Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men ' s tournament The men ' s tournament in ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics was held in Turin , Italy , from 15 to 26 February . Twelve teams competed , with Sweden winning the gold medal , Finland winning silver , and the Czech Republic winning bronze . It was the third Olympic tournament to feature National Hockey League players and the tenth best - on - best hockey tournament in history . Chris Chelios set a standard for longest time between his first Olympic ice hockey tournament and his last — he had competed twenty - two years earlier at the 1984 Olympics . The old record was set by Swiss hockey player Bibi Torriani who had played twenty years after his debut ( 1928 and 1948 ) . 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 . Final rankings . The full final rankings for the tournament were : In a celebration of the gold in Stockholm on 27 February , the Swedish team was seen in front of advertisements 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 . 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 : 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 often regarded as 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 Kazakhstan , Latvia , and Switzerland won places . Qualification tournaments . The winners of Groups D , E and F advanced to Groups C , B , and A respectively . The winners of Groups A , B , and C qualified for the Olympics . 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 ) First 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 . Leading scorers . Hat trick scorers Leading goaltenders . " Goalkeepers with 40 % or more of their team ' s total minutes . " Shut - out posters Awards . Finland ' s 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 ( Finland ) for best forward , and to Kenny Jönsson ( Sweden ) for best defenceman . The tournament all - star team was voted on by the international media at the conclusion of the event . The following players were named :