In the 2006 Winter Olympics, Finland won a silver medal, coming close to winning in the final but losing 3–2 to Sweden. Finland's goaltender Antero Niittymäki was named the MVP of the tournament (only 8 goals against in the whole tournament) and Teemu Selänne was voted best forward. The 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. The 12 teams 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.