A look back at the 2004 IIHF World Championship

Andy Roach provided two memorable shoot-out moments for the U.S. squad

The 68th IIHF World Championship has come to an end. Sixteen nations, 56 games, 17 days. An extraordinary 552,097 fans saw the games live at the CEZ Arena in Ostrava and the Sazka Arena in Prague. Over the course of the tournament, there were so many memorable moments that it's time to take a look back and recall the highs and lows, the great goals and heart-breaking disappointments:

Preliminary Round
Game 1 -- Austria's Dieter Kalt scores the first goal of the tournament, against France, just nine seconds from the drop of the puck to start the World Championship
Game 7 -- Ivo Ruthemann records six points in La Suisse's 6-0 rout of the French. Later, two of his points are revoked, but his four points is still a tournament high.
Game 9 -- Austria stuns Canada by jumping out to a 2-0 lead and holding on for a 2-2 tie against the gold medallists from 2003.
Game 14 -- USA and Slovakia play to a 3-3 tie, all three of USA's goals bouncing off a Slovak player and into the net.
Game 16 -- Austria surrenders a 4-1 lead to start the third period as Switzerland scores a goal in the final minute to tie the game 4-4.
Game 17 -- Japan's Nobuhiro Sugawara scores an own goal, Denmark's fourth of the game, and then falls to the ice in horror at the realization. Denmark wins the game 4-3 and Japan is relegated to Division I for 2005. Now the trivia question: Which Danish player was given credit for the goal? Answer: Bo Andersen.

Qualifying Round
Game 35 -- Trailing Russia 2-1 after two periods, the USA rallies for a tremendous 3-2 win, a game in which goalie Mike Dunham called the turning point of the tournament for the Americans.
Game 38 -- Slovakia defeats Denmark 8-0, one of only two times a team scored eight goals in the tournament and the widest margin of victory this year.
Game 39 -- Canada defeats Germany 6-1, marking the first time German goalie Olaf Kölzig has played internationally against his adopted country.
Game 43 -- Finland defeats Russia 4-0, knocking the Russians out of the quarter-finals and sending them reeling to a 10th place finish
Game 44 -- The undefeated hosts from the Czech Republic soundly defeat Canada 6-2, Canada's first loss since the 2002 IIHF World Championship.

Relegation Round
Game 25 -- France loses to the Kazakhs 5-0, the fourth successive game of the championship that the team has failed to score a goal.
Game 36 -- Ukraine beats France 6-2, but Benoit Bachelet finally scores France's first goal of the tournament, in the first period of the team's fifth game.
Game 46 -- France's 2-2 tie with Japan confirms the demotion of la France for the 2005 IIHF World Championship.

Playoffs
Game 50 -- Little-known American forward Andy Roach makes a sensational move on goalie Tomas Vokoun in the shootout to give the USA a stunning 3-2 win over the undefeated hosts.
Game 51 -- Dany Heatley scores in overtime on an unbelievable slapshot over the shoulder of Mika Noronen to give Canada a 5-4 win over Finland.
Game 53 -- Shawn Horcoff scores a controversial goal in the third period to give Canada a 2-1 win over Slovakia and send the country to its second consecutive gold-medal game.
Game 56 -- Heately sparks a four-goal rally that sees Canada overcome a 3-1 deficit and beat Sweden 5-3 to lead Canada to its second dtraight gold medal victory over Tre Kronor, the first back-to-back golds by Canada since 1958 and 1959.

Andrew Podnieks