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. [edit] Men's competition The format was changed from the version used in the 1998 and 2002 tournaments. In the new format, 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 quarter-finals. 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.
- They ensured that only four teams from each group would advance to the knock-out stage. This would give the games more meaning.
[edit] Final rankings Source:  Sweden Finland Czech Republic Russia Slovakia Switzerland Canada United States Kazakhstan Germany Italy Latvia [edit] 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. [edit] Group A [edit] Group A summary [edit] Group A match details [edit] Group B [edit] Group B summary [edit] Group B match details [edit] Final rounds [edit] Quarter-finals [edit] Semi-finals [edit] Bronze medal game [edit] Gold medal game [edit] Leading scorers At the end of game 34. Hat trick scorers [edit] Leading goaltenders Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes. Shut-out posters [edit] Awards The tournament all-star team was voted on by the international media at the conclusion of the event. The following players were named: Additionally, Antero Niittymäki was named the most valuable player [1] and the best goaltender of the tournament. Teemu Selänne was named the best forward and Kenny Jönsson was awarded as the best defenceman of the tournament. [edit] 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 generally regarded by fans as being 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 Switzerland, Kazakhstan and Latvia won places. [edit] Qualification tournaments Groups D, E and F winners advance to Groups C, B and A respectively. Groups A, B and C winners qualify for the Olympic tournament.
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) [edit] Trivia In a celebration of the gold in Stockholm on 27 February, the Swedish team was seen in front of ads 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 [2]. [edit] Women's competition 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 that either the US or Canada had lost in an international competition (other than to each other). [edit] Final rankings - Canada
- Sweden
- United States
- Finland
- Germany
- Russia
- Switzerland
- Italy
[edit] Preliminary round [edit] Group A [edit] Group A details | Game reference | | Kim St. Pierre | Goalies | Debora Montanari (out 40:00)
Luana Frasnelli (in 40:00) | Referee:
Danyel Howard
| Ouellette (Hefford, MacLeod) - 1:36
Ouellette (Hefford, Botterill) - 1:52
Wickenheiser (Piper) - 4:04
Ouellette (Botterill, Campbell) - 6:53 (PP)
Pounder (Kellar) - 11:34
Vaillancourt (Piper) - 20:25
MacLeod (Campbell, Apps) - 22:32
Wickenheiser (Piper, Apps) - 38:45
Wickenheiser (Piper, Apps) - 39:56
Apps (Piper, Wickenheiser) - 41:35
Botterill (Ouellette, MacLeod) - 47:31
Hefford (Ouellette, Botterill) (PP) - 48:41
Pounder - 49:42
Goyette (Campbell, Sunohara) - 52:19
Apps (Piper, Wickenheiser) (PP) - 56:15
Weatherston (Agosta, Vaillancourt) - 57:37 | 1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 0
5 - 0
6 - 0
7 - 0
8 - 0
9 - 0
10 - 0
11 - 0
12 - 0
13 - 0
14 - 0
15 - 0
16 - 0 |
| | 8 min | Penalties | 10 min | | 66 | Shots | 5 | [edit] Group B [edit] Group B details [edit] Classification 5–8 [edit] Classification 7/8 [edit] Classification 5/6 [edit] Finals round [edit] Semi-finals [edit] Bronze medal game [edit] Gold medal game [edit] Leading scorers Hat trick scorers [edit] Leading goaltenders Goalies with 40% or more of their team's total minutes Goalies with less than 40% of their team's total minutes Shut-out posters [edit] Awards Tournament [edit] 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. [edit] Qualification tournaments Group A - Podolsk, Russia (11–14 November 2004) - Russia-x (2–0)
 Japan (1–1)- Czech Republic (0–2)
Group B - Bad Tölz, Germany (11–14 November 2004) - Germany-x (3–0)
- Kazakhstan (2–1)
- Latvia (1–2)
 Slovenia (0–3) Group C - Beijing, People's Republic of China (11–14 November 2004) - Switzerland-x (3–0)
 China (2–1) France (1–2) Norway (0–3) [edit] References |
