Preliminary round Group A saw the higher seeded team win each match, with the exception of the game between Belarus and Slovakia which was won by Slovakia. Russia topped the group with the full nine points, Slovakia qualified in second and Belarus in third. Kazakhstan was sent to the relegation round, after being promoted to the finals tournament for the first time since
2006. In
Group B the higher seeded team won each match, with the exception of the final group match which saw Switzerland defeat the second-seeded Canadians for the first time in the history of the tournament. This upset led to Switzerland winning the group with nine points, followed by Canada in second and Latvia in third. Italy, back at the finals tournament after missing
2009, lost all its matches and was returned to the relegation round.
Group C action ended with three teams having a record of two wins and one defeat. Norway's upset defeat of Czech Republic caused a controversy when
Jaromír Jágr, a famous member of the Czech team, spoke out against other Czech stars turning down the tournament. This later triggered an international hockey dispute, when a column was posted on IIHF.com regarding these comments and about players' turning down invitations to attend. This article was later taken down and
René Fasel, president of the IIHF, noted his concern.
Sweden, the
Czech Republic and
Norway all moved on to the qualification round, while France was sent to the relegation after failing to win any matches. In
Group D the opening game saw the first major upset. Germany in front of a
record crowd of over 77,000 persons defeated the United States in
overtime, 2–1. This group proved to be full of upsets; in the next match Denmark beat the fourth-seeded Finns, followed by the Danes defeating the Americans. Finland came up with two wins to top the group and move on to the qualification round, along with Germany in second place and Denmark in third. The final match between the U.S. and Finland determined the United States' last-place finish, and they were sent to the relegation round for the first time since
2003.
Qualification round Group E action first saw Denmark handing favored Slovakia a blowout upset, 6–0. In the next match Finland defeated Belarus, 2–0, after outshooting them 32 to 18. Russia narrowly defeated Germany 3–2, in which
Alexander Ovechkin scored the winner. Russia continued with two more wins over Denmark and Finland to propel them to the group win, making them the only team to go undefeated into the
playoff round. Belarus defeated Germany in
overtime, and then defeated Denmark 2–1, but this was not enough to qualify and they ended in fifth place. In yet another upset, the host Germans defeated Slovakia 2–1 to win a qualifying spot in third place, much to the delight of the German fans and coach
Uwe Krupp. Finland finished in second-place after Russia, followed by Germany and Denmark. Denmark managed to qualify for the
quarter-finals for the first time in the history of the tournament. Slovakia finished a disappointing last, marking the third straight year in which they did not qualify for the quarter-finals in the lead up to their hosting of the
2011 IIHF World Championship.
Group F opened with Canada flexing its offense against Norway in a 12–1 blowout. Sweden then defeated
Latvia 4–2, followed by Switzerland continuing its winning streak with an upset 3–2 win against the Czechs. Latvia defeated Norway but later lost to the Czech Republic, which resulted in their last placement in the group and their failure to qualify. Sweden beat Canada after an impressive performance by Swedish goaltender
Jonas Gustavsson. In another upset, Norway managed to beat the in-form
Swiss 3–2, but they would end in fifth place. The Czech Republic won against Canada 3–2 to lead them to finish ahead of the Canadians in the group. Sweden capped off the round with a convincing 5–0 win over Switzerland to finish as group winners. There were no surprises on the second game-day, with the U.S. defeating France and Italy winning against Kazakhstan. The U.S. then defeated Italy in a
shootout and France beat Kazakhstan 5–3. The final relegation results saw Kazakhstan and Italy go directly back down to
Division I. Group-winners U.S. and second-placed France both qualified for the
2011 World Championships.
Playoff round The
playoff round saw the top eight teams competing for the title of 2010 world champions. The
quarter-finals began with a close match between
Finland and the
Czech Republic. After
Petri Kontiola's early goal in the first minute, the game remained scoreless all the way into the third period.
Jakub Klepiš scored the equalizer shortly after the final period started. No further goals were scored, so the game went into a scoreless
overtime followed by a
shootout.
Jan Marek scored the decisive goal to put the Czechs into the
semifinals. In the second quarter-final,
Sweden faced
Denmark. This was Denmark's first appearance in the playoff round. After Sweden established a comfortable 3–0 lead, the Danes scored a goal in the second period. Seven minutes before the end
Linus Omark scored a goal which restored the three-goal lead for Sweden. A late
power play goal by Dane
Morten Madsen was to no avail and Sweden won 4–2. The third quarter-final featured a storied and contentious
rivalry.
