The tournament was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia from 7 to 22 April 1972, and the Czechoslovakia national team won the tournament, the third time they had done so and first since 1949, ending the Soviet Union's streak of nine consecutive titles.

For the first time, a separate tournament is held for both the World Championships and the Winter Olympics.

[1] It also marked the first time in international ice hockey that all goaltenders were required to wear face masks.

[1] The American team, who had won the silver medal earlier in the year at the Olympics, failed to win the 'B' pool, losing to Poland in their final game.

Poland was promoted to Group A, both Norway and France were relegated to Group C. The French team boycotted the tournament in a protest over their federation's failure to finance the team's participation in the Sapporo Olympics[2][3] Played in Miercurea-Ciuc from 3 March to the 12th.