The Centennial Hockey Website

1908

 

A Frenchman called Louis Magnus arranged a meeting, that took place between 15th and 16th of June 1908. The Frenchmen’s guests were Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland. Bohemia has been mentioned being present too in some sources, but they were not. Though the Bohemians are the only ones being on the top from the very beginning til today, being Czechoslovakia for a long time and is established these days as the Czech Republic. Russia was going to participate the meeting, but came along much later with a tremendous vigour.

A little about the statistics
 
I have only mentioned the European Champion’s rosters, because I haven’t found all of the other medal teams, unfortunately. Also, to find any information about the goalscoring of the second and the third teams has been very scarce.
With the goalscorers, I have mentioned the best one, whenever possible. When not, I have mentioned all the goalscorers I know.
Later, with the Olympic and the World Championship medal teams (+Finland), there are full rosters. And the best goalscorer/scorer.

With the game series, they are compiled in the traditional European style (games played, wins, ties, losses, goals for, goals against). Sorry, North-Americans!

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If anyone has something to add to the missing goalscores, naturally I’ll be pleased to read about it!

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The 1910’s

 

1910’s was the beginning for the still going on tournaments of the International Ice Hockey Federation. At this stage the tournaments were about the European Championships, many times a club team being a national team, for example: the Berliner Schlittschuhklub as the Team Germany. Also the Oxford Canadiens participated as a guest team. The protective gear practically didn’t exist, the players playing in Les Avants, for instance, with a jogging-like outfit. But the main thing happened: the opening of the international hockey era.

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1910 Les Avants
 

This first IIHF tournament took place in the backwoods of Montreaux, Switzerland. The conditions could be described being like in an elementary school, but this was the opening anyway. At first only for the European Champion title. The winner was Great Britain with a club team called Royal Prince’s Club London. This team and most of the later British ones had a lot of Canadians in it. The team placed second was Germany, Belgium third and the host Switzerland fourth.
 The most superior team beat the participants with a margin from 4-0 to 8-0. And later even the European Champion team. Naturally the Oxford Canadians wasn’t regarded as the European Champion.
 Great Britain: Sopwith; Patton, B.Cox; H.Duden, R.LeCron, J.Cox, H.W.Stoner, Macklin (3). (3 3 0 0 7-2)
 (2. Germany, 3. Belgium)

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1911 Berlin

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The conditions of the tournaments varied radically many times in the early ones. This time the scene of the tournament was the Berlin ice stadium with its artificial ice. The Czechs, having begun playing hockey in 1907, really participated the international hockey in this tournament and have stayed on the top ever since. Their game series included a 4-1 win over Germany, 3-0 over Belgium and even a 13-0 win over Switzerland. The team, then called Bohemia, received a welcome jubilee of thousands of people back home.
 
Bohemia: Hamacek; J.Fleischman, Palous, Vindys, Jarkovsky (9 goals), Jirkovsky, Sroubek, M.Fleischmann, J.Rublic. (3 3 0 0 20-1)
 (2. Germany, 3. Belgium)
 
1912 Prague

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Again a dramatic change of tournament conditions. This time on the Slavia Prague stadium, when the gras was seen here and there between the natural ice. Unlike in the previous tournaments, this time Belgium and Switzerland were absent. But now Austria really came in. Because the Czechs were part of Austria at the time, it was possible for DEG Prague to present the country.
In the tournament Fritz Piper did the Austrian scoring debut against Germany. But after the tournament Germany protested for the tied 2-2 against Bohemia. After that it was noticed, that the Austrian IIHF membership had become valid two weeks after the tournament. So, mostly this tournament is regarded as unofficial. 
 Bohemia: Wälzer; J.Fleischmann, Palous, Vindys, Jarkovsky (3), Jirkovsky, M.Fleischmann, J.Rublic. (2 2 0 0 7-2)
(2. Germany, 3. Austria)
 
1913 Munich

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This time the tournament was played on the artificial ice. Switzerland still remained absent, but Belgium did return. One of the players was the forthcoming longtime executive of the IIHF named Henri Van Der Bulcke.
 And what kind of a return! These days Belgium is more known for its football, soccer that is, but the Flamish and the Vallons were the European Champions this time. Sadly after this Belgium has remained as a has-been in international hockey. Austrians debut continued this time with losses 1-13 and 4-14 against Belgium and Germany.
Belgium: Vergult; Deprez(7), Franck, Kupez, Gemine, Loicq, Gossens, Folksom, Verges. (3 3 0 0 25-10)
(2. Bohemia, 3. Germany)

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1914 Berlin

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The same country with a different location. The Austrians had their obvious reasons to remain absent from this tournament. The Czechs, Germans and Belgians fought for the European hockey supremacy before the fight for the other supremacy: the first World War.
Czechs already thinking nationally had to fight hard to win the Germans 2-0, but Belgium was sent home with a loss of 1-9. This meant practically the end of top Belgium hockey.
Bohemia; Wälzer, Pondelnicek; Rublic, Palous, Loos, J.Fleischmann, Jirkovsky (7), Pesek-Kada, Paral. ( 2 2 0 0 11-1)
 (2. Germany, 3. Belgium)
 
The best of the decade:
Goalie: Vergult(Belgium).
Defenseman: Patton (Great Britain).
Forward: Jirkovsky(Bohemia).
 
The team of the decade: Bohemia

The medals:
Bohemia 2 (+ 1 unofficially)-1-0
Great Britain 1-0-0
Germany 0-3(+1 unofficially)-1
Belgium 1-0-3
Austria 0-0-0(+1 unofficially)

The 1920’s The European Championships
 
There were European Championship tournaments through-out the 1920’s, but a great change happened with the prestige of the tournaments. This happened with the Olympic tournament taking place in the Antwerp ice-palace. Also a great deal of new countries entered the tournaments, though Sweden being the only one to reach the top in the long run. The “rover” was dropped off after the 1920 Olympic tournament and after that there has been five players plus goalie on ice.
 
