A record to stay: Harry Watson (centre) scored 36 goals in five games at the 1924 Olympic Winter Games.
photo: Hockey Hall of Fame
Records are records for a reason. They represent the pinnacle, the achieving of something never achieved before. Given that the World Championships are a century old, any record that stands the test of time or that is newly created is special, notably these incredible moments.
Canada's Harry Watson racks up 36 goals in 5 games
The gold standard for Everest-like scoring feats will always be Harry Watson’s exploits at the 1924 Olympics (pictured above). Leading Canada to an easy gold medal, he scored 36 goals in just five games that year. That total was buoyed by 13 goals in a single game against Switzerland, on 30 January 1924, and 11 more against Czechoslovakia two days earlier (including six in one period). In all, Canada outscored its opponents 132-3 in that Olympics.After Worlds gold, Czechoslovakia's Jaroslav Drobny wins Wimbledon
Imagine if Sidney Crosby led Canada to Olympics gold and then a few years after retiring from hockey he became a tennis player and won Wimbledon. Crazy, right? So stupid it’s not even worth thinking about, right? Well, that’s exactly what Czech Jaroslav Drobny did in the years after the war. He played on the 1947 team that won gold at the World Championship, scoring a hat trick in the decisive victory over the U.S. which gave his country its first ever title in that tournament. He then won a silver medal with the Czechs at the 1948 Olympics, but an eye injury limited his abilities, so he retired and turned his attention to tennis (which he had played most of his life – indeed, he played in Wimbledon in 1938 at age 16). Just a few weeks after the 1948 Olympics, Drobny lost the French Open finals in singles but won both the doubles and mixed doubles titles. In 1949, he went to the finals at Wimbledon, losing 6-4 in the fifth set to Ted Schroeder. Drobny won the men’s title at the French in both 1951 and 1952, and in 1954 he defeated the legendary Ken Rosewall to win the hallowed Wimbledon championship by a score of 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7. Drobny was the first left-handed player to win the greatest tennis title.Soviet Vsevolod Bobrov competes at Winter and Summer Olympic Games in hockey and football
Fans of hockey’s past know the name Vsevelod Bobrov for his exploits on the ice with the Soviet Union. But fans might not realize he was also an exceptional football player who suited up for the Soviet national team at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Bobrov became a legend after scoring a hat trick in a 5-5-tie against Yugoslavia, arguably the most famous Olympic football game ever played. The Yugoslavs led 5-1 with only 15 minutes remaining when Bobrov and his Soviets stormed back to tie the game. Soon after, though, Bobrov gave up football for hockey. He became the star player on the national team that played at the 1954 World Championship in Stockholm, the first time CCCP played a top international event. Bobrov led the team to a stunning 7-2 win over Canada's East York Lyndhursts, giving the team a gold medal in what is still considered one of the greatest upsets of all time. Bobrov was again the hero two years later when the Soviet Union won its first Olympic hockey gold medal, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.Canada's Connie Broden wins gold at Worlds, then the Stanley Cup a month later
Within a span of 42 days in the spring of 1958, Canada’s Connie Broden did what no one before or since has done – won the Stanley Cup and World Championship gold. As a high-scoring forward on Canada's Whitby Dunlops, he won the World Championship in Oslo, Norway. Just six weeks later, Broden joined the Montreal Canadiens and won his second Stanley Cup in two years with the Habs. While Broden was a marginal NHL player, he led the Oslo championship in scoring with 12 goals and seven assists in seven games. His most important goal gave Canada a 2-1 lead in the decisive game against the Soviet Union, on the final day of the tournament, 9 March 1958. Canada won, 4-2, taking home the gold. Broden then returned to the NHL and played only one of the five games in the finals against Boston, but that was enough to have his name etched on the hallowed trophy.Russia's Mikhailov & Petrov score 10 points each vs. Poland
Late in the schedule of the 1973 World Championship in Moscow was a Soviet Union-Poland game that set records the Poles don’t want to think about. The hosts won the game 20-0, one of the most lop-sided scores in tournament history. And in that game not one but two Soviet players set records for most points in a game – 10. Boris Mikhailov had seven goals and three assists while Vladimir Petrov had five goals and as many helpers. Three days earlier teammate Alex Martinyuk had nine points in a win over West Germany (including eight goals), but it seems impossible to think anyone could get ten points in a game anymore.Germany's Udo Kiessling retires after an incredible career that includes a record 119 World Championship Games
