Ice Hockey At The 1976 Winter Olympics

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, was the 13th Olympic Championship. The Soviet Union won its fifth gold medal. Games were held at the Olympiahalle Innsbruck.

Highlights

The main rivalry in the tournament was between the USSR and Czechoslovak national teams. The Czechoslovak team suffered from influenza throughout the tournament, and they finished the game against Poland with only twelve players on the bench. A doping test of one of the players was positive and a loss was recorded for the Czechoslovak team, although Poland did not receive points.

In the deciding game, Czechoslovakia was up 2–0 after the first period. In the second, the score was tied by Vladimir Shadrin and Vladimir Petrov. Eight minutes before the end of the game, Eduard Novák scored for the Czechoslovak team, putting them up 3–2. Soviet goals by Aleksandr Yakushev and Valeri Kharlamov, one minute apart, gave the USSR a 4–3 victory. The Soviet team won their fourth consecutive gold medal and fifth title overall.

Heralded as one of the great moments in German ice hockey history, the West German team won a surprising bronze. After beating the Americans on the final day, the German team celebrated what they believed to be a fourth-place finish. While in the locker room they were informed that they had actually won third. The three-way tie was broken by first comparing the teams' head-to-head goal differential, then the remaining tied teams' goal ratio.

Sweden, with several of their top players now playing in the NHL and WHA, chose to join Canada in protesting the amateur rules and boycotted the games. They were also dissatisfied with the fact that the Soviet and Czechoslovak state-funded players who were de facto professionals were allowed to participate, meaning that Eastern Bloc countries did have an ability to send their best players, but the Western nations did not.

Medalists

First round

In the first round teams were seeded according to their placement in the 1975 World Championships. Winners of this round qualified for Group A to play for 1st–6th places, while the losers competed in Group B for 7th–12th places. Qualifiers from East Germany and Norway chose not to play. 1975 ranking appears in parentheses.

*February 2
**Poland (5th) 7–4 Romania (11th)
**Czechoslovakia (2nd) 14–1 Bulgaria (16th)
**West Germany (8th) 5–1 Switzerland (9th)
*February 3
**USSR (1st) 16–3 Austria (17th)
**Finland (4th) 11–2 Japan (12th)
**USA (6th) 8–4 Yugoslavia (10th)

Final round

First place team wins gold, second silver and third bronze.

*February 6
**Czechoslovakia 2–1 Finland
**West Germany 7–4 Poland
**USSR 6–2 USA
*February 8
**Finland 5–3 West Germany
**USSR 16–1 Poland
**Czechoslovakia 5–0 USA
*February 10
**USSR 7–3 West Germany
**Poland 1–0 Czechoslovakia
**USA 5–4 Finland
*February 12
**Czechoslovakia 7–4 West Germany
**USA 7–2 Poland
**USSR 7–2 Finland
*February 14
**USSR 4–3 Czechoslovakia
**Finland 7–1 Poland
**West Germany 4–1 USA
Notes:

Consolation round

Teams that lost their games in the qualification round played in this group.

*February 5
**Yugoslavia 6–4 Switzerland
**Romania 3–1 Japan
**Austria 6–2 Bulgaria
*February 7
**Yugoslavia 4–3 Romania
**Switzerland 8–3 Bulgaria
**Austria 3–2 Japan
*February 9
**Yugoslavia 8–5 Bulgaria
**Austria 3–4 Romania
**Japan 6–4 Switzerland
*February 11
**Romania 9–4 Bulgaria
**Austria 3–5 Switzerland
**Japan 4–3 Yugoslavia
*February 13
**Romania 4–3 Switzerland
**Japan 7–5 Bulgaria
**Austria 3–1 Yugoslavia

Statistics

Average age

Team Bulgaria was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 27 years and 9 months. Team USA was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 22 years and 4 months. Gold medalists team USSR averaged 26 years and 4 months. Tournament average was 25 years and 7 months.

Leading scorers

Final ranking

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References

External links

Jeux Olympiques 1976

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ice Hockey At The 1976 Winter Olympics

1976 Winter Olympics events
1976
Olympics, Winter
1976