1921 Stockholm

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The Swedes have an honour of hosting the most modest IIHF tournament ever. But this wasn’t their fault. After the Olympic tournament being held in Antwerp 1920 there was an agreement about a World Championship tournament, including Canada and the USA, but finally there were only the Swedes and the Czechs.
 Sweden won the only time a tournament at home with an attendance of 4000-5000 spectators and because of the light the opponents wore sunglasses. This only game of the tournament being played on natural ice made this new piece of Swedish sports that much regular, that the first tournament for national championship took place next spring. Since 1926 the best team has been rewarded with Raoul Le Mat trophy. Him being the American father of Swedish hockey.
 Sweden: Säfwenberg; Lindqvist, Lundell(1); Arve, Burman(3), Johansson-Brandius(3), E.Svensson, E.Abrahamsson, Galin, Woodzack. (1 1 0 0 7-4)
 (2. Czechoslovakia)

1922 Sankt Moritz

In this forthcoming Olympic town Czechoslovakia took the European Championship back from Sweden. This was the case in most European Championship tournaments. Though Switzerland failed with their comeback – losing 1-8 to the Czechs and 0-7 to the Swedes – their success in the World Championship tournaments was a great deal better. And so was the German one. Great Britain was even more successful, but this was because of dual citizenship Canadians.
 By winning 3-2 the Czechs became the best Europeans on the natural ice in a beautiful landscape. This time the number of countries participating was three. The Czech super-star of the era, Josef Malecek, made his debut in this tournament.
 Czechoslovakia: Pospisil, Rezac; Vindys, Pesek-Kada, V.Loos, Jirkovksy (6), Sroubek, Hamacek, Hartmann, Malecek, M.Fleischmann. (2 2 0 0 11-3)
 (2.Sweden, 3. Switzerland)

1923 Antwerp

 

The Olympic – and the World Championship at the same time – debut had taken place in the ice-palace of this city three years earlier. Now it was time for the European Championship. Surprisingly, Czechoslovakia was even in the shadow of France, gaining only bronze. Sweden continued with great European strength.
 This time the tournament got the greatest number of participants so far, five. The odd thing seems to be, that France participated only now for the first time. Maybe they were thinking about the level of the tournament.
 Sweden: Jansson; Lundell, Johansson; Brandius, E.Svensson, B.Holmqwvist(7), Björklund, Molander, Tegner. (4 4 0 0 23-6)
 (2.France, 3. Czechoslovakia)

 

1924 Milan

This was the Italian debut, both as an organizer and a participant of the tournament! You could say, that il totalitarismo e il totalitarismo; a gam, hardly being started in Italy, was held in an ice-palace! The tournament itself can be considered as surprising.
The winner of tournament was France, much because of its star, Leon Quaglia. His strength was a backround as a speed-skater. Besides Italy, also Spain made its debut in this tournament. This was the first time for Czechoslovakia being absent.
France: Andre Charlet, Pierre Charpentier, Martial Couvert, Albert de Rauch(7+1), Robert George, Hubert Grunwald, Albert Hassler, Leon Quaglia. (3 3 0 0 17-1)
 (2.Sweden, 3.Belgium and Switzerland)

1925 Stary Smokovec

 By coincidence a new era took place in Czechoslovakian hockey: Prague had prematurely lost its natural ice and people hurried to look for still existing ice. They found ones in the Slovakian side, from the Tatras. So, the audience being enthusiastic, the Slovakian hockey got its beginning.
 This time Sweden was absent and this might have made its way for Austria getting its first medal winning position. Very soon after this the country got its peak in success.
 Tsekkoslovakia: Peka, Stransky; Sroubek, Pesek-Kada, V.Loos, Jirkovsky, Malecek (5), K.Kozeluh, Vindys, Lorenc, Hamacek, Pusbauer. (3 3 0 0 10-0)
 (2.Austria, 3.Switzerland)

1926 Davos

 The times they are a-changing! Switzerland gained the top by storm, after participating years without winning! This took place in their beatufiful mountain-landscape natural ice. As one may guess, they guaranteed their championship with a brilliant defence!
 Sweden was still absent, and Czechoslovakia gained a silver medal between new European top countries. But this didn’t mean them falling off the top.
 Switzerland: Martignoni; Fasel, Dufour, Meng(13), Morosani, Kraatz, Besson, Müller, A.Spengler, Andreossi. (5 5 0 0 30-12)
 (2.Czechoslovakia, 3.Austria)

1927 Vienna

 Austria gained the European Championship on their home-ground. Their success was guaranteed by their coach Blake Watson, a man being very well known also after the tournament. One might add, that the Czechoslovakian coach was called Holmes. The games were being played on the fairy-tale-like artificial ice rink called Engelmann. This wasn’t the last time the rink being used by IIHF.
 Hungary made its debut on this tournament, being unsuccessful with even results: losing twice by 0-5 and three times by 0-6.
 Austria: Weiss; Spewak, Göbel, W. Brück, H.Brück, Lederer(6), Sell, Rewy, Ditrichstein, Wollinger, Sommer, Tatzer. (5 5 0 0 13-2)
 (2. Belgium, 3. Germany)
 
1929 Budapest

 Hungary was the host of this tournament! But they dropped out already in the qualification phase on their pretty new artificial ice rink. Czechoslovakia gained the last European Championship of the 1920’s.
 Poland got surprisingly the silver medal, becoming one with no essential traditions in this piece of sports. Finland was supposed to made its debut on this tournament, but...
 Czechoslovakia: Peka, Rezac; Sroubek, Dorasil, Pusbauer, Malecek (5), K.Kozelyh, Vindys, Lorenc, Hamacek, Pusbauer. (3 3 0 0 6-2)
 (2.Poland, 3. Austria)

The medals:
Czechoslovakia 3-2-1
Sweden 2-2-0
Switzerland 1-0-3
France 1-1-0
Austria 1-1-2
Belgium 0-1-1
Poland 0-1-0
Germany 0-0-1

The Olympic/W

 

