Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was the eighth Olympic Championship, also serving as the 23rd World Championships and the 34th European Championships. The tournament was held at the Olympic Ice Stadium and the Apollonio Stadium.^[1]

Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics

Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	26 January – 4 February 1956
Teams	10
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (1st title)
Runners-up	United States
Third place	Canada
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Games played	33
Goals scored	262 (7.94 per game)
Attendance	122,230 (3,704 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	James Logan (15 points)
← 1955 or 1952 Olympics 1957 or 1960 Olympics →

Trophy awarded for the 1956 World Championships

East Germany and West Germany could not come to an agreement over how to formulate a combined team, so they played a qualification game against each other, which was won by West Germany. East Germany hosted a tournament for non-qualified teams, often referred to as World Championships Pool B, between GDR, Norway and Belgium in Berlin.^[2]

The Soviets won all their games to claim their first Olympic title, their second World title, and their third European title. Canada, represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, won its eighth consecutive Olympic ice hockey medal, and first bronze medal.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Soviet Union Nikolai Puchkov Grigory Mkrtychan Nikolaï Sologubov Dmitry Ukolov Ivan Tregubov Genrikh Sidorenkov Alfred Kuchevsky Yevgeny Babich Viktor Shuvalov Vsevolod Bobrov Yuri Krylov Aleksandr Uvarov Valentin Kuzin Yuri Pantjukhov Aleksey Guryshev Nikolay Khlystov Viktor Nikiforov	United States Willard Ikola Don Rigazio Richard Rodenheiser Daniel McKinnon Ed Sampson John Matchefts Richard Meredith Dick Dougherty Ken Purpur John Mayasich Bill Cleary Wellington Burtnett Wendell Anderson Gene Campbell Gordon Christian Weldon Olson John Petroske	Canada Denis Brodeur Keith Woodall Floyd Martin Howie Lee Art Hurst Jack McKenzie James Logan Paul Knox Donald Rope Byrle Klinck Bill Colvin Gérard Théberge Alfred Horne Charlie Brooker George Scholes Bob White Ken Laufman

Participating nations

See also: Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics – Rosters

Participating nations

•  Austria (17)
•  Canada (16)
•  Czechoslovakia (17)
•  United Team of Germany (17)
•  Italy (16)
•  Poland (17)
•  Soviet Union (17)
•  Sweden (17)
•  Switzerland (17)
•  United States (17)

World Championship Group A (Italy)

Qualification

• November 16, 1955
  • East Germany 3-7 West Germany

First round

Top two teams (shaded ones) from each group earned a right to play for 1st-6th places.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Canada	3	3	0	0	30	1	+29	6
2	Germany	3	1	1	1	9	6	+3	3
3	Italy	3	0	1	2	5	7	−2	2
4	Austria	3	0	2	1	2	32	−30	1

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• January 26
  • Canada 4–0 Germany (UTG)
  • Italy 2–2 Austria
• January 27
  • Italy 2–2 Germany (UTG)
  • Canada 23–0 Austria
• January 28
  • Germany (UTG) 7–0 Austria
  • Italy 1–3 Canada

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	2	2	0	0	12	6	+6	4
2	United States	2	1	1	0	7	4	+3	2
3	Poland	2	0	2	0	3	12	−9	0

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• January 27
  • Czechoslovakia 4–3 USA
• January 28
  • USA 4–0 Poland
• January 29
  • Czechoslovakia 8–3 Poland

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	2	2	0	0	15	4	+11	4
2	Sweden	2	1	1	0	7	10	−3	2
3	Switzerland	2	0	2	0	8	16	−8	0

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• January 27
  • USSR 5–1 Sweden
• January 28
  • Sweden 6–5 Switzerland
• January 29
  • USSR 10–3 Switzerland

Final round

Vsevolod Bobrov holding the championship trophy.

The goalkeeper of the Soviet ice hockey team Grigory Mkrtychan waiting in front of the goal post during the VII Olympic Winter Games. Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1956

The first place team, the Soviet Union, won the gold medal; the silver medal was won by the United States, and the bronze medal was won by Canada.

