Description

The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022. The host cities of the World Championships were Tampere and Helsinki, of which Tampere's brand-new Nokia Arena served as the main venue of the games.

Since all lower divisions of the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all 16 teams from the previous year's top division were set to return this year. However, in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were suspended from competing in all IIHF tournaments for at least a year. This marked the first time that Russia missed the top division of the World Championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. For this tournament, the suspended nations were replaced by Austria and France, the two highest-ranked teams in 2021 that had not already qualified.

Finland defeated Canada 4–3 in overtime in the gold medal game for their fourth title and their first medal ever won on home ice. This marked the first time since the introduction of the playoff round in 1992 that the same two teams met in the gold medal game three tournaments in a row. Czechia won the bronze medal, their first medal since 2012, after an 8–4 win over the United States.

The tournament saw multiple historic upsets: Austria's first victory against Czechia, and Denmark's first victory against Canada.

Engraver: Pertti Mäkinen