1920 Antwerp

 This tournament can be considered as a true beginning of international hockey! The ice-palace of Rue de la Sante near the botanic gardens got the North-Americans as their visitors. The field was real small, 18x56 meters. This probably made it easy for the hosts gaining 2,000 spectators per average in a relatively small arena, the type being used mostly on division II level these days in the top-countries.
 Canada was superior in this pre-winter-olympic tournament with its brand new amateur champion, the Winnipeg Falcons. The players of the team were descendants of the Winnipeg Icelanders, the coach being born in Iceland. The USA had an assembled team. Geran had tried in the NHL, but he wasn’t treated like Jim Thorpe earlier. Maybe he was white enough. Team also included some originally Canadians, for example Herb Drury. This time Finland was only presented in hockey by m/s Finlandia, the ship bringing the Americans to the city.
 The Europeans were missing all the proper equipment, thus remaining only spectators on the ice. Sweden entered the tournament with its first ice hockey team ever, pushing aside almost every traditional European hockey team. They were managed by an American Raoul Le Mat and played hockey, that was considered rough even by the North-American standards of the day. The tactically more mature Czechoslovakia was the only European team being ahead of them, because of the uneven system of the cup. The father of the system was a Swedish called Bergvall.
 Canada: Walter Byron; Konrad Johanneson, Bobby Benson; Chris Fridfinson, Magnus Goodman, Frank Fredrickson(12), Halldor Halderson, Allan Woodman. (3 3 0 0 29-1)
 2. USA: Raymond Bonney, Cyril Weidenborner; Edward Fitzgerald, George Geran, Leon Tuck, Frank Goheen, Herb Drury, Joseph McCormick, Frank Synott, Tony Conroy(14). (4 3 0 1 52-2).
 3.Czechoslovakia: Karel Wälzer; Otakar Vindys, Jan Palous, Karel Hartmann, Karel Pesek, Josef Sroubek(1), Vilem Loos. (3 1 0 2 1-31).
1924
Chamonix
 These games were originally the winter game week of the IOC. A year later the games became officially the first Winter Olympics. One reason being the Nordic countries, thinking about the prestige of the traditional skiing events, for example Falun and Holmenkollen.As usual, the thing turned the other way round, these events being even more popular than ever these days.
 This time the tournament took place on natural ice. Canada came also this time with an amateur champion team, this time from the previous spring. The modest name of the team was the Toronto Granites. Their goalscoring rate wasn’t that modest. Neither it was with the Boston AAA from USA. But also they couldn’t match their northern neighbours. The US star of the tournament was Herb Drury with his 22 goals. He happened to be the same Canadian-born, who played in Antwerp four years earlier.
 Canada’s game series was following: winning USA 6-1, Great Britain 19-2, Sweden 22-0, Czechoslovakia 30-0 and Switzerland 33-0. All these being the biggest losses in a single game of these countries ever. While Canada’s game stats of 110-3 in five games is the biggest ever. Also the 37 goals of Harry Watson is the greatest number ever by a single player in a single tournament. A Canadian-born player Blane Sexton scored a hat-trick against Belgium. This Great Britain team was the only European one to gain more scored than allowed goals in any tournament of the 1920’s. But that’s with a little help from Canada...
 Canada: Jack Cameron, Ernie Collett; Duncan Munro, Beattie Ramsay, Hooley Smith, Cyril Slater, Harry Watson(37), Bert McCaffery, Harold McMunn. (5 5 0 0 110-3)
 2. USA: Alphonse Lacroix, John Langley; Irving Small, Clarence Abel, Herb Drury(14), Justin McCarthy, Willard Rice, John Lyons, Frank Synott, George Geran. (5 4 0 1 73-6).
 3. Great Britain: William Anderson, Lorne Carr-Harris; Colin Carruthers, Eric Carruthers(12), Ross Cuthbert, Edward Pitblado, Hamilton Jukes, Blane Sexton, George Holmes, Guy Clarkson. (5 3 0 2 40-38).

1928
St Moritz

 These were the first real Winter Olympics, with no games behind the scenes. The hockey tournament took place on natural ice this time too, the field being probably used for football and track and field in summer. Canada participated again, but the US didn’t. The AOC did think about sending a college team, but the team trials – arranged by the American Hockey Association - took place a bit late. Before the final deadline the Association was willing to send a team, but still the AOC said no. Still the North-American superiority continued; when the organizers saw the practice of the Toronto Graduates, the team was immediately sent to the final series as a “defending champion”. The U.S. team didn't participate in the tournament because of unpaid fees to the IOC.
 When Sweden started its hockey practically from nothing eight years earlier, this tournament became their climax so far. The feast was started by Sigurd Öberg, him scoring against Czechoslovakia (3-0). The line Holmqvist-“Lulle” Johansson-Petersen also played brilliantly. Also a basic thing for their success was the defence-duo Abrahamsson-H.Johansson. “Björnungen” Johansson has been considered as the best goalie of this tournament. Sweden later succeeded well, when some other top countries didn’t participate.
 But one still has to consider Joseph Sullivan as the most legendary goalie of the tournament. He played a total shutout in the tournament – allowing no goals at all in his three games. The only other goalie playing all the tournament games reaching the same was the other Canadian called Art Puttee a bit later. Switzerland’s superstar made his debut in this tournament – Bibi Torriani scoring his first goal, and being not even seventeen. But their best scorer was still Dufour (3). Now everyone had proper equipment, no-one laughing at them. Like the Europeans had done in Antwerp.
 Canada: Joseph Sullivan, Norbert Mueller; Frank Fisher, Roger Plaxton, John Porter, Ross Taylor, Hugh Plaxton, Louis Hudson, Dave Trottier(12), Charles Delahay, Grant Gordon, Bert Plaxton, Frank Sullivan. (3 3 00 38-0).
 2. Sweden: Bengt Johansson, Kurt Sucksdorff; Carl Abrahamsson, Emil Bergman, Gustaf Johansson(5), Henry Johansson, Ernst Karlberg, Erik Larsson, Bertil Linde, Sigurd Öberg, Vilhelm Petersen. (5 3 1 1 12-14).
 3. Switzerland: Adolf Martignoni; Gianni Andreossi, Murezzan Andreossi, Robert Breiter, Louis Dufour(3), Charles Fasel, Albert Geromini, Fritz Kraatz, Heinrich Meng, Anton Morosani, Luzius Rüedi, Richard Torriani. (5 2 1 2 9-21).
The best of the decade:
 Goalie: Joseph Sullivan (Canada 1928)
 Defenceman: John C..Porter, Ross Taylor (Canada 1928)
 Forward: Harry Watson (Canada 1924).
The team of the decade:
 Canada 1924.
The medals:
Canada 3-0-0
USA 0-2-0
Sweden 0-1-0
Czechoslovakia 0-0-1
Great Britain 0-0-1
Switzerland 0-0-1

The 1930’s
 In this decade the IIHF started to arrange the annual World Championship tournaments between the Olympics. The Olympic tournament was considered a World Championship as well, except for 1932, when it was the only time in addition to 1924 Chamonix/Milan, when there was a separate European and Olympic/World Championship. The number of the participating countries increased slowly, but steadily.

The European Championship
1932
Berlin
 Because of the incident on Wall Street a few years earlier the Olympic Tournament in Lake Placid lacked several European top countries. This was obviously the main reason for the last separate European Championship tournament for decades, before the European Hockey Tours of the 1990’s.
 This last European Championship tournament for years was won by Sweden. The Austrian took the silver and Czechoslovakia the bronze. For some reason these countries didn’t do that well in the World Championship tournaments of the time.
 Sweden: Carlsson, Karlsson; C.Abrahamsson, Lindgren; S.Öberg, G.Johansson(5), Fürst, B.Lundell, E.Larsson, J.Nilsson, Persson, Petersen. (6 5 1 0 12-2)
 (2.Austria, 3.Czechoslovakia)

