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Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament (WFAC)

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2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics logo
Tournament details
Host country Flag of Canada Canada
Dates 16–28 February 2010
Teams 12
Venue(s) Canada Hockey Place
UBC Thunderbird Arena
Final positions
Champions Gold medal blank Canada Canada (1st title)
Runner-up Silver medal blank United States United States
Third place Bronze medal blank Norway Norway
Fourth place Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Tournament statistics
Matches played 30
Goals scored 183 (6.1 per match)
Attendance 491,705 (16,390 per match)
Scoring leader(s) Czechoslovakia Pavol Demitra
(10 points)
MVP United States Ryan Miller

The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from 16 to 28 February 2010. Games were hosted at two venues – Canada Hockey Place (renamed from "General Motors Place" for the Olympics due to IOC rules disallowing host venues to be named after non-Olympic sponsors) and UBC Thunderbird Arena. It was the fifth time since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer that the National Hockey League allowed its players to compete. These Olympics were the first to take place in a city with an NHL team since then, which meant players on the Vancouver Canucks who were competing in the Olympics were playing in their home arena.

Teams from twelve national hockey associations competed, seeded into three groups for the preliminary round. The tournament consisted of 30 games: 18 in the preliminary round (teams played the other teams in their own group); 4 qualification playoff games; 4 quarterfinal games; 2 semifinal games; 1 bronze medal game; and 1 gold medal game.

During the tournament, Teemu Selänne of Finland became the all-time leader for points scored in the Olympics. He notched an assist in his second game of the tournament for 37 career points, surpassing Valeri Kharlamov of the Soviet Union, Vlastimil Bubník of Czechoslovakia, and Harry Watson of Canada. Sweden's goaltender Henrik Lundqvist set a modern-day Olympic shutout streak record of 172 minutes and 34 seconds, continuous from the final of the gold medal game of the 2006 Olympics until Sweden's quarterfinal against Norway.

The tournament was won by Canada, which defeated the United States 3–2 in overtime in the gold medal game. The biggest surprise of the tournament was Norway, 0–0–1–2 in Group C play, who defeated Switzerland in the qualification game before knocking off 3–0–0–0 Sweden in quarterfinal play. After that upset, Norway narrowly lost to Canada and then defeated Czechoslovakia 5–4 in the bronze medal game.

Qualification[]

See also: Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification (WFAC)

Twelve teams qualified for the ice hockey event. The top nine teams in the IIHF World Ranking after the 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championship received automatic berths into the ice hockey event. All remaining member federations could attempt to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics. The four lowest entrants (31st ranked Spain, 32nd ranked South Africa, 33rd ranked Mexico, and 37th ranked Turkey) played off for a spot in the first round. Teams then ranked 19th through 30th (except New Zealand who declined) played in a first qualification round in November 2008, where the top three teams from the round advanced to the second qualification round. Teams ranked 10th through 18th joined the three top teams from the first qualifying round to play in a second qualification round. The top three teams from the second qualifying round advanced to the Olympic ice hockey tournament.

Date Location Vacancies Qualified
Ranked 1−9 at the
2008 IIHF World Ranking [a] 		12 February 2005 – 10 May 2008 N/A 9 Canada Canada
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Finland Finland
Latvia Latvia
Norway Norway
Soviet Union Soviet Union
Switzerland Switzerland
Sweden Sweden
United States United States
Final qualification tournament 27–30 August 2009 Template:Country data Germany Germany 1 Template:Country data Germany Germany
France France 1 France France
Denmark Denmark 1 Flag of Austria Austria
Total 12
Notes
a The 2008 IIHF World Ranking comprised the following events: 2005 World Championship, 2006 Winter Olympic Games, 2007 World Championship and the 2008 World Championship.

