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 ChampionshipsPool B, betweenGDR,Norway andBelgium inBerlin.[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 theKitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, won its eighth consecutive Olympic ice hockey medal, and first bronze medal.
Vsevolod Bobrov holding the championship trophy.The goalkeeper of the Soviet ice hockey teamGrigory Mkrtychan waiting in front of the goal post during the VII Olympic Winter Games. Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1956
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]
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]
Italy
Soviet Union(1st title)
United States
Canada
Sweden
Austria (17)
Czechoslovakia (17)
United Team of Germany (17)
Poland (17)
Switzerland (17)
United States (17)
Germany
Poland
Switzerland
East Germany
Norway
Belgium
