Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament

2006 Winter Olympics

Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Dates	15–26 February
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Sweden (2nd title)
Runner-up	Finland
Third place	Czech Republic
Fourth place	Russia
Tournament statistics
Games played	38
Goals scored	206 (5.42 per game)
Attendance	236,013 (6,211 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Teemu Selänne (11 points)
MVP	Antero Niittymäki

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 (NHL) players and the tenth best-on-best hockey tournament in history. United States defenseman 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).

The tournament 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, which 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 defending champion Canada, which lost two group stage games (including a shock defeat to Switzerland) before being eliminated by Russia in the quarter-finals. There were allegations that Sweden intentionally lost their final group game against Slovakia to set up a quarterfinal against Switzerland.

In the semi-finals, Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 7–3, and Finland ousted Russia 4–0. Sweden won its second ice hockey gold, and first in a best-on-best competition, over Finland 3–2 and the Czech Republic won the bronze medal over Russia 3–0. Three months later, Sweden won the 2006 World Championships and became the first team to win the Olympic and World Championship gold in the same year.

Qualification

Main article: Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification

Canada, Sweden, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland, United States, Russia and Germany qualified as the top eight teams in the IIHF World Ranking in 2004. Italy qualified as host team. The remaining three teams qualified from qualification tournaments.

Event	Date	Location	Vacancies	Qualified
Host	19 June 1999	Seoul	1	Italy
2004 IIHF World Ranking	26 March 2001 – 9 May 2004	Prague and Ostrava	8	Canada Sweden Slovakia Czech Republic Finland United States Russia Germany
Final qualification tournament	10–13 February 2005	Kloten	1	Switzerland
Final qualification tournament	10–13 February 2005	Riga	1	Latvia
Final qualification tournament	10–13 February 2005	Klagenfurt	1	Kazakhstan
Total			12

Notes

Rosters

Main article: Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's team rosters

Preliminary round

All times are local (UTC+1).

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Playoff round

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Gold medal game
	22 February
	Finland	4
					24 February
	United States	3
					Finland	4
	22 February
					Russia	0
	Russia	2
									26 February
	Canada	0
									Finland	2
	22 February
									Sweden	3
	Switzerland	2
					24 February
	Sweden	6
					Sweden	7
	22 February
					Czech Republic	3			Bronze medal game
	Slovakia	1
									25 February
	Czech Republic	3
									Russia	0
									Czech Republic	3

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Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Sweden
	Finland
	Czech Republic
4	Russia
5	Slovakia
6	Switzerland
7	Canada
8	United States
9	Kazakhstan
10	Germany
11	Italy
12	Latvia

Statistics

Average age

Team USA was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 31 years and 8 months. Team Germany was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 26 years and 7 months. Gold medalists team Sweden averaged 29 years and 7 months. Tournament average was 29 years and 2 months.

Scoring leaders

List shows the top ten skaters sorted by points, then goals.

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM	POS
Teemu Selänne	8	6	5	11	+7	4	F
Saku Koivu	8	3	8	11	+5	12	F
Daniel Alfredsson	8	5	5	10	+2	4	F
Marián Hossa	6	5	5	10	+9	4	F
Ville Peltonen	8	4	5	9	+4	6	F
Olli Jokinen	8	6	2	8	+5	2	F
Jere Lehtinen	8	3	5	8	+6	0	F
Mats Sundin	8	3	5	8	+1	4	F
Martin Straka	8	2	6	8	+4	6	F
Pavel Datsyuk	8	1	7	8	+5	10	F

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position
Source: IIHF

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.

Player	TOI	GA	GAA	SA	Sv%	SO
Antero Niittymäki	358:51	8	1.34	164	95.12	3
Evgeni Nabokov	359:27	8	1.34	134	94.03	3
David Aebischer	200:00	7	2.10	117	94.02	0
Peter Budaj	179:24	6	2.01	79	92.41	0
Martin Brodeur	238:40	8	2.01	104	92.31	0

TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF

Awards

• Media All-Stars
  • Goaltender: Antero Niittymäki
  • Defencemen: Nicklas Lidström, Kimmo Timonen
  • Forwards: Saku Koivu, Teemu Selänne, Alexander Ovechkin

Source: IIHF

• Most Valuable Player: Antero Niittymäki
• Best players selected by the directorate:
  • Best Goaltender: Antero Niittymäki
  • Best Defenceman: Kenny Jönsson
  • Best Forward: Teemu Selänne

Source: IIHF

External links

• "Turin 2006". International Olympic Committee.
• "Men's ice hockey". International Olympic Committee.