Ice hockey at the 1976 Winter Olympics
 |
|
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |
 Austria
|
| Dates | 2–14 February |
| Teams | 12 |
| Final positions | |
Champions 
|
 Soviet Union (5th title)
|
Runner-up 
|
 Czechoslovakia
|
Third place 
|
 West Germany
|
| Fourth place |
 Finland
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 36 |
| Goals scored | 323 (8.97 per match) |
| Scoring leader(s) |
Vladimir Shadrin 14 points
|
The men's ice hockey tournament (women's was added in 1998) 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.
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.
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