The 1978 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Prague, Czechoslovakia from 26 April to 14 May. Held at the Sportovní hala ČSTV in the capital city, it was the sixth time Czechoslovakia hosted the competition.[1] Eight teams took part, with each team playing each other once in the first round, and then the four best teams meeting in a new round. This was the 45th World Championships, and also the 56th European Championships. The USSR won for the 15th time, narrowly defeating the incumbent Czechoslovaks.
On the final day, there was essentially a gold medal game, and a bronze medal game. The Soviets played the Czechoslovaks and needed to win by at least two to win the Championship.[2] They took a three nothing lead, and hung to win by two, capturing gold by being even head-to-head with the Czechoslovaks, but having a cumulative two goal advantage against everyone else. Canada and Sweden came into the final game even, so the winner would claim the bronze. Pat Hickey scored with a minute left in the game to give Canada a three to two victory, and the medal.[3]
Because of the allowance of professionals from the NHL into the tournament, a peculiar (and new) situation arose during this year's tournament. The Minnesota North Stars had players representing Canada (2), Sweden (3), and the United States (4).[4]
The Netherlands and Austria were both promoted to Group B. China and Denmark also ended up being promoted to alleviate a political situation between the Chinese and the South Koreans and to address the IIHF missing that Austria should have been disqualified for using Pentti Hyytiäinen.[6][7]
