The music was missing in Moscow. Sweden had just tied the Soviet Union 4-4, enough to win the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championship, and the arena ceremony called for the Swedish national anthem. The hosts did not have it ready, so the Swedish players went to the public-address system and sang the song they could manage: "Helan går," a Swedish drinking song.[1]
At the 1957 Ice Hockey World Championships in Moscow, Sweden won the title after a 4-4 tie with the Soviet Union, but the hosts lacked the Swedish anthem. The players reportedly did not know the anthem well enough, so they sang "Helan går" instead.[1]
The tournament opened on 24 February 1957 at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium and ended on 5 March with Sweden first, the Soviet Union second, and Czechoslovakia third.[1] It was the first Ice Hockey World Championship held in the Soviet Union, and the last one played on natural ice.[1]
The rink sat inside a larger political moment. A few months earlier, Soviet troops had suppressed the Hungarian Revolution, and several countries stayed away from the Moscow championship in protest. The United States and Canada boycotted, joined by Norway, West Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.[1] With those teams absent, the Soviet Union was heavily favored at home.[1]
Sweden did not take the tournament by ceremony. In its third game, the team beat Czechoslovakia 2-0, a victory the tournament account describes as an important step toward the title.[1] One Swedish save from that game sounds as if it belongs to an older sport entirely: defenseman Vilgot Larsson headed the puck away from his own net, in the era before mandatory helmets, and needed several stitches afterward.[1]
The final game against the Soviet Union seemed to return the championship to its expected script. Sweden scored the first two goals, then the Soviet team answered with four.[1] In the third period, Eilert Määttä and Erling Lindström scored for Sweden, making it 4-4, and goaltender Thord Flodqvist helped hold the tie.[1]
For the standings, a tie was enough. Sweden finished the tournament as world champion, winning its second title.[1] For the people running the ceremony, it created a problem. The Soviet organizers had not prepared for Sweden to win and did not have the Swedish national anthem available.[1]
The players tried to solve it themselves. According to the tournament account, they were prepared to sing the anthem, but they did not know the words well enough.[1] What they knew instead was "Helan går," a drinking song familiar enough to carry the moment when the proper music failed.[1]
So Sweden's championship did not end with a clean, official anthem supplied by the host country. It ended with hockey players in a Moscow arena, newly crowned world champions, filling the public-address system with a table song because the victory ceremony had forgotten the winner's music.
