain
	Czechoslovakia
	Germany
4	Sweden
5	Switzerland
6	Hungary
6	Poland
8	Austria
8	Latvia
8	Lithuania
11	Norway
11	Romania

European Champion 1938
Great Britain

References

• Complete results
• 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. 128–9.