The World Championships
1930
Berlin, Vienna, Chamonix
 This was the first World Championship tournament arranged by the IIHF on its own, though from 1920 until 1968 the Olympic tournament was considered as a World Championship too. According some sources, Canada was being presented by the Allan Cup winner: Port Arthur Bearcats. It took only a bit over 70 years for Toronto Canadas to get their glory. Though the team was the first one to lose an exhibition game against a team from Europe (Austria in a rainy weather), that didn’t finally matter. The team won the essential game: the final. Within a bit over six years the Toronto CCM – playing as Canadas on their tour - had become one of the top teams in Toronto, after a modest start in the Toronto and York Mercantile League. The U.S. did not take part in the tournament because the previous national association (USAHA) had already been dissolved but the new one (AAU) was not a member of the LIHG/IIHF yet.
 Japan entered an international tournament for the first time with the medical students team, but they lost 0-5 for Poland. While the games continued, the natural conditions became intolerable. The games were supposed to be played with the 1928 format, but that plan was cancelled. So one game took place on the artificial ice of Vienna. And the final in Berlin sport palace, a fully covered arena. This was a brilliant coincidence, since Germany was the other team in the first World Championship final. They also opened the scoring by Rudi Ball. But inevitably the Canadians, though not being from the top leven of the Allan Cup, won the game 6-1. After the game the captain Howard Armstrong shook hands with his colleague, Gustav Jaenecke, who had broken his collarbone.
 Switzerland continued it triumph on medals, because Geromini had made two goals against the Austrians in the Cup-form tournament. But their brand new star, Torriani, couldn’t help his team with his goal against the Germans. Sweden had given up its game against theAustrians. No wonder, since this year even in the birth region of Finnish ice hockey, Tampere in the province of Häme, grass was growing on natural hockey ground even in January!
 Canada: Percy Timpson; Wallace Adams, Howard Armstrong, Albert Clayton, Gordon Grant(2+1), Joseph Griffin, Donald Hutchinson, Alexander Park, Frederick Radke. (1 1 0 0 6-1).
 2. Germany: Walter Leinweber; Rudolf Ball, Alfred Heinrich, Heinrich Herker, Gustav Jaenecke(9), Franz Kreisel, Günther Kummetz, Erich Römer, Martin Schröttle, Marquardt Slevogt. (5 4 0 1 14-11).
 3. Switzerland: Albert Künzler; Robert Fuchs, Albert Geromini(3), Fritz Kraatz, Carletto Mai, Heinrich Meng, Albert Rudolf, Beat Rüedi, Conrad Torriani, Richard Torriani. (3 2 0 1 6-4).

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1931
Krynica
 Despite there was already an artificial ice rink in Katowice, this rink in Krynica was the scene for a World Championship tournament this year! The Canadians continued their golden triumph, this time with the Manitoba University Graduates! The star of the team, that had won the Allan Cup in 1928, was Blake Watson, who had done a very good job both as a player and as a coach in Europe. Frank Morris' cat died in Winnipeg during the tournament. The USA returned to the Games, for the first time since Chamonix 1924 on the international level! The presentation was taken care by the AAU, but this later caused difficulties. The Americans showed their great imagination, by having a team called the Boston IC.
 The Americans started their tournament by scoring steadily goals til 15-0. Then the officials run out of numbers on the electric board! So the Yankees were just playing for the rest of the game against the newcomers from Rumania. After the game the captain of the Rumanian team expressed his great thankfulness for the things learnt to the game records. In the pool B Alecsandru Botez scored the first Championship goals for his country. The Americans lost for the first time a game without scoring a goal. The opponent was obvious: their northern neighbours, winning 2-0.
 But the Canadians experienced something new too; they lost one point to Sweden with a tie (0-0). But this achievement was of no use for the Swedes: an Austrian scored 1-0 against Sweden in this very even competion between the European countries. And by this goal the Austrians got their first World Championship merit, but this wasn’t their last one. The goalie Art Puttee made a legendary six games series by not allowing a single goal. His teammate Blake Watson later became a Hollywood gynecologist.
 Canada: Art Puttee; Ward McVey, Guy Williamson, George Hill, Jack Pidcock, Gordon McKenzie, George Garbutt, Sammy McCallum, Dr. Blake Watson(8), Frank Morris. (6 5 1 0 24-0).
 2. USA: Ted Frazier; Osborn Anderson, Edmond Dagnino, Robert Elliott, Hall, Francis Nelson, Charles Ramsey(5), Laurence Sanford, Dwight Shefler, Gordon Smith(5), Richard Thayer. (6 5 0 1 22-3).
 3. Austria: Herman Weiss; Herbert Brück(3), Fritz Demmer(3), Jacques Dietrichstein, Anton Emhardt, Josef Göbel, Bruno Kahane, Karl Kirchberger, Ulrich Lederer, Walter Sell, Hans Tatzer(3), Ernst Trauttenberg. (8 4 0 4 14-16).

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The Olympic/WC
1932
Lake Placid
 This tournament took place in the middle of the Great Depression! So, the only European teams entering the tournament were Germany and Poland, financing their trips mostly by themselves. Sweden was close to participating. Canada was being presented by the Winnipeg HC, having the first double-winner of the tournaments in the team: George Garbutt had already won the World Championship the previous year, though he was playing for Allan Cup in Canada at the time of the WC tournament... Some American players got their second silver medal, having played in the Boston IC for the USA in 1931. The conditions varied a lot: half of the games were played on the natural ice, the rink being in the middle of the speed-skating track. The other half was plaeyd in a brand new hockey arena, with the capacity of 3,000 spectators.
 The tournament was played so, that each team played against each other twice, and there was a great lack of excitement. But Canada lost points for the second tournament in a row, when the USA played a tie (2-2) in the first round. Vic Lindqvist ensured the Canadian gold with his 2-1 goal in the second round though. In the game USA-Germany the audience resented the referees, sympathisizing the opponent overseas.
 Rudi Ball became the best German player with his hat-trick against Poland. After the tournament the other European countries took the “Well, it was just Poland” –attitude. The German goalie Walter Leinweber told on his behalf: “We were the European Champion and the silver World Championship team in 1930 and a bronze-team in 1934. We won some European teams too, after being there.” He was the most bravest player of the tournament: he played his games with a broken nose, not having a substitute goalie.
 An aboriginal Canadian called Kenneth Moore improved his chances to get a scholarship to college…
 Canada: William Cockburn, Stanley Wagner; Hugh Sutherland, Roy Henkel, Harold Simpson, Romeo Rivers, Victor Lindqvist, George Garbutt, Aliston Wise, Cliff Crowley, Ken Moore, Walter Monson(7), Bert Duncanson, Norm Malloy. (6 5 1 0 32-4).
 2. USA: Franklin Farrell, Ted Frazier; John Garrison, Osborn Anderson, John Chase, Douglas Everett, Winthrop Palmer(7), John Bent, John Cookman, Joseph Fitzgerald, Gerald Hallock, Robert Livingston, Francis Nelson, Gordon Smith. (6 4 1 1 27-5).
 3. Germany; Walter Leinweber; Alfred Heinrich, Erich Röhmer, Rudi Ball(3), Martin Schröttle, Gustav Jaenecke, Erich Herker, Werner Korff, Marquardt Slevogt, Georg Strobl. (6 2 0 4 7-26).
 
