Sweden is World Champion!

All-Star Teams

FINALS:
FIN - SWE	0 - 1
SWE - FIN	0 - 0
3rd PLACE GAME:
CZE - SUI	4 - 0

 It is the first championship for Sweden since 1992 and goes a long way  of erasing Sweden's disappointing Olympic memories. Finland knocked  out Sweden in quarterfinals at Nagano.

 The final series was a real goaltenders' duel with Tommy Salo in  Sweden's net earning his second consecutive shutout despite Game 2 being much quicker paced than the first final. His counterpart Finland's Ari Sulander allowed only one goal in two final games, but it was the difference that cost Finland the World Championship.

"The better team won," Finland's coach Hannu Aravirta said. "We played on our level but couldn't score."

"It was good for us to beat Finland here for the title, especially because they beat us at the Olympics," Swedish coach Kent Forsberg said.

Team rosters | Overall scoring leaders | History of International Hockey Events

Both teams played carefully trying to avoid mistakes and the game remained scoreless until 10:07 in the third period when Johan Tornberg beat Finnish goaltender Ari Sulander with a shot from the blue line.

Later in third period it appeared Finland had tied the game but referee Alex Dell disallowed the goal.

"We will play better on Sunday and fight for the championship." said Finland forward Ville Peltonen.

Game 2 of the finals is on Sunday. Sweden needs a win or a tie to win the World Championship. If Finland wins Game 2, there will be a 20-minute sudden-death overtime to determine the winner.

Sweden will meet their archrival Finland in the final. Finland fought off Czech Republic and held on to a 2-2 tie in Game 2 of the semifinal series. Finland advances to the final by having beaten Czech Republic in Game 1.

The Final will be played as a two-game series with points deciding the winner. If points are tied after second final, there will be a sudden-death overtime followed by a shoot-out, if necessary.

1998 World Championship has expanded to 16 teams. Teams were divided to four groups (A, B, C, D) for round-robin Preliminary Round.

Top two teams of each group advanced to the Qualifying Round in two groups (E, F) playing a round-robin with top two teams of each group advancing to semifinals.

Semifinals:
May 12
SWE - SUI 4-1
CZE - FIN 1-4
May 14
SUI - SWE 2-7
FIN - CZE 2-2

The match-ups in the semifinals are Sweden vs. Switzerland and Czech Republic vs. Finland.

There will be no overtime after first semifinal, but if points are tied after second semifinal, an overtime is used followed by a shootout, if necessary.

Qualifying Round:
May 7           May 9
BLR - CAN 2-6   CAN - FIN 3-3
SVK - CZE 0-1   CZE - SUI 3-1
SWE - FIN 1-0   SWE - BLR 2-1
RUS - SUI 2-4   RUS - SVK 6-1
May 10
CAN - SWE 1-7
CZE - RUS 2-2
FIN - BLR 5-2
SUI - SVK 1-1

Preliminary Round:
May 1           May 2
CAN - AUT 5-1   USA - SUI 5-2
CZE - JPN 8-2   RUS - KAZ 8-4
ITA - SVK 1-2   SWE - FRA 6-1
GER - BLR 2-4   FIN - LAT 6-0
May 3           May 4
SVK - CAN 2-2   FRA - USA 3-1
BLR - CZE 2-4   LAT - RUS 5-7
ITA - AUT 5-1   SWE - SUI 4-2
GER - JPN 5-1   FIN - KAZ 4-0
May 5           May 6
AUT - SVK 1-5   USA - SWE 1-6
JPN - BLR 4-6   KAZ - LAT 2-7
CAN - ITA 5-2   SUI - FRA 5-1
CZE - GER 8-1   RUS - FIN 4-2

Relegation Round:
May 8
USA - GER 1-1
ITA - LAT 1-1
May 10
ITA - USA 4-0
GER - LAT 0-5
May 11
GER - ITA 4-4
LAT - USA 3-2