Seeding[]

The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2009 IIHF World Ranking:

Group A Group B Group C
Soviet Union Soviet Union (1) Canada Canada (2) Sweden Sweden (3)
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia (6) United States United States (5) Finland Finland (4)
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland (7) Latvia Latvia (8) Norway Norway (9)
Austria Austria (14) France France (12) Template:Country data Germany Germany (10)

Rosters[]

See also: Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – rosters (WFAC)

Each teams roster consisted of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and 3 goaltenders.

Officials[]

The IIHF selected 16 referees and 16 linesmen to work the tournament.

Preliminary round[]

All times are local (UTC−8).

Tiebreak criteria[]

In each group, teams will be ranked according to the following criteria:

  1. Number of points (three points for a regulation-time win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout defeat, no points for a regulation-time defeat);
  2. In case two teams are tied on points, the result of their head-to-head match will determine the ranking;
  3. In case three or four teams are tied on points, the following criteria will apply (if, after applying a criterion, only two teams remain tied, the result of their head-to-head match will determine their ranking):
    1. Points obtained in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    2. Goal differential in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    3. Number of goals scored in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
    4. If three teams remain tied, result of head-to-head matches between each of the teams concerned and the remaining team in the group (points, goal difference, goals scored);
    5. Place in 2009 IIHF World Ranking.

Group A[]

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
Soviet Union Soviet Union 3 2 1 0 0 15 6 +9 8 Advances to the quarterfinals
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 3 2 0 0 1 10 7 +3 6 Team must play in Qualification playoffs
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 3 1 0 1 1 9 6 +3 4
Flag of Austria Austria 3 0 0 0 3 4 19 –15 0
16 February 2010
21:00 		Soviet Union Flag of the Soviet Union 8 – 2
(3–0, 1–0, 4–2) 		Austria Austria Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,862
17 February 2010
21:00 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 3 – 1
(1–0, 2–1, 0–0) 		Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,924
18 February 2010
21:00 		Switzerland Flag of Switzerland 2 – 1 GWS
(0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 0–0)
(SO: 1–0) 		Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,202
19 February 2010
16:30 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 5 – 2
(3–0, 1–2, 1–0) 		Austria Austria Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,984
20 February 2010
16:30 		Austria Austria 0 – 6
(0–3, 0–2, 0–1) 		Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,023
21 February 2010
12:00 		Soviet Union Flag of the Soviet Union 4 – 2
(1–1, 1–0, 2–1) 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,114

Group B[]

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
United States United States 3 3 0 0 0 14 5 +9 9 Advances to the quarterfinals
Canada Canada 3 1 1 0 1 14 7 +7 5 Team must play in Qualification playoffs
Latvia Latvia 3 1 0 1 1 8 10 –2 3
Flag of France France 3 0 0 1 2 5 19 –14 1


16 February 2010
12:00 		United States United States 3 – 1
(1–0, 2–0, 0–1) 		Latvia Latvia Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,706
16 February 2010
16:30 		Canada Canada 8 – 0
(0–0, 3–0, 5–0) 		France France Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,652
18 February 2010
12:00 		United States United States 6 – 1
(2–0, 1–1, 3–0) 		France France Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,710
18 February 2010
16:30 		Latvia Latvia 2 – 3 GWS
(0–1, 2–1, 0–0, 0–0)
(SO: 0–1) 		Canada Canada Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,019
20 February 2010
12:00 		France France 4 – 5 OT
(3–2, 1–0, 0–1, 0–1) 		Latvia Latvia Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,952
21 February 2010
16:40 		Canada Canada 3 – 5
(1–2, 1–1, 1–2) 		United States United States Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,910

Group C[]

Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
Sweden Sweden 3 3 0 0 0 9 2 +7 9 Advances to the quarterfinals
Finland Finland 3 2 0 0 1 9 4 +5 6
Flag of Germany Germany 3 0 1 0 2 4 10 –6 2 Team must play in Qualification playoffs
Flag of Norway Norway 3 0 0 1 2 6 12 –6 1