The World Championships
1933
Prague
This was the tournament, that the impossible thing took place! The Canadians lost for the first time on the international level! But at this point, the winner was very easy to guess: The Massachuchetts Rangers won the Toronto Nationals. The winning goals was scored by a defenseman Ben Langmaid during the overtime. The manager of the team was working behind the other scenes as well: with the Boston Celtics on basket-ball and with the Boston Bruins on ice hockey. His name was Walter Brown. One factor in this historical Canadian loss is said to have been the beer of Prague.
The scene of the games was a brand new artificial ice-rink on the island of Stavnice, the first such thing in Czechoslovakia. The opening game was the first hockey game on the radio in the country as well. The rink has been originally intended for use already for the European Championship tournament in 1932. But there were some delays in the process. The Czech hosts got their first medal for 13 years on the international level. This meant the real beginning of the League in the country. The most valuable player of the team was Josef Malecek with his 10 goals.
Another star of this tournament was the little big man from Germany, Rudi Ball(163 cm), scoring 5 goals. After this World Championship he faced a hard time in his home-country because of one Austrian corporal. But lacking Rudi Ball the German team faced some hard times too, despite getting the bronze-medal the next year. His most important teammate Gustav Jaenecke refused to play without him.
 USA: Gerry Cosby; John B.Garrison, Ben Langmaid; JamesBreckingridge, Sherman Forbes, Channing Hilliard, Frank Holland, Stewart Iglehart, Winthrop Palmer(9), Laurence Sanford. (5 5 0 0 23-1).
 2. Canada; Ronny Geddes; John Hearn(3), Clare McIntyre(3); Cliff Chisholm, Frank Collins, Lynd Huggins, Kenny Kane(3), Gordie Kerr(3), Scotty McAlpine, Marty Nugent. (5 4 0 1 17-3).
 3. Czechoslovakia: Jan Peka, Vorel; Alois Cetkovksky, Wolfgang Dorazil, Karel Hromadka, Oldrich Kucera, Josef Malecek(10), Jan Mattern, Jan Michalek, Zbynek Petrs, Jaroslav Pusbauer, Tomas Svihovec, Jiri Tozicka. (8 6 0 2 17-12).

 

1934
Milan
 Another major hockey tournament taking palce in Via Piranesi! And: again the US team had to be the second in the World Championship. The team Canada called the Saskatoon Quakers got a great honour on their European tour: the team was invited to the royal box in Norway. In addition to this, the Italian fascist government honoured the Quakers with a special price. The greatest attention the Quakers got, was by placing a wreath on the tomb of an unknown soldier.
 The later best known player of the Quakers team, a later NHL-player Tom Dewar, didn’t play in any of the games. In the tournament this Allan Cup second best team showed special respect for the Germans by defeating them 6-0. Also Peter Bessone of the US showed the Germans a special respect by scoring two goals in the semi-final. He joined the team from France. The team included some players from the Alabama university too, but the main address remained the same: Harvard and Boston. The Germans got the Bronze by Römer and Lang scoring the 1-1 and 2-1 goals against Switzerland.
 The ice palace of Milan still exists, and the ice too, but no longer hockey is being played there. Italy is a good metaphor for the extremity of the time: besides the ice hockey World Championship, the modest Mussolini government also took care of the soccer world championship and the first European Championship in track and field in Turin. All of these events happened the same year: 1934.
 Canada: Conrad Wood; Harold Wilson, Ronald Silver, Tom Dewar, Elmer Piper; Albert Welsh(5), Ray Watkins, Bert Scharfe(5), Leslie Bird, James Dewey, Cliff Lake, Albert Rogers. (4 4 0 0 19-2).
 2. USA: Clem Harnedy; Peter Bessone(2), Walter Bender, Fred McDonnel, Ed Keating, Bob Jeremiah, Dick Maley, Frank Stubbs(2), Bob Nilon(2). (4 3 0 1 6-2).
 3. Germany: Walter Leinweber; Werner George(2), Gustav Jaenecke(2), Theodor Kaufmann, Roman Kessler, Werner Korff, Alois Kuhn, Hans Lang(2), Horst Orbanowski(2), Erich Röhmer, J.A.Von Bethmann-Hollweg. (7 4 0 3 11-14).

 

1935
Davos
 After the two World Championship tournaments the teams returned to the natural ice again! But the Davos ice stadium was really ideal for the tournament, since there were three rinks next to the speed-skating track! USA was absent by their manager's decision, but Canada continued the triumph of North-America. Though Switzerland showed the European standards had improved, they lost the final only 2-4. Though the Swiss line called the Ni-line had lost one man, because of flue, Torriani scored a brilliant goal. The Czechoslovakian team was a good opponent too; the player of the tournament, Albert Lemay scored one and his brother the second one, the total for the Maple Leaf team being only 2-1.
 This time their national team was the Champion of Manitoba. And since this team there were no more national teams from Winnipeg. The most significant player of the team internationally was Victor Lindqvist. For some reason the Swedish managed to hire him as a coach to Sweden for the years 1936-1939. They certainly had a reason to do so, since the Swiss superb line Bibi Torriani – Hans Cattini – Pic Cattini scored four goals, the final scores being for Switzerland 6-1.
 Great Britain was becoming an important European hockey nation as well; Bob Wyman scored the only goal against the French team, the final score being 1-0. In the long run this team brought the first GBR medal for 11 years, though. That was a bronze one. But you have to mention, that this team was just like the others; Great Britain had a lot of tricks and treats imported from Canada. Of the Baltic countries Latvia participated for the second time (the debut took place in 1933), but they didn’t start their tournament pretty well: a loss to Canada 0-14. Holland of the Benelux countries made a tolerable debut by losing to Hungary with pretty tolerable numbers: 0-6.
 Canada: Art Rice-Jones; Roy Henkel, Cameron Shewan, Joseph Rivers, Romeo Rivers, Albert LeMay(11), Anthony LeMay, Art Craighton, Jack Yellowless, Victor Lindqvist. (7 7 0 0 44-7).
 2. Switzerland: Albert Künzler; Christian Badrutt, Ferdinand Cattini(10), Hans Cattini, Otto Heller, Arnold Hirtz, Ernst Hug, Charles Kessler, Herbert Kessler, Paul Müller, Thomas Pleisch, Oscar Schmid, Richard Torriani. (8 5 2 1 24-8)
 3. Great Britain; Scotty Milne; Carl Erhardt, Gordon Dailley(4), Bob Wyman, Gerry Davey, Ted Jakcson, Ernie Ramus, Ernie Leacock, Pete Halford, Gordon Johnson, Pete Stevenson. (7 4 0 3 14-14).

