The men's competition began on 7 February with eight teams playing in two groups of four, Group A and B, with each team playing three games. The winners of these two groups, Kazakhstan and Belarus, advanced to join Groups C and D, composed of the six highest ranked men's national ice hockey teams in the world. Russia, Czech Republic, and Finland were joined by Kazakhstan in Group C; Canada, Sweden, and USA were joined by Belarus in Group D. On 22 February, with 10,010 spectators in attendance at Big Hat, the Czech Republic defeated Russia in the gold medal game for the men's final, 1–0, with the lone goal of the match scored with 12 minutes remaining. Finland defeated Canada for the Bronze medal by a score of 3–2.