17 February 2010
12:00 		Finland Finland 4 – 1
(2–0, 1–1, 1–0) 		Norway Norway Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,639
17 February 2010
16:30 		Sweden Sweden 2 – 0
(0–0, 2–0, 0–0) 		Template:Country data Germany Germany Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,966
19 February 2010
12:00 		Norway Norway 2 – 4
(0–2, 1–1, 1–1) 		Sweden Sweden Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,878
19 February 2010
21:00 		Finland Finland 5 – 0
(1–0, 2–0, 2–0) 		Template:Country data Germany Germany Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,662
20 February 2010
21:00 		Germany Template:Country data Germany 4 – 3 OT
(1–1, 0–1, 2–1, 1–0) 		Norway Norway Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 16,979
21 February 2010
21:00 		Sweden Sweden 3 – 0
(1–0, 2–0, 0–0) 		Finland Finland Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,410


Ranking after preliminary round[]

Following the completion of the preliminary round, all teams will be ranked 1D through 12D. To determine this ranking, the following criteria will be used in the order presented:

  • higher position in the group
  • higher number of points
  • better goal difference
  • higher number of goals scored for
  • better 2009 IIHF World Ranking.
Rank Team GP GS Pts GD GF WR Qualification
1D United States United States 3 1 9 +9 14 5 Team advances to the quarterfinals
2D Sweden Sweden 3 1 9 +7 9 3
3D Soviet Union Soviet Union 3 1 8 +9 15 1
4D Finland Finland 3 2 6 +5 9 4
5D Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 3 2 6 +3 10 6 Team must play in Qualification playoffs
6D Canada Canada 3 2 5 +7 14 2
7D Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 3 3 4 +3 9 7
8D Flag of Latvia Latvia 3 3 3 –2 8 8
9D Flag of Germany Germany 3 3 2 –6 4 10
10D Norway Norway 3 4 1 –6 6 9
11D Flag of France France 3 4 1 –14 5 12
12D Flag of Austria Austria 3 4 0 –15 4 14

Playoff round[]

All times are local (UTC−8).

Bracket[]

  Qualification playoffs Quarterfinals Semifinals Gold medal game
                                     
        
  1D  United States United States 2  
    9D  Template:Country data Germany Germany 0  
8D  Flag of Latvia Latvia 2
9D  Template:Country data Germany Germany 3  
  1D  United States United States 6  
  5D  Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 2  
        
        
  4D  Finland Finland 0
    5D  Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 2  
5D  Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 4
12D  Austria Austria 2  
  1D  United States United States 2
  6D  Canada Canada 3
        
        
  3D  Soviet Union Soviet Union 3 Bronze medal game
    6D  Canada Canada 7  
6D  Canada Canada 8 4D  Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 4
11D  France France 2   10D  Norway Norway 5
  6D  Canada Canada 3
  10D  Norway Norway 2  
        
        
  2D  Sweden Sweden 3
    10D  Norway Norway 4  
7D  Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 4
10D  Norway Norway 5  

Qualification playoffs[]

23 February 2010
12:00 		Latvia Latvia 2 – 3 OT
(2–0, 0–0, 0–2, 1–0) 		Template:Country data Germany Germany Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,397
23 February 2010
16:30 		Canada Canada 8 – 2
(1–0, 3–1, 4–1) 		France France Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,723
23 February 2010
19:00 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 4 – 2
(1–0, 1–2, 2–0) 		Austria Austria UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver
Attendance: 5,448
23 February 2010
21:00 		Switzerland Flag of Switzerland 4 – 5 GWS
(1–1, 2–2, 1–1, 0–0)
(SO: 0–1) 		Norway Norway Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,583

Quarterfinals[]

24 February 2010
12:00 		United States United States 2 – 0
(0–0, 0–0, 2–0) 		Template:Country data Germany Germany Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,536
24 February 2010
16:30 		Soviet Union Soviet Union 3 – 7
(1–4, 2–3, 0–0) 		Canada Canada Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,740
24 February 2010
19:00 		Finland Finland 0 – 2
(0–0, 0–0, 0–2) 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver
Attendance: 5,461
24 February 2010
21:00 		Sweden Sweden 3 – 4
(0–0, 2–3, 1–1) 		Norway Norway Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,493

