Dates 15–26 February 2006 | ||
Venues Torino Palasport Olimpico
Torino Esposizioni | ||
The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held in Turin, Italy, from 15 to 26 February. Twelve teams competed, with Sweden winning the gold medal, Finland winning silver, and the Czech Republic winning bronze. It was the third Olympic tournament to feature National Hockey League players and the tenth best-on-best hockey tournament in history. Chris Chelios set a standard for longest time between his first Olympic ice hockey tournament and his last—he had competed twenty-two years earlier at the 1984 Olympics. The old record was set by Swiss hockey player Bibi Torriani who had played twenty years after his debut (1928 and 1948).
Contents
- Final rankings
- Qualification
- Qualification tournaments
- First round
- Leading scorers
- Leading goaltenders
- Awards
- References
The format was changed from the 1998 and 2002 tournaments, to a format similar to the 1992 and 1994 tournaments. The number of teams was reduced from 14 to 12. The 12 teams were split into two groups in the preliminary stage, which followed a round robin format. Each team played the other teams in their group once. The top four teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
The tournament is also notable for the lacklustre performance of the defending champion Canada, which lost two group stage games (including a shock defeat to Switzerland) before being eliminated by Russia in the quarter-finals. As of 2016, this is the only Olympic ice hockey tournament of the 21st century (men's or women's) to not be won by the Canadian team.
Final rankings
The full final rankings for the tournament were:
- Sweden
- Finland
- Czech Republic
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Switzerland
- Canada
- United States
- Kazakhstan
- Germany
- Italy
- Latvia
In a celebration of the gold in Stockholm on 27 February, the Swedish team was seen in front of advertisements for sponsors of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation, not the ones of the Swedish Olympic Committee. This could have led to Sweden's disqualification, but the Finnish opponents in the final game chose not to report the incident to the IOC.
Qualification
Twelve places were allotted for the men's ice hockey tournament. The first eight were awarded to the top eight teams in the International Ice Hockey Federation ranking following the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Those teams were:
- Canada
- Sweden
- Slovakia
- Czech Republic
- Finland
- United States
- Russia
- Germany
The teams that automatically qualified include the same "Super Six" teams that were automatically qualified for the final group stage in the two previous tournaments, plus Slovakia and Germany which (IIHF rankings notwithstanding) are often regarded as the seventh and eighth best teams. The ninth place was given to the host nation, Italy. The final three places were allotted through qualification tournaments in which Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Switzerland won places.
Qualification tournaments
The winners of Groups D, E and F advanced to Groups C, B, and A respectively. The winners of Groups A, B, and C qualified for the Olympics.
Group D (Briançon, France, 11–14 November 2004)
Group E (Nowy Targ, Poland, 11–14 November 2004)
Group F (Stavanger, Norway, 11–14 November 2004)
Group A (Kloten, Switzerland, 10–13 February 2005)
Group B (Riga, Latvia, 10–13 February 2005)
Group C (Klagenfurt, Austria, 10–13 February 2005)
First round
Twelve participating teams were placed in two groups. After playing a round-robin, the top four teams in each group advanced to the Medal Round while the last two teams competed in the Consolation Round for the 9th to 12th places.
Leading scorers
Hat trick scorers
Leading goaltenders
Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes.
Shut-out posters
Awards
Finland's Antero Niittymäki was named the most valuable player and received the Directorate Award for best goaltender of the tournament. Directorate Awards also went to Teemu Selänne (Finland) for best forward, and to Kenny Jönsson (Sweden) for best defenceman.
The tournament all-star team was voted on by the international media at the conclusion of the event. The following players were named: