From its first Olympic appearance in 1998, the sport of Olympic ice hockey has expanded and evolved. The men’s tournament has spawned new storylines with each edition, from the Miracle on Ice to Sweden’s triumph behind Dominik Hasek’s goaltending in 1998 and Finland’s gold in 2022. The women’s game has also become a fixture, with Marie-Philip Poulin and Hayley Wickenheiser winning a combined four medals between 2010 and 2014.
One of the most dramatic moments in Olympic history took place in Lake Placid during the 1980 Olympics. The United States’ improbable win over the Soviet Union was later known as the “Miracle on Ice.” The American team fought back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period of their semifinal game to win 5-4 and advance to the final against Canada. It was during this game that captain Mike Eruzione scored the most famous Olympic goal of all time — a wrist shot that found its way past the legendary Vladislav Tretiak and sent a record 36 million Americans into a frenzy.
Unlike the NHL, which uses a shootout to decide games that end in a tie, the Olympic format calls for full 20-minute overtime periods at five-on-five before the game is decided by penalty shots in a sudden-death fashion. A similar format is used in the qualification round of the quarter- and semi-finals, as well as the gold medal match. Since 1960 in Squaw Valley, the Olympic ice hockey tournament has been played on NHL-sized rinks. At Vancouver 2010, organisers switched to indoor arenas with artificial ice, a move that has since been repeated at Beijing and scheduled for Milano Cortina in 2026.