 

The Olympic/WC
1936
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
 Combining these two communities into one town is the most ever-lasting thing ever done by mister Hitler according to some sources, though the name is mentioned in this form before these games! The tournament took place in pretty even conditions; on the lake Riessersee and on the pretty new artificial ice-rink. The Arian race had to face realities; the European NHL-level player called Rudi Ball had to be invited to the German national team. That didn’t improve the success of the “superior race”, though; Czechoslovakia and Sweden were getting the better European Championship medals. Another team from a fascist country made a miracle; Italy won the US by 1-0.
 Then there was Great Britain. They reached their peak in this tournament, by using every kind of method as an old empire. There was even one real Great Britain player in this, the rest being from Canada. For some reason the top World Championship level countries urged Canada to protest. The games began and, however, the “Europeans” reached the gold medal for the first time. In the long run most of the players of this team returned to create a career in Canada. The master-mind behind this British swindle was later the president of the IIHF; Bunny Ahearne. His travel agency, Blue Ribbon, had a monopoly to bring the North-American teams to the tournaments.
 The Finnish were planning their debut for this tournament. But finally Finland only sent two observers. You can say, though, that there was some kind of Finnish flavour on the ice: Ray Milton and Gustav Saxberg having Finnish roots in team Canada. You can call the hometown of the former Allan Cup finalists, Port Arthur Bearcats, the unofficial Finnish Canadian capitol too. But the Finns from Finland were coming in the long run.
 Great Britain: James Foster, Art Child; Carl Erhardt, Gordon Dailley. Bob Wyman; James Borland, Archie Stimchcombe, Edgar Brenchley, John Coward, James Chappell, Alex Archer, Gerry Davey (6), John Kilpatrick. (6 4 2 90 17-3)
 2. Canada: Francis Moore, Arthur Nash; Herman Murray, Walter Kitchen, Raymond Milton; David Neville, Kenneth Farmer, Hugh Farquharson(11), Maxwell Deacon, Alexander Sinclair, William Thomson, James Haggarty, Ralph Saint-Germain. (8 7 0 1 54-7).
 3. USA: Thomas Moone, Malcolm McAlpin; Francis Shaughnessy, Philip LaBatte; Frank Stubbs, John Garrison(5), Paul Rowe, John Lax, Gordon Smith, Eldridge Ross, Francis Spain, August Kammer. (8 5 1 2 12-4).
World Championships

1937
London
 Now it happened! For the very first time the two main venues were hockey arenas with a capacity of 11,000 spectators and both of them had a roof; Wembley and Harringay. So, the conditions were similar to the modern hockey arenas of the modern European top countries. The participating teams were accomodated to the Dorchester Hotel too. Norway made its debut in this tournament and Ole Brodal scored the first goal for the team.
 The Canadian players (with Great Britain passports) were going fast forward. This was sealed in the semifinals with goals scored by Davey and Brenchley against Switzerland.

Then came the real Canadians. The Kimberley Dynamiters was the first Allan Cup winner ever from their west-coast the previous year. They finally won the final, despite having hard times with the Swiss in the semifinals, winning only 2-1. The londoners showed an example of their civilized manners by throwing orange-peels to the ice. They might have been schocked by the number of “krauts” in a Canadian team. The main Canadian goaltender, Swede Hornqvist, had been injured in a car crash. USA was absent because of internal disputes in the AAU.
 Gustav Jaenecke was missing from the bronze medal game, but he hardly wouldn’t have made anything by himself against the Swiss team. So, the superb line called “Ni” scored four goals against the Germans. The final score, 6-0, probably tells something about the level of the game. Finland was presented this time by the presence of the London ambassador. Sweden played obviously their weakest tournament of all-time. But the most nordic northern countries were present somehow. The Soviet Union was only making friends with this game at this time.
 Canada: Ken Campbell, Eric Hornqvist; Thomas Almack, Frederick Botterill, William Burnett, Jack Forsay, George Goble, James Kemp, Douglas Kiever, Paul Kozak, Ralph Redding(12), Harry Robertson, Gordon Wilson, Hugo Mackie, Art Mackie. (9 9 0 0 60-4).
 2. Great Britain: Jimmy Foster, Scotty Milne; Jimmy Anderson, Alex Archer, Edgar Brenchley(10), James Chappell, John Coward, Gordon Dailley, John Davey, Carl Erhardt, Goldie, Jimmy Kelly, Paul MCPhail, Norm McQuade, N.McJohnKilpatrick, Archibald Stinchcombe, Bob Wyman. (9 8 0 1 50-3)
 3. Switzerland: Albert Künzler; Christian Badrutt, Ferdinand Cattini(8), Hans Cattini, Albert Geromini, Arnold Hirtz, Max Keller, Charles Kessler, Herbert Kessler, Heini Lohrer, Beat Rüedi, Richard Torriani(8). (8 4 1 3 27-12).

 

1938
Prague
 The gorgeous artificial ice-rink in Czechoslovakia got again a World Championship tournament! Later this year, the country was divided into two pieces, thanks to one Hitler. But on the eve of the Second World War irony took its place; Czechoslovakia won the bronze medal, their opponent was, indeed, Germany. The irony was present in another way too with Germany; this was the last tournament for the jewish-originating star Rudi Ball for the team. Czchoslovakia made another kind of national history; the greatest national club, the LTC Prague, brought the first slovak, Ladislav Trojak, to an international medal-winning team. This was his third international tournament.
 Canada was represented by the Sudbury Wolves and for the first time in the tournament history the men wearing a maple leaf jersey weren’t divine. In the qualification round Canada hardly won Sweden 3-2. The Wolves were a junior team. The Sudbury Tigers were meant to represent Canada but their player base was decimated by pro recruiters. The US team made its lowest rank, losing the semi-final series with 0 goals to 3. They remained into places 6-7 and the team had never before returned from an IIHF international tournament without a medal. Hungary, being a promising European country of the time, gained a tie against the Canadians by 1-1 in the semi-final series.
Hungary had proved its level already earlier, being the European bronze-team in the 1934 WC. A man called Ladislaus Rona was later the first foreign player in the Finnish series, representing the Kiffen league-level club in the beginning of the 1940’s. The reason wasn’t purely for the sports reasons; he had disagreements with his government. Great Britain, with its Canadians, took the silver medal once again. The next year they gave up in the middle of the semi-final series, obviously for the impossible chances to reach the medal games. Anyway, this year Gerry Davey scored a goal in the final against Canada, but before that Reg Chipman had already scored two goals and Pat McReavy scored the third one. Gordie Bruce scored three goals in this tournament and reached the NHL later.
Canada: John Coulter, Mel Allbright; Johnny Godfrey, Buster Portland, Archie Burnie; Pearcy Allen(5), Gordie Bruce, Reg Chipman, Roy Heximer, Fred Marshall, Pat McReavy, Jimmy Russell, Glen Sutherland. (7 6 1 0 17-6).
2. Great Britain: James Foster, Reg Merrifield; Alexander Archer, James Chappell, Gordon Dailley, Gerry Davey(9), Pete Halford, Jimmy Kelly, Archibald Stinchcombe, Pete Woozley, Bob Wyman. (8 6 1 1 27-8).
3. Czechoslovakia: Bohumil Modry; Alois Cetkovsky, Jarda Cisar, Antonin Houba, Oldrich Hurych, Drahos Jirotka, Zdenek Jirotka, Oldrich Kucera, Josef Malecek, Jan Michalek, Frantisek Pacalt, Frantisek Pergl, Jaroslav Pusbauer, Ladislav Trojak(3). (7 4 1 2 9-6).

