# 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.
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.
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

* Austria (17)
* Canada (16)
* Czechoslovakia (17)
* United Team of Germany (17)
* Italy (16)
* Poland (17)
* Soviet Union (17)
* Sweden (17)
* Switzerland (17)
* United States (17)

## 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 |
* 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 |
* 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 |
* 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 sufficiently reduced according to the score of the final game.
| 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 |
* 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 |
* 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 |
* 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

| Rk | Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
| 1 | James Logan | 8 | 7 | 8 | 15 |
| 2 | Paul Knox | 8 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| 3 | Vsevolod Bobrov | 7 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Jack McKenzie | 8 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 5 | Gerry Theberge | 8 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| 6 | Alexei Guryshev | 7 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| 7 | John Mayasich | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 8 | George Scholes | 8 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 9 | Ken Laufman | 8 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | Gordon Christian | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 |

### Tournament awards

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

## Final ranking

* Soviet Union
* United States
* Canada
* Sweden
* Czechoslovakia
* Germany
* Italy
* Poland
* Switzerland
* Austria

## European Championship final ranking

* Soviet Union
* Sweden
* Czechoslovakia
* West Germany
* Italy
* Poland
* Switzerland
* Austria

## Citations

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