Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Venues	Torino Palasport Olimpico Torino Esposizioni
Dates	11–26 February 2006

Men's ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Medalists
Sweden Finland Czech Republic

Women's ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Medalists
Canada Sweden United States

Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held at the Torino Palasport Olimpico and the Torino Esposizioni in Turin, Italy. The men's competition, held from 15 to 26 February, was won by Sweden, and the women's competition, held from 11 to 20 February, was won by Canada.

Men's competition

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

The format was changed from the version used in the 1998 and 2002 tournaments. This format was used in 1992 and 1994, the number of teams was reduced from 14 to 12 and the preliminary and final group stages were combined to form two six-team groups with the top four from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.

These changes had the following effects:

• They increased the number of group games played by the "Super Six", who previously automatically qualified for the final group stage, from three to five.
• They ensured that all teams in the tournament were treated more or less equally, and ensured that NHL players could play the entire tournament whether or not they were part of the "Super Six" group of teams (this helped mainly Slovakia, which had 30+ players in NHL but could not use them in 1998 & 2002 Olympics qualifications and therefore failed to qualify)
• They ensured that only four teams from each group would advance to the knock-out stage. This would give the games more meaning.

Men's tournament

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sweden Defencemen: Christian Bäckman Niclas Hävelid Kenny Jönsson Niklas Kronwall Nicklas Lidström–A Mattias Öhlund Ronnie Sundin Daniel Tjärnqvist Forwards: Daniel Alfredsson–A Per Johan Axelsson Peter Forsberg Mika Hannula Tomas Holmström Jörgen Jönsson Fredrik Modin Samuel Påhlsson Mikael Samuelsson Daniel Sedin Henrik Sedin Mats Sundin–C Henrik Zetterberg Goaltenders: Stefan Liv Henrik Lundqvist Mikael Tellqvist	Finland Defencemen: Aki-Petteri Berg Lasse Kukkonen Toni Lydman Antti-Jussi Niemi Petteri Nummelin Teppo Numminen–A Sami Salo Kimmo Timonen Forwards: Niklas Hagman Jukka Hentunen Olli Jokinen Jussi Jokinen Niko Kapanen Saku Koivu–C Mikko Koivu Antti Laaksonen Jere Lehtinen Ville Nieminen Ville Peltonen Jarkko Ruutu Teemu Selänne–A Goaltenders: Niklas Bäckström Antero Niittymäki Fredrik Norrena	Czech Republic Defencemen: František Kaberle Tomáš Kaberle Filip Kuba Pavel Kubina–A Marek Malík Jaroslav Špaček Marek Židlický Forwards: Jan Bulis Petr Čajánek Patrik Eliáš Martin Erat Milan Hejduk Aleš Hemský Jaromír Jágr Aleš Kotalík Robert Lang–C Rostislav Olesz Václav Prospal Martin Ručínský Martin Straka David Výborný–A Goaltenders: Dominik Hašek Milan Hnilička Dušan Salfický Tomáš Vokoun

Qualification

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

1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. Slovakia
4. Czech Republic
5. Finland
6. United States
7. Russia
8. 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 new hockey power Slovakia, which in last years expanded "Super Six" to "Super Seven", by winning World Championship 2002, gaining medals on other tournaments and having 30+ NHL players in last years. Eighth team according to IIHF ranking was Germany. 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.

Preliminary 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.

	Team advanced to the Medal Round
	Team sent to compete in the Consolation Round

Group A

Preliminary round rankings for Group A: Template:2006WOIHMStandingsA

A summary of the games played in Group A:

Team	FIN	SUI	CAN	CZE	GER	ITA
FIN		5–0	2–0	4–2	2–0	6–0
SUI	0–5		2–0	3–2	2–2	3–3
CAN	0–2	0–2		3–2	5–1	7–2
CZE	2–4	2–3	2–3		4–1	4–1
GER	0–2	2–2	1–5	1–4		3–3
ITA	0–6	3–3	2–7	1–4	3–3

Group B

Preliminary round rankings for Group B: Template:2006WOIHMStandingsB

A summary of the games played in Group B:

