Ice hockey at the 1928 Winter Olympics

The 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz hosted the third Olympic men's ice hockey tournament, which also counted as the third World Championships and the 13th European Championships. Canada, represented by the University of Toronto Graduates, claimed its third straight gold medal. Sweden, the top European finisher, took silver and earned its third European Championship title.

The Graduates had won the 1927 Allan Cup under coach Conn Smythe, but Smythe refused to travel to the Olympics after disagreeing with the Canadian Olympic Committee over which players were added to the roster. The team went without him, captained by Red Porter. Canadian Olympic Committee member W. A. Hewitt objected to the tournament format, which gave Canada a bye into the second round; he wanted the team to play more games instead of sitting idle for a week. Despite the layoff, the Graduates won all three of their games, scoring 38 goals without conceding any, to secure the gold medal.

Participating nations

Eleven nations sent a total of 128 players who appeared in at least one game. Defending champion Canada, which had outscored opponents 132–3 in the previous Olympics, received a bye to the medal round after officials recognized how dominant they were compared to other teams.

Final round

The remaining ten teams were split into three groups for the first round. The top team from each group then joined Canada in a three-game round-robin medal round. The match between Canada and Sweden was refereed by Paul Loicq, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Hungary was the oldest team, averaging 31 years and 6 months, while Belgium was the youngest at 21 years and 6 months. Canada’s average age was 24 years and 10 months, and the tournament average was 26 years and 9 months. The IIHF Guide and Record Book lists two different final rankings for the tournament, but the IOC does not rank teams below fourth place.