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.

The Soviet Union 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.

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 the GDR, Norway and Belgium in Berlin.World 'B'

Medalists GoldSilverBronze 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 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 Denis Brodeur Keith Woodall Floyd Martin Howie LeeArt 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

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

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

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

Group C

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

Final round

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 altered according to the score of the final game.Official Report p.676

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

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

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

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.

Leading scorers RkTeamGPGAPts1 James Logan878152 Paul Knox877143 Vsevolod Bobrov793124 Jack McKenzie875125 Gerry Theberge892116 Alexei Guryshev783117 John Mayasich764108 George Scholes855109 Ken Laufman818910 Gordon Christian6538

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

Final ranking

European Championship final ranking

Citations

References

Jeux Olympiques d'Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956