Ice hockey at the 1928 Winter Olympics

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, was the third Olympic Championship, also serving as the third World Championships and the 13th European Championships. Canada, represented by the University of Toronto Graduates, won its third consecutive gold medal. Highest finishing European team Sweden won the silver medal and its third European Championship.[1]

Ice hockey at the 1928 Winter Olympics
Canada's 1928 Olympic Gold Medal team
Tournament details
Host country  Switzerland
Venue(s)Olympic Ice Rink, St. Moritz (outdoors)
Dates11–19 February 1928
Teams11
Final positions
Champions  Canada (3rd title)
Runner-up  Sweden
Third place   Switzerland
Fourth place Great Britain
Tournament statistics
Games played18
Goals scored89 (4.94 per game)
Scoring leader(s)Canada Dave Trottier 15 points

Conn Smythe coached the Graduates to the 1927 Allan Cup championship during the Ontario Hockey Association season, but refused to go to the Olympics due to disagreements on which players were added to the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee. The Graduates went without Smythe, led by team captain Red Porter.[2] Canadian Olympic Committee member W. A. Hewitt was opposed to the format of the hockey tournament, which saw the Canadian team receive a bye into the second round. He wanted the team to have more games, rather than be idle for a week.[3] Despite the wait to play, the Graduates won all three games by scoring 38 goals and conceding none, to win the gold medal.[4]

Medalists

edit
Gold Silver Bronze
  Canada (CAN)
Charles Delahaye
Frank Fisher
Grant Gordon
Louis Hudson
Norbert Mueller
Herbert Plaxton
Hugh Plaxton
Roger Plaxton
John Porter
Frank Sullivan
Joseph Sullivan
Ross Taylor
Dave Trottier
  Sweden (SWE)
Carl Abrahamsson
Emil Bergman
Birger Holmqvist
Gustaf Johansson
Henry Johansson
Nils Johansson
Ernst Karlberg
Erik Larsson
Bertil Linde
Sigfrid Öberg
Wilhelm Petersén
Kurt Sucksdorff
  Switzerland (SUI)
Giannin Andreossi
Mezzi Andreossi
Robert Breiter
Louis Dufour
Charles Fasel
Albert Geromini
Fritz Kraatz
Arnold Martignoni
Heini Meng
Anton Morosani
Luzius Rüedi
Richard Torriani

Participating nations

edit
 
The Polish national team during the Olympics. This marked Poland's debut at Olympic ice hockey.

A total of 128(*) ice hockey players from eleven nations competed at the St. Moritz Games:

(*) NOTE: Only counts players who participated in at least one game. Not all reserve players are known.

Defending champion Canada, which outscored its opponents 132–3 in the previous competition, was granted a bye to the medal round, after officials realised how superior they were to all of the other teams.[5] The other 10 teams were placed in three groups for the first round.

First round

edit

Group A

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Great Britain 3 2 0 1 10 6 +4 4 Advanced to Final Round
2   France 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 4
3   Belgium 3 2 0 1 9 10 −1 4
4   Hungary 3 0 0 3 2 6 −4 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: HockeyCanada.ca
Date Result P1 P2 P3
11 Feb   Great Britain 7 - 3   Belgium 3 - 1 2 - 0 2 - 2
11 Feb   France 2 - 0   Hungary 0 - 0 2 - 0 0 - 0
12 Feb   France 3 - 2   Great Britain 0 - 1 3 - 1 0 - 0
12 Feb   Belgium 3 - 2   Hungary 0 - 1 3 - 1 0 - 0
13 Feb   Belgium 3 - 1   France 2 - 0 0 - 0 1 - 1
15 Feb   Great Britain 1 - 0   Hungary 1 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0


Group B

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Sweden 2 1 1 0 5 2 +3 3 Advanced to Final Round
2   Czechoslovakia 2 1 0 1 3 5 −2 2
3   Poland 2 0 1 1 4 5 −1 1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: HockeyCanada.ca
Date Result P1 P2 P3
11 Feb   Sweden 3 - 0   Czechoslovakia 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0
12 Feb   Sweden 2 - 2   Poland 1 - 0 1 - 2 0 - 0
13 Feb   Czechoslovakia 3 - 2   Poland 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 - 0


Group C

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1    Switzerland 2 1 1 0 5 4 +1 3 Advanced to Final Round
2   Austria 2 0 2 0 4 4 0 2
3   Germany 2 0 1 1 0 1 −1 1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: HockeyCanada.ca
Date Result P1 P2 P3
11 Feb    Switzerland 4 - 4   Austria 2 - 4 1 - 0 1 - 0
11 Feb   Austria 0 - 0   Germany 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0
16 Feb    Switzerland 1 - 0   Germany 1 - 0 0 - 0 0 - 0

Final round

edit

The top teams from each of the three groups were joined by defending champion Canada in the medal round, playing a 3-game round-robin to determine the medal winners.

The match between Canada and Sweden was refereed by Paul Loicq, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.[6]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Canada 3 3 0 0 38 0 +38 6
2   Sweden 3 2 0 1 7 12 −5 4
3    Switzerland 3 1 0 2 4 17 −13 2
4   Great Britain 3 0 0 3 1 21 −20 0
Date Result P1 P2 P3
17 Feb   Canada 11 - 0   Sweden 4 - 0 4 - 0 3 - 0
17 Feb    Switzerland 4 - 0   Great Britain 0 - 0 2 - 0 2 - 0
18 Feb   Canada 14 - 0   Great Britain 6 - 0 4 - 0 4 - 0
18 Feb   Sweden 4 - 0    Switzerland 1 - 0 0 - 0 3 - 0
19 Feb   Sweden 3 - 1   Great Britain 2 - 1 0 - 0 1 - 0
19 Feb   Canada 13 - 0    Switzerland 2 - 0 6 - 0 5 - 0

Statistics

edit

Average age

edit

Team Hungary was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 31 years and 6 months. Team Belgium was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 21 years and 6 months. Gold medalists Canada averaged 24 years and 10 months. Tournament average was 26 years and 9 months.[7]

Top scorer

edit
Team GP G A Pts
  Dave Trottier 3 12 3 15

Final ranking

edit
1   Canada (CAN)
2   Sweden (SWE)
3   Switzerland (SUI)
4   Great Britain (GBR)
5   Austria (AUT)
5   France (FRA)
5   Czechoslovakia (TCH)
8   Belgium (BEL)
8   Poland (POL)
8   Germany (GER)
11   Hungary (HUN)

The IIHF Guide and Record Book has two different rankings for this tournament.[8] The IOC, however, does not rank the teams below 4th[9]

European Championship medal table

edit
    Sweden
     Switzerland
    Great Britain
4   Austria
4   France
4   Czechoslovakia
7   Belgium
7   Germany
7   Poland
10   Hungary

References

edit
  1. ^ "Ice Hockey at the 1928 St. Moritz Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (1997), pp. 23–25
  3. ^ "Want Canadians To Play Winners". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Kingston, Ontario. 8 February 1928. p. 9. 
  4. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (1997), pp. 28–29
  5. ^ Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book To The Olympics. England: Penguin Books. p. 564. ISBN 0140066322.
  6. ^ "Varsity Grads Defeat Sweden In First Of Final Series For Title". Lethbridge Herald. Lethbridge, Alberta. 17 February 1928. p. 3. 
  7. ^ "Team Canada - Olympics - Sankt Moritz 1928 - Player Stats". QuantHockey. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  8. ^ IIHF Media Guide and Record Book (2011) pgs. 17 and 104
  9. ^ IOC database of results

Sources

edit