Team	SVK	RUS	SWE	USA	KAZ	LAT
SVK		5–3	3–0	2–1	2–1	6–3
RUS	3–5		5–0	5–4	1–0	9–2
SWE	0–3	0–5		2–1	7–2	6–1
USA	1–2	4–5	1–2		4–1	3–3
KAZ	1–2	0–1	2–7	1–4		5–2
LAT	3–6	2–9	1–6	3–3	2–5

Allegations of Sweden throwing a game

Allegations have surfaced of Sweden throwing a game against Slovakia so the Swedes would face Switzerland instead of Canada or the Czech Republic. Shortly before the game, Sweden coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson was reported to have publicly contemplated tanking in order to avoid those teams, saying about Canada and the Czechs, "One is cholera, the other the plague." During the game itself, one reportedly suspect sequence came when Sweden had an extended five-on-three powerplay with five NHL stars on the ice—Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Lidström and Fredrik Modin—and failed to put a shot on net. Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber would say about this particular powerplay, "If the Swedes had passed the puck any more, their next opponent would have been the Washington Generals." "[They] were even afraid to shoot!", Russian coach Vladimir Krikunov said.

As part of a subsequent interview about the championship over five years later, Forsberg was interpreted to insinuate that Sweden lost their preliminary round game against Slovakia on purpose, so as to draw Switzerland as their quarterfinal opponent, rather than Canada or the Czech Republic. Swedish forward Henrik Sedin, who played alongside Forsberg on the 2006 team denied the notion while adding that Forsberg's comments in the interview were misconstrued.

Leading scorers

Rank	Player	Games played	Goals	Assists	Pts	PIM	+/-	Shots
1	Teemu Selänne	8	6	5	11	4	+7	28
2	Saku Koivu	8	3	8	11	12	+5	16
3	Daniel Alfredsson	8	5	5	10	4	+2	15
	Marián Hossa	6	5	5	10	4	+9	19
5	Ville Peltonen	8	4	5	9	6	+4	22
6	Olli Jokinen	8	6	2	8	2	+5	28
7	Jere Lehtinen	8	3	5	8	0	+6	22
	Mats Sundin	8	3	5	8	4	+1	27
9	Martin Straka	8	2	6	8	6	+4	17
10	Pavel Datsyuk	8	1	7	8	10	+5	13

Leading goaltenders

Goaltenders with 40% or more of their team's total minutes.

Rank	Goaltender	Minutes	GA	GAA	SV%	Saves
1	Antero Niittymäki	358:51	8	1.34	.951	156
2	Evgeni Nabokov	359:27	8	1.34	.940	126
3	David Aebischer	200	7	2.10	.940	110
4	Peter Budaj	179:24	6	2.01	.924	73
5	Martin Brodeur	238:40	8	2.01	.923	96

Awards

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 for best forward, and to Kenny Jönsson for best defenceman. The Media All Star Team consisted of Niittymäki, Nicklas Lidström, Kimmo Timonen, Teemu Selänne, Saku Koivu and Alexander Ovechkin.

Women's competition

Main article: Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament

The loss of the United States to Sweden in Semifinal 1 was one of the most important events in the history of international women's ice hockey. It was the first time the US team had lost in an international competition to a team other than Canada. In 2008 Finland duplicated the feat in the qualifying round, but 2006 is the only time someone else supplanted Canada or the USA in an olympic or world championship tournament.