Many Soviet players hold various records at the World Championship, but one of the most difficult to achieve is held by Germany’s Udo Kiessling. Between his 1973 debut at the Worlds until his final tournament in 1991, Kiessling played an extraordinary 119 games, more than any player in IIHF history. In all, only 19 players have hit the century mark in WM play, many from the Soviet Union and a few from Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland, but Alexander Maltsev is a distant second at 110. Kiessling played at a time when many tournaments required ten games under a double round-robin format, and because he was for so long his nation’s top player he was pretty much guaranteed a spot in the lineup if he chose to keep playing. And he did, for nearly two decades.Patrice Bergeron wins Worlds gold before World Junior gold
You have to think about it for a minute before it sinks in. And, it is surely the oddest record in IIHF competition. Canada’s Patrice Bergeron won a gold medal at both the World Junior Championship and the senior World Championship, which in itself is a fairly common double achieved by players from the top nations. The thing about Bergeron, though, is that he won the senior gold BEFORE the junior gold! A talented teen, Bergeron made the NHL in 2003 with Boston as an 18-year-old. After his first season, he travelled to Prague for the Worlds and helped Canada win gold. But the 2004/05 season was abandoned by the NHL because of a contractual impasse between players and owners, so Bergeron accepted an invitation to play at the World Juniors in Grand Forks. Teamed with Sidney Crosby, he again helped Canada win gold, achieving the common double singularly in reverse order.18-year-old Sidney Crosby earns IIHF Worlds scoring title
Sidney Crosby made his NHL debut with Pittsburgh in 2005/06. He had a remarkable year, recording 102 points at age 18, but the Penguins failed to make the playoffs, and he accepted an invitation to play for Canada at the World Championship in Riga, Latvia. The roster included Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Jason Williams, Jeff Carter, Kyle Calder, Mike Richards, and Brendan Shanahan. But it was Crosby who dominated the tournament from start to finish, leading the event in goals (8) and points (16) to become the youngest player ever to do so. In Canada’s first game, a 5-3 win over Denmark, he scored the game’s second goal to give Canada a 2-0 lead, and later scored the game winner to break a 3-3 tie. He had a goal and two assists in the team’s next game, an easy 7-1 win over Norway, and in game three, he scored in the second period against the U.S. to erase an early American lead en route to a 2-1 Canada win. It was, perhaps, the best goal of the tournament. Bergeron, deep in his own end, spotted Crosby streaking up ice and hit him with a beautiful pass just before the centre red line. Crosby exploded between two defencemen as soon as he got the puck and went in alone on goalie Jason Bacashihua at top speed, scoring a spectacular goal. The crowd was in awe. The only thing missing from his tournament was a medal, as Canada lost to Sweden, 5-4, in the semi-finals and was then shut out 5-0 by the Finns for the bronze medal.Belarus' Demagin scores fastest goal in Worlds history, 5 seconds in!
Some records take an entire career to break while others take a matter of seconds. Sergei Demagin’s place in IIHF history falls into the latter category. He set his record on May 2, 2009, for Belarus in a game against Finland during the Qualification Round in Kloten, Switzerland. Belarus won the opening faceoff and centreman Mikhail Grabovski brought the puck over the Finland line. He dished a pass to his right winger Demagin, and his quick shot fooled goalie Pekka Rinne. Time of the goal – 0:05! The fastest goal from the start of a game in World Championship history.Kaspars Daugavins first to score consecutive overtime goals
Latvia had a tough time of it at the 2015 World Championship. The small but avid hockey nation won only two of seven games in the preliminary round, but both of those wins came in overtime and both winning goals were scored by Kaspars Daugavins. The first winner broke a 1-1 tie with Switzerland and salvaged the day for Latvia. It had led for most of the game but the Swiss tied it late in the third. Daugavins converted a sensational pass from Lauris Darzins during the four-on-four OT to give Latvia the win. Three days later, Latvia and Austria played to a 1-1 tie through 60 minutes of regulation, and again Daugavins was the hero, ripping a hard shot over the shoulder of Bernhard Starkbaum on a three-on-two rush. Daugavins became the first player in WM history to score overtime goals in consecutive games.18-year-old Patrik Laine scores first goal on the way to MVP campaign
Shortly after his 18th birthday, and before he was drafted 2nd overall by the Winnipeg Jets at the 2016 NHL Draft, Finland’s Patrik Laine made his senior World Championship debut. It was one of the most anticipated debuts in many years given his place as a top prospect at the draft weeks later, and Laine didn’t disappoint. Finland’s opening game came against Belarus, and it was Laine who scored the first goal, 1:45 into the second period. It was a gem. Laine came in over the Belarus blue line, made a sweet back pass to Aleksander Barkov and went to the net. Barkov found him with a return pass. Laine had an empty net and didn’t miss. The teen later scored again on the power play, and added an assist in the 6-2 win. Laine’s career was off to a sensational start.
During the 100-year anniversary of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship we bring you the top-100 moments in stories, photos and videos in 10 days. Check out more by clicking the chapters below: