Canada moves to top of latest IIHF men’s hockey rankings

Oh Canada.

After winning gold for the 28th time in World Hockey Championship history – the most ever – Canada has overtaken Finland for first place in the IIHF men’s hockey rankings published this week.

The latest rankings are based on a formula that takes into account World Championship performances between 2020-23, as well as the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic qualification round for teams that missed out.

A full breakdown of how points are awarded can be found here. A full 58-team list can also be found here.

Canada has a 70-point barrier over Finland, winners of the 2022 World Championship. The Finns finished seventh at the World Championship after falling to Canada in the quarterfinal, a rematch of the previous three gold medal games.

Canada has never been lower than second since 2015, sitting in the top spot for most of the time.

Finland moved down one spot to second, while Russia – who has not participated in an event since the 2022 Olympics – sits third with 4050 points. USA is second at 3940, while Germany moved up four spots to fifth after reaching the gold medal game for the first time in tournament history.

Sweden fell to sixth, a difficult finish for a team that looked strong a decade ago. It’s been a downward slope for them, who held first spot from 2013-14, and remained in the the top three throughout the end of the 2010s. Since 2020, the Swedes haven’t been higher than fourth.

Other significant movement included Czechia going from sixth to eighth, Slovenia bumping up two spots to 17th, Great Britain falling down two spots to 20th despite earning promotion and the United Arab Emirates moving up four spots to 39th. Outside the top 50, Singapore moved up the most by four spots to 51st.

The biggest fallers were Georgia (-12 to 53rd) and North Korea (-11 to 56th), but they haven’t played since 2019.

Mongolia and Indonesia both made the list for the first time at 57th and 58th respectively after making their IIHF World Championship tournament debuts.

The IIHF rankings help determine future World Championship and Olympic group placements, as well as showing the long-term success – or lack thereof – of a nation’s program. The IIHF will announce the updated women’s hockey rankings following the conclusion of the summer World Championship tournaments, with Canada currently holding the top spot there.