Semifinals[]

26 February 2010
12:00 		United States United States 6 – 2
(6–0, 0–1, 0–1) 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,602
26 February 2010
18:30 		Canada Canada 3 – 2
(2–0, 1–0, 0–2) 		Norway Norway Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,799

Bronze medal game[]

It was an historic night at Canada Hockey Place, as underdog team Norway shocked the hockey world by earning a comeback 5–4 win over favorite Czechoslovakia to claim the bronze. The game got off to a violent start when Norway's Ole-Kristian Tollefsen sent Czechoslovakia's Ľuboš Bartečko flying with an open-ice hit to the head. Bartečko's helmet flew off as he went down head first, as blood gushed from the back of his head caused a pool on the ice Tollefsen received a hitting to the head match penalty, and Bartečko was taken out on a stretcher. After the game resumed, Czechoslovakia took advantage of the power play. First, just 1:02 into the penalty, Marián Gáborík took a shot from high slot, and Jágr slapped the rebound into the net for 1–0 at 07:03. At 09:48, Demitra, playing on the point in the Czechoslovak power play formation, sent a hard slap shot pass to the net and Gáborík deflected the puck in on the short side.

The game lulled for a few minutes, until it was Mats Zuccarello Aasen's turn at strike. First Zbyněk Michálek checked him behind the net so that he lost his stick, but just as he got up and to the front of the net, the puck found its way to him. Michálek blocked Zuccarello Aasen's first shot, but the second snap shot went through Michálek's five-hole and under Jaroslav Halák's arm into the net. However, the joy did not last long. Mats Trygg was sent off for holding 23 seconds later. Then it took Demitra 23 seconds to increase Czechoslovakia's lead to 3-1.

The gutsy Norwegians owned the ice in the second as Slovakia struggled to put anything of merit together. First, Zuccarello Aasen got his second point of the night when he assisted Norway's 3–2 goal. He got the puck in the slot, and was tripped. While the Czechoslovaks were waiting for the whistle, Zuccarello Aasen sent a backhand pass to Patrick Thoresen to the right of Halák's net, Thoresen sent the puck straight to the front of the net and Tore Vikingstad tipped it in. The Norwegians kept pressuring the Czechoslovak team, and with the last seconds of the period ticking away, Thoresen and Mathis Olimb cycled the puck in Czechoslovak corner and got it to Anders Bastiansen, who ripped a wrist shot that beat Halák high on the glove side at 39:59, to tie the game.

At the start of the third period, Norway continued to put pressure on the opponent. Mathis Olimb had a great chance right away. Czechoslovakia was visibly shaken and outplayed by the Norwegian team. However, it was Czechoslovakia who took the lead, when Šatan scored with a quick shot from the slot with 11:19 to play in the game. The Norwegians then tied the game again at 11:23 of the third on a sensational play by anyone’s standards. They cleared the puck from their own end, and Mathis Olimb, near centre ice, made a sensational, sweeping backhand pass to Anders Bastiansen while falling to the ice along the boards. Bastiansen outwaited Halák and drilled a low shot to the far corner.

Fired up by the equalizer, the Norwegian team continued the pressure on the Czechoslovak. At the 53:45 minute mark Holøs fired a shot from the point, as Halák left a rebound which defenseman Andrej Meszároš attempted to clear passing the puck to the corner. The puck was intercepted by Vikingstad who passed the puck to Thoresen in front of the crease. After a mad scramble in front of the goal where Halák couldn't hold on to the puck, Thoresen lifted the puck into the net with a wrist shot. Two Norwegian goals in less than three minutes – it was a blow from which the stunned Czechoslovaks couldn't recover

The ending was a thriller. Czechoslovakia had several great chances to tie the game in the last eight minutes. First and foremost by Jágr, Patrik Eliáš, Tomáš Plekanec, Marián Hossa, Demitra and Gáborík as well as defenders Marek Židlický and Zdeno Chára. They were almost not off the ice. However, their effors were to no avail as Pål Grotnes and strong defensive play recured Norway's 5–4 result and giving them their first bronze medal at the Olympics.

