The tournament is notable since Canada, reinforced by Wayne Gretzky after the Edmonton Oilers were shockingly knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by Los Angeles, would have won the silver medal if the Soviet team had beaten Czechoslovakia in the final game.

[1][2] Gretzky did score more points than any other player in the tournament (14), in his only appearance at the World Championships, but the Soviet Union's Viktor Shalimov was selected as "Best Forward".

[1] The tourney was a disaster for the Americans; just two years after winning gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics, they lost every game but one, a tie with West Germany on the final day.

Organization of the tournament was overseen by Kalervo Kummola, the chief executive officer of SM-liiga.

They did just that (3-3) on March 27, in a match derided as a "scandalous parody" by some observers; Romania thus finished with three head-to-head points, Switzerland two, and China one, relegating the Chinese.