 

1939
Basle, Zürich
 History was made in this tournament again! On the magnificient articifial ice rinks of Dolder in Zürich and Margarethenpark (with a capacity of 16,000) in Basle Finland finally made its debut. You can say, that it was an architype debut, except; The US team was leading after two periods only 1-0 and the Americans had a reason to be thankful for their goalie Ed Maki (a man with Finnish roots!) Then the Yankees went on with their routine, winning 4-0. But it has been said, that a sensation was missing only a few shots, that hit the bars of the “cage”. When the Finns were playing for the places 9-14, they noticed a meaning of a word of a gentleman; an agreement for the substitutes playin was made with the Italians and the Dutchmen. But the games were played by their stars.
 The Allan Cup winner called the Trail Smoke Eaters came to win again the title for Canada, being the first team to wear a pure club jersey. They became the most appreciated World Champion team between the World Wars time. For example, the model for Anatoli Tarasov was exactly this team. A very good friend with the team was Mike Buckna, the coach of Czechoslovakia since 1936. He was a Canadian with Slovakian roots and he happened to have been born in Trail. The only goal against the Canadians wasin a game against Czechoslovakia. The final score was 2-1, after a defenseman Tom Johnston scored into his own net!
 Sweden didn’t participate this time. The Swedish hockey in general had its haydays gone; the artificial rink, made into a shelter of aeroplanes, was moved away to the Stockholm Stadium in 1938. The prime game being bandy there. So it seemed at the time, that Sweden was fading away from the international hockey. But then... after this tournament a real big and more serious tournament took place and the international hockey touring was only some random games now and then.
 Canada: Duke Scodellaro, Buck Buchanan; Mickey Brennan, Joe Benoit, Ab Cronie, Bunny Dame(9), Jimmy Haight, Benny Hayes, Tom Johnston, Dick Kowcinak, Johnny McCreedy, Jimmy Morris, Mel Snowdon. (8 8 0 0 42-1).
2. USA: Ed Maki; Ralph Dondi, Leonard Saari, Spencer Wagnild, Thomas Leaky, Ed Nickolson, Al Van, Pud Quirk(9), Dick Maley, Art Bogue. (9 7 0 2 25-8).
 3. Switzerland: Hugo Müller, Albert Künzler: Christian Badrutt, Ferdinand Cattini(12), Hans Cattini, Reto Delnon, Dürst, A.Geromini, Franz Geromini, Charles Kessler, Herbert Kessler, Heini Lohrer, Beat Rüedi, Richard Torriani, Trauffer. (10 7 1 2 51-13).
14. Finland: Lars Blom, Teuvo Castren; Erik Hedman, Seppo Jaakkola, Henry Lindahl, Kalevi Sutinen; Holger Granström(3), Klaus Hagström, Kalevi Ihalainen, Pentti Lappalainen, Olof Nyholm, Erkki Rintala, Ronald Sarnasto, Edmund Sjöberg, Risto Tiitola (5 0 0 5 5-25).
The best of the decade:
 Goalie: Art Puttee (Canada 1931)
 Defenceman: Sam McCallum, Ward McVey (Canada 1931)
 Forward: Richard Torriani (Switzerland 1930-39).

 

The team of the decade:
 USA 1933.
The medals:
Canada 8-2-0
USA 1-4-1
Great Britain 1-2-1
Switzerland 0-1-3
Germany 0-1-2
Czechoslovakia 0.0-2
Austria 0-0-1
The 1940’s
 This decade was naturally the time of recovering from the war. The new regieme made its effect already, for example, in the Prague World Championship. So improving conditions and getting more participants had to be the thing for the future. Finland came to this level for the second time and you can see this as a kind of a new era in Finnish hockey: The players of the national teams of the country were practically from one province til the mid-1960’s: Häme. You can see Hämeenlinna as the Finnish Boston and Tampere as the Finnish Montreal and there was only one player regularly til the next decade: Unto Viitala, the goalie.

The World Championship
1947 Prague

 

The aftermath of the war was still going on, when this tournament took place! For the first time the United States was the only north-American country to participate into an international tournament. Calgary Stampeders refused to participate, and a replacement could not be arranged. CAHA of Canada used the situation as leverage against the IIHF. The two federations had their disputes in the United States, so the team in Prague was a compromise.
 In the tournament itself the Czehcoslovakians already thought themselves to remain a silver-medal team in their own tournament, after Ericsson had scored against them twice and guaranteed the win. The Swedes already considered themselves as the World Champions too. Then a certain man named Wurm showed his swift skills in the goal, and both Wurmbrandt and Winger scored 2-1 for a win over Sweden. So the Swedes ended up being “only” the silver medal team. Maybe the Austrians were feeling uneasy, losing their European Championship medal, despite becoming a World Championship bronze-medal team; the young Swiss team did win the European teams, but the Austrians won the USA. For obvious reasons the Czech audience suddenly found their way to the stands in the middle of the Sweden-Austria game. For an obvious gratitude the Czechs sent a trainful of coal and candies to Austria, being ruled by the allies at the time. In the train-station the Austrian team was sent home by thounsands of people. The red-and-white team never reached the World Championship medals again.
 The most peculiar thing happened to the Belgium team. For some incidents their goalies ended up staying in their home-country. When they had no substitute, they recruited a fan in the town. He was convinced, that the shots on goal were not dangerous. Jahn Milo played only one international game, that ended pretty dangerously. The Swedes won 24-1. This was the last appearance on the level A of Belgium.
Czechoslovakia: Bohumil Modry, Zdenek Jarkovsky; Frantisek Pcalt, Miroslav Slama, Jousef Trousilek, Miroslav Pokorny, Vilbald Stovik, Ladislav Trojak, Vladimir Zabrodsky(29), Stanislav Konopasek, Vaclav Rozinak, Josef Kus, Vladimir Bouzek, Karel Stibor, Jaroslav Drobny). (7 6 0 1 85-10).
 2. Sweden: Arne Johansson, Charles Larsson; Åke Andersson, Sigvard Boström, Rolf Ericsson, Hans Hjelm, Erik Johansson, Rune Johansson, Gunnar Landelius, Lars Ljungman(20), Birger Nilsson, Holger Nurmela, Åke Olsson, Bror Pettersson, Rolf Pettersson. (7 6 0 1 55-15).
 3. Austria: Josef Wurm, Alfred Huber; Franz Csöngey, Fritz Demmer(14), Reinhold Egger, Egon Engel, Walter Feistritzer, Adolf Hafner, Oskar Nowak, Hans Schneider, Willibald Stanek, Friedrich Walter, Helfried Winger, Rudolf Wurmbrandt, Hans Zehetmayer. (7 5 0 2 49-32).