Coming into the final game of the tournament (Soviet Union vs Canada), the Soviets and Americans both had eight points while Canada had six points. A Canadian win would have created a three-way tie at eight points, to be broken by goal ratio. Canada (23/9=2.556) needed a victory by three or more to pass the Soviets (23/5=4.600). The Soviets would remain ahead of Canada with a win, a draw, or a loss by one or two.

The Americans (26/12=2.167) still had a chance at all three medal places due to the possibility of the goal ratios of Canada and/or the Soviets being sufficiently reduced according to the score of the final game.^[3][4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Soviet Union	5	5	0	0	25	5	+20	10
2	United States	5	4	1	0	26	12	+14	8
3	Canada	5	3	2	0	23	11	+12	6
4	Sweden	5	1	3	1	10	17	−7	3
5	Czechoslovakia	5	1	4	0	20	30	−10	2
6	Germany	5	0	4	1	6	35	−29	1

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• January 30
  • USA 7–2 Germany (UTG)
  • Canada 6–3 Czechoslovakia
  • USSR 4–1 Sweden
• January 31
  • USSR 8–0 Germany (UTG)
  • Sweden 5–0 Czechoslovakia
  • USA 4–1 Canada
• February 1
  • USA 6–1 Sweden
• February 2
  • Canada 10–0 Germany (UTG)
  • USSR 7–4 Czechoslovakia
• February 3
  • Czechoslovakia 9–3 Germany (UTG)
  • Canada 6–2 Sweden
  • USSR 4–0 USA
• February 4
  • USSR 2–0 Canada
  • Germany (UTG) 1–1 Sweden
  • USA 9–4 Czechoslovakia

Consolation round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
7	Italy	3	3	0	0	21	7	+14	6
8	Poland	3	2	1	0	12	10	+2	4
9	Switzerland	3	1	2	0	12	18	−6	2
10	Austria	3	0	3	0	9	19	−10	0

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• January 31
  • Switzerland 7–4 Austria
• February 1
  • Poland 6–2 Switzerland
  • Italy 8–2 Austria
• February 2
  • Italy 8–3 Switzerland
  • Poland 4–3 Austria
• February 3
  • Italy 5–2 Poland

World Championship Group B (East Germany)

Final Round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
11	East Germany	2	2	0	0	18	8	+10	4
12	Norway	2	1	1	0	8	9	−1	2
13	Belgium	2	0	2	0	12	21	−9	0

Source: HockeyCanada.ca

• March 8
  • East Germany 4–1 Norway
• March 9
  • East Germany 14–7 Belgium
• March 10
  • Norway 7–5 Belgium

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Statistics

Average age

Gold medalists team USSR was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 29 years and 11 months. Team USA was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 22 years and 5 months. Tournament average was 26 years and 7 months.^[5]

Leading scorers

Rk	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
1	James Logan	8	7	8	15
2	Paul Knox	8	7	7	14
3	Vsevolod Bobrov	7	9	3	12
4	Jack McKenzie	8	7	5	12
5	Gerry Theberge	8	9	2	11
6	Alexei Guryshev	7	8	3	11
7	John Mayasich	7	6	4	10
8	George Scholes	8	5	5	10
9	Ken Laufman	8	1	8	9
10	Gordon Christian	6	5	3	8

Tournament awards

• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Willard Ikola
  • Best Defenceman: Nikolai Sologubov
  • Best Forward: Jack McKenzie

Final ranking

1.  Soviet Union
2.  United States
3.  Canada
4.  Sweden
5.  Czechoslovakia
6.  Germany
7.  Italy
8.  Poland
9.   Switzerland
10.  Austria

European Championship final ranking

1.  Soviet Union
2.  Sweden
3.  Czechoslovakia
4.  West Germany
5.  Italy
6.  Poland
7.   Switzerland
8.  Austria