2003 IIHF World Championship

The 2003 IIHF World Championship was held between 26 April and 11 May 2003 in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, Finland.

It was the 67th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Canada won the gold medal after defeating Sweden 3–2 in a tightly fought final. Over 14 minutes into the overtime, Canadian forward Anson Carter beat Swedish goaltender Mikael Tellqvist with a wraparound goal. The goal was contested for several minutes before replays confirmed that Tellqvist had stopped the puck behind the goal line. It was Canada's first World Championship win in five years.

Sweden surrendered five consecutive goals against Finland in their quarterfinal to trail 5–1 seven minutes into the second period, at which point Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo was swapped for Mikael Tellqvist. This proved to be the Swedish team's necessary wake-up call as the Swedes went on to score five unanswered goals before the end of regulation and ultimately win the game 6–5.

To celebrate the games, the Finnish government issued a high value commemorative coin: the 2003 Ice Hockey World Championships commemorative coin, with three ice hockey sticks and a puck engraved on the reverse.

Qualification Tournament
The Far Eastern Qualification was played as a single game during the 2003 Asian Winter Games on February 4, 2003, in Hachinohe, Japan. South Korea had opted to not play as they believed it more beneficial to focus on training and developing for their Division II tournament. During the games Japan also beat the Koreans eleven to two in the semi-finals.

All times local

First round
In the first round, the top three teams from each group progressed to the second round, whilst the last-placed team progressed to the consolation round.

Group A
All times local

Second round
In the second round, the top four teams from each group progressed to the final round, whilst the bottom two teams were eliminated.

Group E
Tables and scores below include meetings between teams during the first round.

Group F
Tables and scores below include meetings between teams during the first round.

Group G
As the Far Eastern qualifier, Japan avoided relegation. Therefore, Belarus and Slovenia were relegated to Division I for the 2004 Championships.

Tournament awards

 * Best players selected by the directorate:
 * Best Goaltender:     🇨🇦 Sean Burke
 * Best Defenceman:     🇨🇦 Jay Bouwmeester
 * Best Forward:        🇸🇪 Mats Sundin
 * Most Valuable Player: 🇸🇪 Mats Sundin
 * Media All-Star Team:
 * Goaltender: 🇨🇦 Sean Burke
 * Defence: 🇨🇦 Jay Bouwmeester, 🇸🇰 Ľubomír Višňovský
 * Forwards: 🇸🇪 Peter Forsberg, 🇨🇦 Dany Heatley, 🇸🇪 Mats Sundin

Final standings
The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:

Scoring leaders
List shows the top ten skaters sorted by points, then goals, then (fewer) games played.

Leading goaltenders
Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes are included in this list.