Ice hockey first appeared at the Olympics in 1920 and became a permanent fixture at the Winter Games in 1924. Since then, the sport has evolved over three decades of competition. In the early years, the Soviet Union dominated. In the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, however, the U.S. stunned the Soviets to create the “Miracle on Ice.”
After that game, Olympic ice hockey went through a period of steady improvement. In the early 2000s, Canada, the country of hockey’s birth, built a bulging medal cabinet and became an Olympic juggernaut. Today, it’s a sport with a lot of excitement and a huge global following.
Olympic hockey uses the same rules as NHL games, but there are a few important differences. One is that the ice surface at international games is wider than NHL rinks, which results in a faster game with less physical contact. Another difference is the fact that the Olympic tournament uses a five-minute sudden-death overtime period to determine the winner if a game is tied after three periods. If the teams still can’t come to an agreement, a penalty shootout is used.
There are 12 teams in the men’s tournament, and only the top six teams in the world get automatic entry. The remaining teams earn a spot by winning an elimination qualifier. Then the eight teams in their groups play a series of elimination games to decide the final four places. The top two teams in each group play for the gold medal, while the next two teams will compete for bronze.