Final rankings

Gold:	Silver:	Bronze:
Canada Becky Kellar Colleen Sostorics Charline Labonté Cherie Piper Cheryl Pounder Caroline Ouellette Danielle Goyette Jayna Hefford Jennifer Botterill Hayley Wickenheiser Kim St-Pierre Vicky Sunohara Cassie Campbell Gillian Ferrari Carla MacLeod Meghan Agosta Gillian Apps Gina Kingsbury Sarah Vaillancourt Katie Weatherston	Sweden Cecilia Andersson Gunilla Andersson Jenni Asserholt Ann-Louise Edstrand Joa Elfsberg Emma Eliasson Erika Holst Nanna Jansson Ylva Lindberg Jenny Lindqvist Kristina Lundberg Kim Martin Frida Nevalainen Emilie O'Konor Maria Rooth Danijela Rundqvist Therese Sjölander Katarina Timglas Anna Vikman Pernilla Winberg	United States Pam Dreyer Chanda Gunn Courtney Kennedy Angela Ruggiero Lyndsay Wall Helen Resor Caitlin Cahow Molly Engstrom Jamie Hagerman Krissy Wendell Kim Insalaco Jenny Potter Julie Chu Kelly Stephens Kathleen Kauth Kristin King Katie King Natalie Darwitz Tricia Dunn-Luoma Sarah Parsons

1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. United States
4. Finland
5. Germany
6. Russia
7. Switzerland
8. Italy

Leading scorers

Rank	Player	Games played	Goals	Assists	Pts	PIM	+/-	Shots
1	Hayley Wickenheiser	5	5	12	17	6	+15	21
2	Cherie Piper	5	7	8	15	0	+15	14
3	Gillian Apps	5	7	7	14	14	+13	20
4	Caroline Ouellette	5	5	4	9	4	+12	17
	Maria Rooth	5	5	4	9	2	+1	22
6	Jenny Potter	5	2	7	9	4	+10	19
7	Katie King	5	6	2	8	2	+6	20
8	Sarah Parsons	5	4	3	7	0	+9	23
9	Jayna Hefford	5	3	4	7	0	+8	15
10	Jennifer Botterill	5	1	6	7	4	+6	10

Hat trick scorers

• Meghan Agosta, Gillian Apps, Caroline Ouellette, Cherie Piper
• Therese Sjölander
• Katie King
• Larisa Mishina

Leading goaltenders

Goalies with 40% or more of their team's total minutes

Rank	Goalie	Minutes	GA	GAA	SV%	Saves
1	Charline Labonté	180	1	0.33	.976	41
2	Jennifer Harss	190	6	1.89	.942	97
3	Florence Schelling	150	6	2.40	.933	84
4	Kim Martin	190	7	2.21	.927	89
5	Kim St-Pierre	120	1	0.50	.923	12
6	Chanda Gunn	249:58	6	1.44	.893	50
7	Patricia Elsmore-Sautter	149:40	12	4.81	.883	91
8	Irina Gashennikova	266:25	12	2.70	.876	85
9	Maija Hassinen	195:17	11	3.38	.875	77
10	Debora Montanari	220	31	8.45	.821	142

Goalies with less than 40% of their team's total minutes

Rank	Goaltender	Minutes	GA	GAA	SV%	Saves
1	Pam Dreyer	60	0	0.00	1.000	10
2	Stephanie Wartosch-Kurten	120	5	2.50	.875	35
3	Noora Räty	104:43	6	3.44	.867	39
4	Cecilia Andersson	120	8	4.00	.843	43
5	Luana Fraselli	80	17	12.75	.750	51
6	Nadezhda Aleksandrova	43:35	7	9.64	.741	20

Shut-out posters

• Noora Räty (Finland)
• Kim Martin (Sweden)
• Kim St. Pierre (Canada)
• Charline Labonté (Canada)
• Chanda Gunn (USA)
• Pam Dreyer (USA)
• Jennifer Harss (Germany)

Awards

Tournament

• Goaltender:
  • Kim Martin, Sweden
• Defencemen:
  • Angela Ruggiero, United States
  • Carla MacLeod, Canada
• Forwards:
  • Gillian Apps, Canada
  • Hayley Wickenheiser, Canada
  • Maria Rooth, Sweden
• Most Valuable Player:
  • Hayley Wickenheiser, Canada

Qualification

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

The top four teams from the International Ice Hockey Federation world rankings following the 2004 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships qualified automatically. These teams were Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. Italy also gained a place as it was the host nation. Russia, Germany, and Switzerland qualified for the last three places through qualification tournaments.

References

• Golden girls - Canada savours Olympic victory (National Post)