Tournament details | |
---|---|
Host country | United States |
Dates | 19–28 February 1960 |
Teams | 9 |
Final positions | |
Champions | United States (1st title) |
Runner-up | Canada |
Third place | Soviet Union |
Fourth place | Czechoslovakia |
Tournament statistics | |
Games played | 30 |
Goals scored | 334 (11.13 per game) |
Scoring leader(s) | Fred Etcher (21 points) |
The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, United States, was the ninth Olympic Championship, also serving as the 27th World Championships and the 38th European Championships. The United States won its first Olympic gold medal and second World Championship. Canada, represented for the second time by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, won the silver and Canada's ninth consecutive Olympic ice hockey medal (a feat not matched until the Soviet Union won its ninth consecutive medal in 1988). The Soviet Union (the highest finishing European team) won the bronze medal and its sixth European Championship.[1] The tournament was held at the Blyth Arena, under the supervision of George Dudley on behalf of the International Ice Hockey Federation.[2]
Canada, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Sweden were the top four teams heading into the Games. All four were defeated by the American team, which won all seven games it played.[3] On the 50th anniversary of these Games, a documentary entitled Forgotten Miracle was produced by Northland Films, making reference to the more famous 1980 gold medal known as the Miracle on Ice; these are the only two Olympic gold medals won by USA men's ice hockey.[4] Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 US team, was the last player cut from the 1960 team by coach Jack Riley.[5]
This was the first and to date, only time Australia participated in an Olympic men's ice hockey tournament.[6]