2014 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament

The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held in Sochi, Russia between 12–23 February 2014. For the fifth consecutive Olympics, players from the National Hockey League participated. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; nine of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, while the other three took part in a qualification tournament.

Canada won the tournament, defeating Sweden 3–0 in the gold medal match, and avenging their 1994 gold medal loss. Finland finished with the bronze medal, defeating the United States 5–0, with captain Teemu Selänne awarded as the MVP of the tournament, scoring twice in the bronze-medal game.

With the gold medal, Canada became the first men's team to successfully defend an Olympic title since the Soviet Union in 1988 and the first team to finish the tournament undefeated since 1984.

Canada surrendered only three goals in six games, the fewest allowed by a gold medallist since 1928 when Canada shut out the opposition in a three-game tournament. Canada also scored only seventeen goals, the fewest by a gold medal-winning team in Olympic history, although Great Britain averaged fewer goals per game at the 1936 Winter Olympics (nineteen goals in eight games).

Qualification

Main article: 2014 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification

Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States qualified as the top nine teams in the IIHF World Ranking in 2012. Austria, Latvia, and Slovenia qualified by winning the qualification tournament.

Groups

Group A	Group B	Group C
Russia Slovakia United States Slovenia	Finland Canada Norway Austria	Czech Republic Sweden Switzerland Latvia

Preliminary round

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 2013 IIHF World Ranking.

All times are local (UTC+4).

Group A

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	3	2	1	0	0	15	4	+11	8
Russia	3	1	1	1	0	8	5	+3	6
Slovenia	3	1	0	0	2	6	11	−5	3
Slovakia	3	0	0	1	2	2	11	−9	1

• Russia - Slovenia 5-2 (2-0, 1-2, 2-0)
• Slovakia - United States 1-7 (0-1, 1-6, 0-0)
• Slovakia - Slovenia 1-3 (0-0, 0-0, 1-3)
• United States - Russia 3-2 SO (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
• Russia - Slovakia 1-0 SO (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
• Slovenia - United States 1-5 (0-2, 0-2, 1-1)

Group B

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada	3	2	1	0	0	11	2	+9	8
Finland	3	2	0	1	0	15	7	+8	7
Austria	3	1	0	0	2	7	15	−8	3
Norway	3	0	0	0	3	3	12	−9	0

• Finland - Austria 8-4 (4-2, 2-0, 2-2)
• Canada - Norway 3-1 (0-0, 2-0, 1-1)
• Canada - Austria 6-0 (2-0, 4-0, 0-0)
• Norway - Finland 1-6 (0-3, 0-2, 1-1)
• Austria - Norway 3-1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0)
• Finland - Canada 1-2 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Group C

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sweden	3	3	0	0	0	10	5	+5	9
Switzerland	3	2	0	0	1	2	1	+1	6
Czech Republic	3	1	0	0	2	6	7	−1	3
Latvia	3	0	0	0	3	5	10	−5	0

• Czech Republic - Sweden 2-4 (0-2, 2-2, 0-0)
• Latvia - Switzerland 0-1 (0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
• Czech Republic - Latvia 4-2 (2-1, 2-1, 0-0)
• Sweden - Switzerland 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
• Switzerland - Czech Republic 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0)
• Sweden - Latvia 5-3 (1-1, 3-1, 1-1)

Playoff round

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

1. higher position in the group
2. higher number of points
3. better goal difference
4. higher number of goals scored for
5. better 2013 IIHF World Ranking.

Playoff standings

Team advanced to Quarterfinals

Team must play in Qualification playoffs

Rank	Team	Group	Pos	GP	Pts	GD	GF	IIHF Rank
01 !1D	Sweden	C	1	3	9	+5	10	1
02 !2D	United States	A	1	3	8	+11	15	6
03 !3D	Canada	B	1	3	8	+9	11	5
04 !4D	Finland	B	2	3	7	+8	15	2
05 !5D	Russia	A	2	3	6	+3	8	3
06 !6D	Switzerland	C	2	3	6	+1	2	7
07 !7D	Czech Republic	C	3	3	3	−1	6	4
08 !8D	Slovenia	A	3	3	3	−5	6	17
09 !9D	Austria	B	3	3	3	−8	7	15
10 !10D	Slovakia	A	4	3	1	−9	2	8
11 !11D	Latvia	C	4	3	0	−5	5	11
12 !12D	Norway	B	4	3	0	−9	3	9

Qualification playoffs

The four highest-ranked teams (1D–4D) received byes and were deemed the home team in the quarterfinals as they are seeded to advance, with the remaining eight teams (5D–12D) playing qualification playoff games as follows.

• Slovenia - Austria 4-0 (2-0, 1-0, 1-0)
• Russia - Norway 4-0 (0-0, 2-0, 2-0)
• Switzerland - Latvia 1-3 (0-2, 1-0, 0-1)
• Czech Republic - Slovakia 5-3 (3-0, 1-1, 1-2)

Quarterfinals

Teams seeded D1 to D4 are the home teams.

Following the quarterfinal games, the winning teams will be re-ranked F1 through F4, with the winner of 1D vs. E4 re-ranked as F1, the winner of 2D vs. E3 re-ranked as F2, the winner of 3D vs. E2 re-ranked as F3, and the winner of 4D vs. E1 re-ranked as F4. The losers of the quarterfinal round games will receive a final ranking of 5 through 8 based on their preliminary round ranking.

• Sweden - Slovenia 5-0 (1-0, 0-0, 4-0)
• Finland - Russia 3-1 (2-1, 1-0, 0-0)
• Canada - Latvia 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0)
• United States - Czech Republic 5-2 (3-1, 1-0, 1-1)

Semifinals

• Sweden - Finland 2-1 (0-0, 2-1, 0-0)
• United States - Canada 0-1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)

Bronze medal game

• United States - Finland 0-5 (0-0, 0-2, 0-3)

Gold medal game

Canada won the game 3-0 with goals from Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, and Chris Kunitz, each scoring their first goal of the tournament. Canada shut Sweden out with an overpowering defense limiting them to 24 shots, and Canada's goaltender Carey Price played well when needed. The Canadian team's executive director Steve Yzerman called the performance in Sochi the finest defensive effort ever for a Canadian team. Canada shut out its opponents in the semifinals and final and allowed only three goals in six games. It was also the first time since 1928 that a Canadian team won all its games.

The win represented Canada's second consecutive men's gold in ice hockey, and the third time in four Olympics that Canada won both men's and women's gold in hockey. Canada had not won back-to-back men's golds since 1948 and 1952, and no nation had done it since the Soviet Union in 1984 and 1988.

The game was a national phenomenon in Canada, with more than 15 million Canadians watching at least part of the game. Several provinces and cities relaxed their liquor laws to allow bars to open as early as 4am.

• Sweden - Canada 0-3 (0-1, 0-1, 0-1)

Final rankings

The final standings of the tournament according to the IIHF. :

	Canada
	Sweden
	Finland
4	United States
5	Russia
6	Czech Republic
7	Slovenia
8	Latvia
9	Switzerland
10	Austria
11	Slovakia
12	Norway

External links

• Official IIHF website

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