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The Ice Blacks won a tight final game to finish first-equal with Israel at the division 2, group B world championships in Turkey at the weekend.
New Zealand scored four goals in the third period to beat China 6-5 in a tight game to finish level with Israel on 12 points after the five-game, round-robin competition.
However, because Israel beat the Ice Blacks 3-2 in the third game, it gained promotion to next year's division 2, group A world championships.
Turkey won its only game of the competition when it beat Bulgaria 6-3 to avoid relegation. The final points were: Israel 12, New Zealand 12, Mexico 11, China 6, Turkey 3, Bulgaria 1.
Mexico caused the upset of the tournament by beating Israel 4-3 in the final round.
New Zealand started strongly against China, with Ian Wannamaker scoring the first goal after just 1min 21sec and Josh Hay adding a second goal 6min later.
At the end of the first period, New Zealand led 2-1 but the second period belonged to China when it scored three goals to lead 4-2.
Goals to Andrew Cox and Hay in the first 2min of the final period brought New Zealand back into the game.
Cox scored his fourth goal of the tournament midway through the final period and Richard Iodine clinched the win in the final minute with the sixth goal.
Cox scored four goals for seventh-equal on the goal-scoring table at the championships. Dunedin's Paris Heyd made five assists to be ranked seventh.
Rick Parry was the third-ranked goal keeper. He made 121 saves from 137 shots and conceded 16 goals in the five games for 88.32%.
Berton Haines was ranked second-equal on defence and Daniel Nicholls fourth-equal.
World champs
Division 2, group B points
Israel (promoted) 12
New Zealand 12
Mexico 11
China 6
Turkey 3
Bulgaria (relegated) 1