participation in the Olympics. Ahearne suggested organizing Ice Hockey World Championships in Zürich and Basel instead of during the Olympics. He felt the Brundage threat was a bluff and an attempt to sabotage Olympic ice hockey. Ahearne reiterated that LIHG teams would not play against an AAU representative. The idea of hosting a separate Ice Hockey World Championships surfaced again in January, and Ahearne stated that such a tournament could be arranged on 48 hours' notice. The Swiss Olympic organizing committee insisted on the AHAUS team being recognized, despite persistent charges by Brundage that the AHAUS team was "tainted with professionalism". Brundage and the AAU supported a National Collegiate Athletic Association team instead. After bitter negotiations which were not resolved until the night before the Olympics, the AHAUS team was allowed to play in the tournament, but the IOC declared those games would not count in the standings. The winner of the hockey tournament would be recognized as an Olympic champion, except for the United States team. Participating nations Final tournament The tournament was run in a round-robin format with nine teams participating. The Canadians had seven wins and one tie against the team from Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia also won seven games. The tournament was decided on goal average. Canada outscored their opponents 69:5 (a 13.8 goal average). The Czechoslovakia team outscored their opponents 80:18 (a 4.44 goal average). On the final day the Swiss watched the Czechoslovaks beat the Americans dashing their gold medal aspirations, and then lost their opportunity for silver in a loss to Canada, finishing with a bronze. Because this tournament was also the LIHG World Championship, the United States earned a fourth-place ranking in the LIHG standings. George Dudley stated that the 1948 Olympic hockey tournament was played in "ridiculous weather conditions" with poor refereeing. Results January 30 Switzerland 5–4 USA Canada 3–1 Sweden Poland 7–5 Austria Czechoslovakia 22–3 Italy January 31 USA 23–4 Poland Czechoslovakia 6–3 Sweden Switzerland 16–0 Italy United Kingdom 5–4 Austria February 1 Canada 3–0 United Kingdom USA 31–1 Italy Switzerland 11–2 Austria Czechoslovakia 13–1 Poland February 2 Sweden 7–1 Austria Canada 15–0 Poland Czechoslovakia 11–4 United Kingdom February 3 Canada 21–1 Italy USA 5–2 Sweden February 4 Czechoslovakia 17–3 Austria Poland 13–7 Italy Switzerland 12–3 United Kingdom February 5 Austria 16–5 Italy United Kingdom 7–2 Poland Switzerland 8–2 Sweden Canada 12–3 USA February 6 Switzerland 14–0 Poland Canada 0–0 Czechoslovakia Sweden