2019 IIHF World Championship

The 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship were hosted by Slovakia, as announced by the IIHF on 15 May 2015. It was the second time that Slovakia was to host the event as an independent country, as was the case in 2011, the host cities were announced to be Bratislava and Košice. The tournament ran from 10 to 26 May 2019.

Venues

 * Ondrej Nepela Arena
 * Steel Arena

Rule changes
In December 2018, the IIHF announced changes to the overtime procedures beginning at this tournament: all overtime periods will be 3-on-3 regardless of round (rather than progressing from 3-on-3 to 4-on-4 and 5-on-5 over the course of the tournament), and the gold medal game will no longer go to a shootout; play will continue in 20-minute periods of 3-on-3 until a winning goal is scored.

In the semifinals there will be no set bracket. After the quarterfinals, a re-seeding takes place with the highest seed plays the lowest remaining seed. Seeds are determined by performance in the preliminary round.

Participants

 * Qualified as host


 * Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2018 IIHF World Championship:


 * Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I:

Seeding
The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2018 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2018 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system. On 22 May 2018, the IIHF and the local organizing committee announced the groups, in which Slovakia and Norway switched places so that Slovakia would play in Košice and the Czech Republic and Austria would play in Bratislava.


 * Group A (Košice)
 * (1)
 * (4)
 * (5)
 * (8)
 * (10)
 * (12)
 * (13)
 * (22)


 * Group B (Bratislava)
 * (2)
 * (3)
 * (6)
 * (7)
 * (9)
 * (11)
 * (17)
 * (19)

Rosters
Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament.

Officials
16 referees and linesman were announced on 1 March 2019.

Preliminary round
The schedule was announced on 15 August 2018.

Group B
Group B matches were played at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava.

Playoff round
The playoff round of the 2019 IIHF World Championship will be held from 23 to 26 May 2019. The top four of each preliminary group will qualify for the playoff round.

Quarterfinals

 * Russia defeated United States 4-3
 * Canada defeated Switzerland 3-2 (ot)
 * Czech Republic defeated Germany 5-1
 * Finland defeated Sweden 5-4 (ot)

Semifinals

 * Finland defeated Russia 1-0
 * Canada defeated Czech Republic 5-1

Bronze Medal Game

 * Russia defeated Czech Republic 3-2 (so)

Gold Medal Game

 * Finland defeated Canada 3-1