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.
In the semi-finals, Canada won over the United States, and Sweden won over Finland. In the final, Canada defeated Sweden to win the tournament for the ninth time, and avenge their 1994 gold medal loss. Finland finished with the bronze medal, defeating the US, 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, the first team to finish the tournament undefeated since 1984 and the first to do both with the full NHL participation.
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).
Video Ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics - Men's tournament
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.
Maps Ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics - Men's tournament
Rosters
Officials
The IIHF selected 14 referees and 14 linesmen to work the 2014 Winter Olympics. They were the following:
Preliminary round
Tiebreak criteria
In each group, teams will be ranked according to the following criteria:
- 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);
- In case two teams are tied on points, the result of their head-to-head match will determine the ranking;
- 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):
- Points obtained in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
- Goal differential in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
- Number of goals scored in head-to-head matches between the teams concerned;
- 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);
- Place in 2013 IIHF World Ranking.
All times are local (UTC+4).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking after preliminary round
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:
- higher position in the group
- higher number of points
- better goal difference
- higher number of goals scored for
- better 2013 IIHF World Ranking.
Bracket
- + Indicates overtime victory
- ? Indicates shootout victory
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.
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.
Semifinals
Bronze medal game
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 4 am.
Final rankings
The final standings of the tournament according to the IIHF:
Statistics
Leading scorers
Rankings based upon points, and sorted by goals.
Hat trick scorers
- Michael Grabner (AUT)
- Phil Kessel (USA)
- Jeff Carter (CAN)
Leading goaltenders
Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes, ranked by save percentage.
Shutout posters
- Jonas Hiller (SUI) (2)
- Henrik Lundqvist (SWE) (2)
- Carey Price (CAN) (2)
- Sergei Bobrovsky (RUS)
- Robert Kristan (SLO)
- Roberto Luongo (CAN)
- Tuukka Rask (FIN)
- Semyon Varlamov (RUS)
Awards
Source: IIHF.com
Tournament all-star team
References
External links
- Official IIHF website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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