The 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Sweden between 12–26 April 1981, with games being played in the the arenas of Scandinavium in Gothenburg and Johanneshovs isstadion in Stockholm. Eight teams took part, firstly splitting into two groups of two, with the best two from each group advancing to the final group. These teams then play each other in the final round. This was the 47th World Championships, and also the 58th European Championships. The Soviet Union became World Champions for the 17th time, and also won their twentieth European title. Don Cherry commented, "This is the best Russian team I've ever seen."[1]
The Dutch team had won Group C and Group B in successive years to play in this tournament, but did not fare well. Their best game was a narrow one goal loss to the Americans, a goal scored on a penalty shot by Dave Christian with eleven seconds left.[1] It was their first appearance at the top level since 1950 and they have not returned since.[2]
The fanfare for the Championships was written by Benny Andersson (from ABBA) in 1981. It was later used as the jingle/opening theme for the television special Dick Cavett Meets ABBA aired later in 1981. Reference - Palm, Carl Magnus: ABBA - The Complete Recordings Sessions, page 106. Verulam Publishing Ltd (13 October 1994). ISBN 0-907938-10-8. ISBN 978-0-907938-10-1.
Rosters
Team Soviet Union
1981 WC SOV coach Viktor Tikhonov
1981 WC SOV G Vladislav Tretiak
1981 WC SOV G Vladimir Myshkin
1981 WC SOV D Vyacheslav Fetisov
1981 WC SOV D Sergei Babinov
1981 WC SOV D Vasili Pervukhin
1981 WC SOV D Valeri Vasiliev C
1981 WC SOV D Alexei Kasatonov
1981 WC SOV D Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
1981 WC SOV D Nikolai Makarov
1981 WC SOV F Sergei Kapustin
1981 WC SOV F Vladimir Krutov
1981 WC SOV F Alexander Maltsev
1981 WC SOV F Yuri Lebedev
1981 WC SOV F Andrei Khomutov
1981 WC SOV F Nikolai Drozdetsky
1981 WC SOV F Vladimir Petrov
1981 WC SOV F Viktor Shalimov
1981 WC SOV F Viktor Zhluktov
1981 WC SOV F Sergei Shepelev
1981 WC SOV F Sergei Makarov
1981 WC SOV F Vladimir Golikov
1981 WC SOV F Aleksandr Skvortsov
Team Sweden
1981 WC SWE coach Bengt Ohlson
1981 WC SWE G Peter Lindmark
1981 WC SWE G Reino Sundberg
1981 WC SWE D Anders Eldebrink
1981 WC SWE D Peter Helander
1981 WC SWE D Tomas Jonsson
1981 WC SWE D Göran Lindblom
1981 WC SWE D Tommy Samuelsson
1981 WC SWE D Mats Waltin
1981 WC SWE D Stig Östling
1981 WC SWE F Roland Eriksson
1981 WC SWE F Bengt-Åke Gustafsson
1981 WC SWE F Inge Hammarström
1981 WC SWE F Anders Håkansson
1981 WC SWE F Ulf Isaksson
1981 WC SWE F Harald Lückner
1981 WC SWE F Lars Molin
1981 WC SWE F Lennart Norberg
1981 WC SWE F Mats Näslund
1981 WC SWE F Thomas Steen
1981 WC SWE F Roland Stoltz
1981 WC SWE F Patrik Sundström
1981 WC SWE F Dan Söderström
Team Czechoslovakia
1981 WC TCH coach Luděk Bukač
1981 WC TCH G Karel Lang
1981 WC TCH G Jaromír Šindel
1981 WC TCH D Jan Neliba
1981 WC TCH D Miloslav Hořava
1981 WC TCH D Milan Chalupa
1981 WC TCH D Arnold Kadlec
1981 WC TCH D Stanislav Hajdušek
1981 WC TCH D Miroslav Dvořák
1981 WC TCH D Petr Míšek
1981 WC TCH F Milan Nový C
1981 WC TCH F Vladimír Martinec
1981 WC TCH F Pavel Richter
1981 WC TCH F František Černík
1981 WC TCH F Miroslav Fryčer
1981 WC TCH F Dárius Rusnák
1981 WC TCH F Norbert Král
1981 WC TCH F Jiří Lála
1981 WC TCH F Ivan Hlinka
1981 WC TCH F Jindřich Kokrment
1981 WC TCH F Jaroslav Pouzar
1981 WC TCH F Bohuslav Ebermann
1981 WC TCH F Jaroslav Korbela
Sweden
Soviet Union (17th title)
Czechoslovakia
Canada
Holger Meitinger 20 points
Finland
Netherlands
United States
United States
Italy
Poland
Switzerland
East Germany
Romania
Norway
Yugoslavia
Japan
Austria
China
Hungary
Denmark
France
Bulgaria
North Korea
Great Britain