27 February 2010
19:00 		Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 4 – 5
(3–1, 0–2, 1–2) 		Norway Norway Bronze medal Olympics Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,583

Gold medal game[]

The gold medal game was a rematch of the men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, United States. In addition, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Martin Brodeur and Jarome Iginla of Team Canada were returnees from the 2002 gold-winning squad and collected their second gold medal. Brian Rafalski and Chris Drury were the only players remaining from USA's 2002 silver squad.

The final score was a 3–2 win for Team Canada. Goal scorers for Canada were Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry and Sidney Crosby, with the winning goal scored in overtime. For USA, the goal scorers were Ryan Kesler and Zach Parise, the latter tying the game with 25 seconds left, forcing it to go into sudden death.

Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal off a pass from Jarome Iginla, seven minutes and forty seconds into overtime for Canada, gaining victory over the United States. The puck has been sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto; in Canadian media, Crosby's goal has been compared in significance to the ones scored by Paul Henderson in the 1972 Summit Series and Mario Lemieux in the 1987 Canada Cup.

The gold medal game was the last competitive event at the Olympics before the closing ceremony.

28 February 2010
12:15 		Silver medal Olympics United States United States 2 – 3 OT
(0–1, 1–1, 1–0, 0–1) 		Canada Canada Gold medal Olympics Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver
Attendance: 17,748

Final ranking[]

Statistics[]

Scoring leaders[]

# Player GP G A Pts PIM +/− Pos.
1 Czechoslovakia Pavol Demitra 7 4 6 10 0 0 FW
2 Norway Patrick Thoresen 7 2 7 9 0 +2 FW
3 Norway Tore Vikingstad 7 6 2 8 4 +1 FW
4 United States Zach Parise 6 4 4 8 0 4 FW
United States Brian Rafalski 6 4 4 8 2 7 D
6 Norway Mats Zuccarello Aasen 7 4 4 8 2 +1 FW
7 Canada Jonathan Toews 7 1 7 8 2 +9 FW
8 Canada Jarome Iginla 7 5 2 7 0 +5 FW
9 Canada Sidney Crosby 7 4 3 7 4 +2 FW
Canada Dany Heatley 7 4 3 7 4 +1 FW
Hattricks


Goaltending leaders[]

# Player GP MIN SOG GA SVS% GAA SO
1 United States Ryan Miller 6 355:07 147 8 94.56% 1.35 1
2 Soviet Union Ilya Bryzgalov 2 100:53 52 3 94.23% 1.78 0
3 Sweden Henrik Lundqvist 3 179:05 55 4 92.73% 1.34 2
4 Canada Roberto Luongo 7 307:40 123 9 92.68% 1.76 1
5 Czechoslovakia Tomáš Vokoun 4 249:31 130 10 92.31% 2.40 1
Shutout posters

Awards[]

Directorate awards[]

Best players selected by the IIHF directorate:

Best Goaltender Best Defenceman Best Forward
United States Ryan Miller (USA) United States Brian Rafalski (USA) Canada Jonathan Toews (CAN)

All-Star team[]

The tournament All-Star team voted by the media:

Goaltender Defencemen Forwards Tournament MVP
United States Ryan Miller (USA) United States Brian Rafalski (USA)
Canada Shea Weber (CAN) 		Canada Jonathan Toews (CAN)
United States Zach Parise (USA)
Czechoslovakia Pavol Demitra (TCH) 		United States Ryan Miller (USA)

See also[]

Ice hockey at the Olympics


Ice hockey at the Winter Olympics
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