Short answer
The Soviet Union won the final round robin ahead of the United States. Canada won bronze and Sweden finished fourth.
What happened
The Soviet Union played its first Olympic tournament in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in 1956, won every game and took gold.
Canada, represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, won bronze: its first Olympic hockey medal that was not gold or silver. The United States won silver.
Key facts
- Host
- Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
- Dates
- 26 January to 4 February 1956
- Venues
- Olympic Ice Stadium and Apollonio Stadium
- Teams
- 10
- Games
- 33
- Goals
- 262 (7.9 a game)
- Attendance
- 122,230
- Top scorer
- James Logan, 15 points
Final standings
| Place | Team | Record | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Soviet Union | 5-0 | 25:5 |
| Silver | United States | 4-1 | 26:12 |
| Bronze | Canada | 3-2 | 23:11 |
| 4th | Sweden | 1-3-1 | 10:17 |
| 5th | Czechoslovakia | 1-4 | 20:30 |
| 6th | Germany | 0-4-1 | 6:35 |
| 7th | Italy | 3-0 | 21:7 |
| 8th | Poland | 2-1 | 12:10 |
| 9th | Switzerland | 1-2 | 12:18 |
| 10th | Austria | 0-3 | 9:19 |
Places below fourth follow the ranking printed in the tournament article; some early tournaments ranked lower places differently over the years.
More men’s tournaments
1952 tournament 1960 tournament All men’s tournaments
See every podium in the complete results list, or how each country did in the medal finder.
Source for this page
Wikipedia: Ice hockey at the 1956 Winter Olympics (results, standings, scoring leader and awards, read October 29, 2026).
Questions people ask
Who won the 1956 Olympic men’s hockey gold?
The Soviet Union. The United States won silver and Canada bronze.
Who led the 1956 tournament in scoring?
James Logan, with 15 points.
Sources
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. Spotted an error? Results are checked against the linked sources; tell us through the corrections note on the about page.