Talk:1926 Ice Hockey European Championship

Tournament format
According to the hockeyarchives.info webpage cited by the article, and also the book "Lion in Winter: A Complete Record of Great Britain at the Olympic, World and European Ice Hockey Championships 1910 to 1981," we can make the following conclusions about this tournament:

1. The tournament was scheduled to end on Sunday, January 17, 1926, with the four-team round robin.

2. Goal average (not goal difference) was the first tiebreaker criterion.

3. In the event of a tie in points for the gold medal, a tie-break round would be played (rather than deciding the gold on criteria).

4. A tie-break round was played because three teams had equal points at the conclusion of the four-team round robin, and this extended the tournament to Tuesday, January 19.

Conjecture:

The provision for such a tie-break round was most likely built into the tournament rules and was not a last-minute change. The hosts (Switzerland) already had a better goal average than Austria, and were superior to both Austria and Czechoslovakia on goal difference and goals scored. They certainly gained no advantage by playing two extra games.

Other recommendations:

1. The first round should be relabelled "preliminary round."

2. The second round should be relabelled "qualifying for final round." I prefer "repechage round," but there is no precedent for such a term in ice hockey.

3. The third round should be relabelled "final round."

4. The final round should be relabelled "tie-break round." Joel225sp (talk) 02:44, 11 January 2020 (UTC)