 

Olympic/WC
1948
St Moritz
The Winter Olympics started to survive! Though the arrangements were made by the Ebenezer Scrooge handbook: the cost and the games officials were being kept on the 1928 Winter Olympics level. Despite the variation of sport events and participants had grown. So, the sportsmen did much of the task of the officials by themselves. One thing was properly taken care off, though; the Ice Stadium had gone through a splendid renovation. Maybe they wanted a nice scene for the medal ceremonies.
 Again the north-American teams were the most colourful ones, both inside and outside the rink. First Canada didn’t intend to send a team, but one officer from the head-quarters of the RCAF formed the team first, and asked for a permission second. The team got its “blessing” afterwards from his superiors and opened its exhibition tour utmost badly. For some reason the Ottawans had a “What a hell are you doing there?” –feeling about them. But the team was lucky by being unlucky; Dick Ball got a lung infection and they were utmost lucky by getting the best amateur goalie of Canada, Murray Dowey. The federations dispute of the US reached its peak; the USOC sent their own team, and the AHA their own too. Finally one team was in the opening ceremonies, the other one played the tournament. While the AHA team’s player were accused for being professional, their number of amateur players was infact greater than in the one of the USOC.
 The Grand Old Man of the Swiss team was Bibi Torriani. He swore the olympic oath and did perform in his national team already 20 years earlier. He scored his last international tournament goals here too. The Swiss audience showed their fair play –spirit in the game against the Canadians by throwing everything with snow-balls. The Canadian team’s response was militarily blunt; they won 3-0 and got their gold-medal with a better for-and-against-goals compared to the Czechs.
 Canada: Murray Dowey, Hubert Brooks (Dick Ball); Frank Dunster, Roy Forbes, Andy Gilpin, Ross King, Andre Laperriere, Louis Lecompte, Pete Leichnitz, Orval Gravelle, Patrick Guzzo, Wally Halder(21), Ted Hibberd, George Mara, Ab Renaud, Reg Schroeter. (8 7 1 0 69-5)
2. Czechoslovakia: Bohumil Modry, Zsdenek Jarkovsky; Vladimir Bouxzek, Jaroslav Drobny, Premysl Hajny, Stanislav Konopasek, Miroslav Pokorny, Vaclav Rozinak, Miroslav Slama, Karel Stibor, Vilem Stovik, Ladislav Trojak, Josef Trousilek, Vladimir Zabrodsky(21). (8 7 1 0 80-18)
 3. Switzerland: Hans Bänninger, Reto Perl; Alfred Bieler, Heinrich Boller, Ferdinand Cattini, Hans Cattini, Hans Dürst, Walter Dürst, Emil Handschin, Heini Lohrer, Werner Lohrer, Gebhard Poltera, Ulrich Poltera(12), Beat Rüedi, Otto Schubiger, Richard Torriani, Hans-Martin Trepp. (8 6 0 2 67-21).

 

The World Championship
1949
Stockholm
 So, Sweden finally brought the World Championship for the first time into a Northern European country! There was a rush of audience to the stands, that required an arrival of the ambulances. The reason being the jamming of the revolving gates, letting people to watch the Canada-Sweden game. The Danish were jammed in their World Championship debut: The Sudbury Wolves from Canada made them humble with the result being 47-0. Partial reason to these numbers was the Canadian anger, after being suspected for black market trade within the exhibition games. The greater reason was the inefficient equipment of the Danish team. They lost the rest of their games. But they left before their last games and thus, for example, Finland had their game won. Jörgen Hviid had made one of their positive things, scoring the first Danish World Championship goal for the first time. The U.S. association problems ended with the establishment of the AHAUS.
 After the qualification round Czechoslovakia became the first EuropeanWorld Champion with a fair play in the final series. The best guarantee being a win over Canada with the result 3-2. Sweden played a tie 2-2 and the Swiss team played also a tie with the Maple Leaf team, the final result being 1-1. Austria with its veteran players began to fade away, like the five goals scored by an American called Bruce Mather showed to the audience. USA faded away against Canada that much, that their northern neighbour finally reached the silver medal.
 Team Finland’s return was miserable thinking about the results: they lost 1-12 against Sweden and 2-19 against Czechoslovakia in the qualification games. On the other hand, Finland won for the first times: 7-3 against Norway and 17-2 against Belgium. But the Czechs lost 0-2 for the Americans. Though the made it to the Championship. Then the local communists sent the World Champions to the salt-mines. Except a certain Vladimir Zabrodsky...
Czechoslovakia: Bohumil Modry, Josef Jirka; Vladimir Bouzek, Augustin Bubnik, Miloslav Charouzd, Premusl Hajny, Vladimir Kobranov, Stanislav Konopasek(12), Jiri Macelis, Zdenek Marek, Frantisek Mizera, Oldrich Nemec, Cenek Picha, Vaclav Rozinak, Josef Trousilek, Frantisek Vacovsky, Vladimir Zabrodsky. (7 6 0 1 46-14).
2. Canada: Robert Mills, Al Picard; Jimmy Russell, Tom Russell, Don Stanley, Joe DiBastiani, Don Munro(10), Ray Bauer, Bud Hashey, Joe Tergeson, Emile Gagne, Barney Hillson, Bill Dimock. (7 4 2 1 74-10)
 3. USA: Dick Bittner, Pat Finnegan; Art Crouse, Dan Crowley, Charlie Holt, Milt Johnson, Russ Johnson, Gerry Kilmartin, Bruce Mather(19), Jack Riley, Bill Thayer, Norman Walker, Al Van, Al Yurkewicz. (8 5 0 3 59-22).
 7. Finland: Unto Viitala, Juhani Linkosuo; Matti Rintakoski, Toivo Hellen, Ossi Kauppi, Esko Tie, Paul Väinjärvi; Aarne Honkavaara(6), Keijo Kuusela, Loft Nasib, Kalle Havulinna, Matti Karumaa, Rauni Laine, Eero Salisma, Nils Nummelin, Tuomo Pohjavirta. (4 3 02 32-36 (When Denmark gave up their game against Finland, Finland was considered as a winner by figures 5-0)).
The best of the decade:
 Goalie: Bohumil Modry (Czechoslovakia 1947-49)
 Defenceman: André Laperriere (Canada 1948)
 Forward: Vladimir Zabrodsky (Czechoslovakia 1947-49).
The team of the decade:
 Czechoslovakia 1949.
The medals:
Czechoslovakia 2-1-0
Canada 1-1-0
Sweden 0-1-0
Austria 0-0-1
Switzerland 0-0-1
USA 0-0-1

The 1950’s

This was the decade, when politics really took its place in sports. You could say, that even going to a toilet without a permission was a provocation from the west or the communists. Despite making its sensation the Sovjet Union (or USSR) was still just an apprentice on the international level. But in the long run the Northest American country had to give up its national club team tradition and really start to think about a real national team. Finland took its real steps on the international level. The province of Häme was again a forerunner of conditions by making the first national artificial ice-rink. The national team was still firmly in the hands of Häme people as well.

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