1992 Winter Olympics

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, was the 16th Olympic Championship. The games were played at the Méribel Ice Palace in Méribel, about 45 km from host city Albertville. The competition, held from 8 to 23 February, was won by the Unified Team in its only appearance. The team was composed of some newly emerged nations from the former Soviet Union, which had dissolved just weeks before the Games began. The silver medal win by Canada extended its all-time Olympic ice hockey lead to 11 medals (extended to 15 medals, for the men's team, as of the 2014 Winter Olympics).

Qualification
The Olympic tournament was to be contested by twelve nations. The top eleven nations from the 1991 World Championships (eight from pool A, top three from pool B) qualified directly, while the twelfth ranked nation had to play off against the winner of that year's pool C.

Poland qualified in final tournament
 * April 14, 1991, Denmark
 * April 16, 1991, Poland

Group A
Top four teams (shaded ones) advanced to the medal round.


 * February 9
 * February 11
 * February 13
 * February 15
 * February 17

Group B
Top four teams (shaded ones) advanced to the medal round.


 * February 8
 * February 10
 * February 12
 * February 14
 * February 16

Consolation Round 9th-12th Places

 * February 18

11th Place Match

 * February 20

9th Place Match

 * February 20

Consolation Round 5th-8th Places

 * February 20

7th Place Match

 * February 22

5th Place Match

 * February 22

Quarter-finals

 * February 18

Semi-finals

 * February 21

Bronze Medal Game

 * February 22

Gold Medal Game

 * February 22

Final Rankings

 * 1) Unified Team
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Canada
 * 3) 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
 * 4) 🇺🇸 United States
 * 5) 🇸🇪 Sweden
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Germany
 * 7) 🇫🇮 Finland
 * 8) 🇫🇷 France
 * 9) 🇳🇴 Norway
 * 10)  Switzerland
 * 11) 🇵🇱 Poland
 * 12) 🇮🇹 Italy
 * 13)  Denmark

Unified Medal controversy
Russian goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was the third on the depth chart and never played when the Unified Team won gold in Albertville, France. Instead of giving the gold to someone who didn't play, coach Viktor Tikhonov kept it. Only players are given Olympic medals; coaches and management are not. The medal was finally returned to him in a private medal ceremony during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.