| Ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Venues | Torino Palasport Olimpico Torino Esposizioni |
| Dates | 11–26 February 2006 |
| Men's ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| Women's ice hockey at the XX Olympic Winter Games | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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| Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Rosters | ||
| men | women | |
Ice hockey at the2006 Winter Olympics was held at theTorino Palasport Olimpico and theTorino Esposizioni inTurin,Italy. The men's competition, held from 15 to 26 February, was won bySweden, and the women's competition, held from 11 to 20 February, was won byCanada.[1]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 |  Canada (CAN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 |  Finland (FIN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 |  Czech Republic (CZE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 United States (USA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (5 entries) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
The format was changed from the version used in the1998 and2002 tournaments. This format was used in1992 and1994, the number of teams was reduced from 14 to 12 and the preliminary and final group stages were combined to form two six-team groups with the top four from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.
These changes had the following effects:
Twelve places were allotted for the men's ice hockey tournament. The first eight were awarded to the top eight teams in theInternational Ice Hockey Federation ranking following the2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. Those teams were:
Allegations have surfaced of Sweden throwing a game against Slovakia so the Swedes would face Switzerland instead of Canada or the Czech Republic. Shortly before the game, Sweden coachBengt-Åke Gustafsson was reported to have publicly contemplated tanking in order to avoid those teams, saying about Canada and the Czechs, "One is cholera, the other the plague."[2] During the game itself, one reportedly suspect sequence came when Sweden had an extended five-on-threepowerplay with five NHL stars on the ice—Peter Forsberg,Mats Sundin,Daniel Alfredsson,Nicklas Lidström andFredrik Modin—and failed to put a shot on net. Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber would say about this particular powerplay, "If the Swedes had passed the puck any more, their next opponent would have been the Washington Generals." "[They] were even afraid to shoot!", Russian coachVladimir Krikunov said.[2]
As part of a subsequent interview about the championship over five years later, Forsberg was interpreted to insinuate that Sweden lost their preliminary round game against Slovakia on purpose, so as to draw Switzerland as their quarterfinal opponent, rather than Canada or the Czech Republic. Swedish forwardHenrik Sedin, who played alongside Forsberg on the 2006 team denied the notion while adding that Forsberg's comments in the interview were misconstrued.[3][4]
The top four teams from theInternational Ice Hockey Federation world rankings following the2004 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships qualified automatically. These teams were Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. Italy also gained a place as it was the host nation. Russia, Germany, and Switzerland qualified for the last three places through qualification tournaments.