Russia played against
Canada in a repeat of the quarter-finals at the
2010 Olympics, in which Canada embarrassed the Russians 7–3. The opening period was a dead heat until a late goal by
Maxim Afinogenov. Russia, still undefeated at the tournament, immediately overtook Canada in the second period, and led at one point in the third period by 4–0.
Ilya Kovalchuk had a three-assist game and was a big boost for the Russians who won 5–2, following two late Canadian goals. The final quarter-final was an evening game between the host
Germany and their traditional rival,
Switzerland. The first period was scoreless but not without chances, as the Swiss hit the post twice. Midway through the second period
Philip Gogulla scored on the
power play to give Germany the lead, and this goal would turn out to be the game winner. The Swiss outshot the Germans 41 to 27, and
Dennis Endras is credited with keeping Germany in the game by preserving the one-goal lead. The win put Germany in the semifinals for the first time since 1953 and the match was dubbed by the IIHF as
The Miracle at Mannheim. At the end of the match there was a brawl between the teams, which included German assistant coach Ernst Höfner getting into an altercation with Swiss defenceman
Timo Helbling. Both were handed match suspensions. After one day off the
semifinals started with Sweden versus the Czech Republic. The first period was equal with both teams scoring one goal.
Andreas Engqvist scored midway through the second period to put Sweden up 2–1. This lead held into very late in the third period. With 1:13 left in the third period the Czechs pulled their goalie to get a six on five opportunity and
Karel Rachůnek scored the 2–2 equalizer with just 7.5 seconds left, putting the game into overtime. The overtime period stayed scoreless and it came down to the shootout. In a repeat of the quarter-final the Czechs won by a goal from
Jan Marek. The other semifinal between Germany and Russia was a close match, much like their qualification round game. The Germans started off the scoring with a goal from
Marcel Goc during a two-man power play. At the midway point of the match
Evgeni Malkin scored to tie up the game for the Russians. The remainder of the game was very close, and the tie was only broken with 1:50 minutes left, when
Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-winning goal. The Germans pressed in the final minutes but the score held for a 2–1 Russian victory, putting them in the final for the third straight year. The
bronze medal game was between Sweden and the surprise semifinalists, hosts Germany.
Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson scored an early goal to put up Sweden 1–0. The game then went scoreless until late in the second period when on a 4–3 rush
Alexander Barta managed to retrieve his own rebound and put it top-shelf past
Jonas Gustavsson, tying up the game for Germany. Early in the third period
Jonas Andersson fired a shot from a very tight angle which managed to beat
Dennis Endras on the five hole. The score held until Andersson netted an empty-net goal to ensure Sweden's 3–1 victory, giving them their second straight bronze medal at the worlds.
Final for celebrations The
final was played between Russia and the
Czech Republic for the first time in the
history of the tournament, although the predecessors of both these nations, the USSR and
Czechoslovakia, had met several times in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. It was Russia's third consecutive finals appearance, and the Czech Republic's first appearance since 2006. The match began with a goal after just 20 seconds, scored by Jakub Klepiš from a pass by
Jaromír Jágr. The goal was seemingly the result of a defensive mistake which led to a Czech offensive possession with Russian defensemen out of position. For the remainder of the period the Russians held almost complete possession of the puck, and veteran
Sergei Fedorov hit the post after an odd man rush. Very late in the period the Russians put the puck in the net on a power play, but it was determined to be after the clock had run out and was ruled as no goal. There was some brief confusion however, as the
buzzer sounds after the clock on the
scoreboard runs out. In the second period Russia pressed once again but the Czech Republic slowed the game down and forced Russia to regroup, resulting in an error in the Russian defensive zone when
Alexander Ovechkin collided with teammate Fedorov. This led to a 3-on-2 rush for the Czechs and
Karel Rachůnek centered the puck while
Tomáš Rolinek crashed the net. The puck was redirected off Rolinek's skates, and it was ruled a good goal because there was no kicking motion visible. The third period began with more Russian pressure, including a close chance off the post by
Evgeni Malkin, but at the midway point of the period Russian
Alexei Emelin was given a five-minute major and thrown out of the game for clipping Jaromír Jágr, who did not return for the remainder of the game. This was followed by more penalty trouble for both teams. In the final minutes after pulling goaltender
Semyon Varlamov,
Pavel Datsyuk buried a goal on a 5-on-3 with 35 seconds left, bringing Russia within one goal of the Czechs. Under pressure the Czech goalie
Tomáš Vokoun managed to stave off the final Russian assault and the Czechs held on to win the game 2–1. The
president of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus handed out the gold medals alongside
IIHF president
René Fasel. ==Rosters==