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. This was the second consecutive Olympics to which Canada, a ten time ice hockey medalist, did not send a hockey team. Games were held at the Olympiahalle Innsbruck.

Highlights
The main rivalry in the tournament was between the USSR and Czechoslovakian national teams. The Czechoslovakian 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 Czechoslovakian team, although Poland did not receive points.

In the final, 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 the third goal for the Czechoslovakian team. But subsequent goals by Aleksandr Yakushev and one minute later by Valeri Kharlamov lead to the victory of the USSR.

Heralded as one of the great moments in German hockey, the West German team won a surprising bronze. With Sweden not participating, Finland (who had finished fourth six years in a row in the world championships) was the expected beneficiary. On the third day of competition, the Finns lost to the Americans, who then needed only a draw against the Germans to clinch a medal. Needing a margin of victory of at least three goals in their final game, Erich Kühnhackl scored four points against the Americans in a four to one victory, pushing the Americans into fifth.

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. Canada had previously withdrawn from international amateur hockey entirely because of disagreements over professionals not being allowed to play, therefore they did not send a team to the 1976 Winter Olympics. Sweden, having several of their top players now playing in the NHL and WHA chose to join Canada in protesting the rules. Additionally 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

* ''Note: The score after the Czechoslovakia vs Poland match was 7-1, but due to the positive doping test of one of the Czechoslovakian players, the team was recorded a 0-1 loss. Poland didn't receive any points.''

Consolation round
Teams, which 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