The 1965 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Hakametsä, Tampere, Finland, 3–15 March. Eight teams took part, each playing each other once. The Soviets became world champions for the fifth time, winning all of their games. This also counted as their ninth European title, with the Czechs finishing second and the Swedes third. For the third straight year Canada finished fourth. The tournament employed new tie-breaking rules, which some believed were supposed to be in place for the Innsbruck Olympics. To decide medals priority would be given to the team who won the head-to-head game, unless they tied, or more than two teams were tied. In those two cases goal differential would be used, but only the goal differential between the top four teams.[1]
Fifteen nations played in two groups, with qualification games used to establish the tier for closely ranked teams. From now on, the last place team in group 'A' would be relegated, with the group 'B' champion being promoted to replace them. Poland went undefeated to earn promotion, defeating the Swiss, and tying the West Germans.
