What was the format of the medal round for ice hockey at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid?

Question

The US beat Finland in their final game, yet Finland ended up in fourth place. What gives? Was the medal round basically another round robin?

Answer 1

It a sense it was a round robin. The top two teams from each group advanced to the medal round, with each team playing the teams in the other group, The difference was games played against teams in your own group counted also. Sweden and USA advanced from Blue group and USSR and Finland advanced from Red group. SO the USA beat USSR and Finland, and tied Sweden during group play to earn 5 points and the gold medal.  Finland lost to USA and tied Sweden, but also lost to USSR during group play, only earning 1 point. Sweden tied Finland and lost to USSR, but the tie they had with USA in group play gave them the extra point and the bronze medal.

Answer 2

A good question!

It wasn't a round-robin because there were only 4 games played; ottherwise it would be 6.

I think that the previous games they played against each other counted to break the tie between USSR and Finland.

US defeats USSR

Finland defeats Sweden

US (2-0) defeats Finland (1-1) WInners played

USSR (1-1) defeats Sweden (0-2) Losers played.

Usually the WIner game is for Glod and SIlver and  the Losers game is for the Bronze medal.