Canada won the gold medal after defeating Sweden 3–2 in a tightly fought final. Over 14 minutes into the overtime, Canadian forward Anson Carter beat Swedish goaltender Mikael Tellqvist with a wraparound goal. The goal was contested for several minutes before replays confirmed that Tellqvist had stopped the puck behind the goal line. It was Canada's first World Championship win in five years.
Sweden surrendered five consecutive goals against Finland in their quarterfinal to trail 5–1 seven minutes into the second period, at which point Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo was swapped for Mikael Tellqvist. This proved to be the Swedish team's necessary wake-up call as the Swedes went on to score five unanswered goals before the end of regulation and ultimately win the game 6–5.
To celebrate the games, the Finnish government issued a high value commemorative coin: the 2003 Ice Hockey World Championships commemorative coin, with three ice hockey sticks and a puck engraved on the reverse.
Qualification Tournament
The Far Eastern Qualification was played as a single game during the 2003 Asian Winter Games on February 4, 2003, in Hachinohe, Japan. South Korea had opted to not play as they believed it more beneficial to focus on training and developing for their Division II tournament. During the games Japan also beat the Koreans eleven to two in the semi-finals.
In the first round, the top three teams from each group progressed to the second round, whilst the last-placed team progressed to the consolation round.
The 2003 IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony has held in Helsinki during the World Championships. George Nagobads of the United States was given the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.