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
Dates26 January – 4 February 1956
Teams10
Final positions
Champions  Soviet Union (1st title)
Runner-up  United States
Third place  Canada
Fourth place Sweden
Tournament statistics
Games played33
Goals scored262 (7.94 per game)
Attendance122,230 (3,704 per match)
Scoring leader(s)Canada James Logan (15 points)
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

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:
  • 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:
  • 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:
  • 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 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:
  • 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:
  • 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:
  • 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.[5]

Leading scorers
Rk Team GP G A Pts
1 Canada James Logan 87815
2 Canada Paul Knox 87714
3 Soviet Union Vsevolod Bobrov 79312
4 Canada Jack McKenzie 87512
5 Canada Gerry Theberge 89211
6 Soviet Union Alexei Guryshev 78311
7 United States John Mayasich 76410
8 Canada George Scholes 85510
9 Canada Ken Laufman 8189
10 United States Gordon Christian 6538

Tournament awards

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

Citations
  1. "Ice Hockey at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  2. World 'B'
  3. "Jeux Olympiques de Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 - Hockey sur Glace".
  4. Official Report p.676
  5. "Team Canada - Olympics - Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 - Player Stats". QuantHockey. Retrieved 23 April 2020.

References
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