Home : Olympic Ice Hockey :Winter Olympic Hockey, 1920-1956Olympic Hockey vs. the NHLIf you are a new hockey fan, you may not be aware of the differences between Olympic hockey and NHL hockey. Even though these two organizations were founded at around the same time in the early 1900’s and the essential principles of the game are the same, the rules for the two are not exactly the same. If you understand the differences between Olympic hockey and NHL hockey, when you watch you will be able to enjoy the games more because you will not be confused by the differences. Here are some of the key differences between Olympic hockey and the NHL:
USA Hockey, Inc., is the national governing body for the sport of hockey in the United States. As such, its mission is to promote the growth of hockey in America and provide the best possible experience for all participants by encouraging, developing, advancing and administering the sport. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Hockey is the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). In this role, USA Hockey is responsible for organizing and training men's and women's teams for international tournaments that include the IIHF World Championships and the Olympic Winter Games. USA Hockey also coordinates activities with other national hockey federations around the world and, closer to home, works with the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on matters of mutual interest. Ice hockey joined the Olympic program at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games held in early April. Canada and the Soviet Union have been the two dominant countries in the history of men's Olympic ice hockey. The two countries have won 14 out of the 19 Olympic tournaments. Canada won the first four Olympic tournaments and six of the first seven, but its streak ended in 1956. The gold medal at the 1952 Oslo Games marked the sixth and last gold medal for Canada. The changing of the guard occurred at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Games with the emergence of the Soviet Union. The Soviets dominated the competition and won eight of the next 10 gold medals. The only interruptions to the streak were when the United States upset the Soviets in 1960 and 1980 on American soil. 1920 Antwerp
The 1920 ice hockey tournament was played by seven-man teams rather than six-man ones. Each match consisted of two 20-minute periods and there were no substitutions. If a player was injured, the opposing team was required to pull one of its players. The Europeans were in awe of the North American style of play. In the words of Oscar Soderlund of the Stockholms-Tidninger, "Every single player on the rink [during the Canada-USA match] was a perfect acrobat on skates, skated at tremendous speed without regard to himself or anyone else, jumped over sticks and players with ease and grace, turned sharply with perfect ease and without losing speed, and skated backwards just as easily as forwards. And during all this, the puck was held down on the ice and was dribbled forwards by means of short shoves of the stick." Canada scored victories of 15-0 over Czechoslovakia, 2-0 over the United States, and 12-1 over Sweden. According to the rules of the tournament, the three teams that lost to Canada then played off for second place. The United States beat Sweden, 7-0, and Czechoslovakia, 16-0. Then Czechoslovakia defeated Sweden, 1-0, to win the bronze medal, even though the Czechs had been outscored 1 to 31 in their three matches. Canada was represented by the Winnipeg Falcons, who had just defeated the University of Toronto for the Canadian Amateur Championship. The invitation to the Olympics came at such short notice that the Falcons didn't have time to return home to Winnipeg. Funds had to be raised to buy the players new clothes for the overseas journey. All of the Canadian players were of Icelandic origin except goalie Wally Byron, and the team name, Falcons, was a symbol of Iceland. The U.S. team, for its part, included four Canadian citizens who played for U.S. clubs: Herb Drury, Frank Synott and the McCormick brothers, Joe and Lawrence-as well as one player, George Geran, who had played in the NHL. The most lopsided match of the tournament was the U.S.'s 29-0 defeat of Switzerland. The Americans scored a goal a minute for the first 13 minutes and scored one goal while two men short. Tony Conroy led the scoring with 8 goals.
1924 Chamonix
The Canadian team, the Toronto Granites, displayed extraordinary superiority. After defeating Czechoslovakia, 30-0, and Sweden, 22-0, they outscored Switzerland, 18-0 in the first period alone and then breezed to a 33-0 victory, before crushing Great Britain, 19-2. Meanwhile the U.S. team had beaten Belgium 19-0, France 22-0, Great Britain 11-0, and Sweden 20-0. The final match between Canada and the United States was a rough battle that saw Canada's Harry Watson knocked cold after only 20 seconds of play. Watson recovered, however, and, with blood in his eyes, scored the first two goals of the game. Canada led 2-1 after the first period and 5-1 after the second. A single third-period goal accounted for the final score of 6-1. Taffy Abel, the captain of the U.S. team, was a Chippewa Indian. All but two members of the British team were born in Canada. 1928 St. Moritz(no U.S. entry)
1932 Lake Placid
Because of the worldwide Depression, only four nations appeared for the Olympic hockey tournament. Consequently, it was decided that each team would play each other team twice. The Canadian team from Winnipeg won their first five matches, including a 2-1 victory over the United States. This meant that a win or a tie in the second match against the United States would assure Canada of first place. If the United States won, then a third match would be required. The United States took a 2-1 lead, but with 50 seconds to play, Romeo Rivers shot a bouncing puck into the net to tie the score. Three scoreless overtimes later, Canada was declared the tournament winner.
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
By 1936, the Brits decided if they couldn't beat the Canadians, they'd import them. Nine of the 12 members of the British team were born in Great Britain, but moved to Canada as children and learned to play ice hockey there. A tenth player, Gordon Dailley, was actually born in Canada and served in the Canadian Army. Canada's Olympic undefeated streak was halted at 20 by Great Britain in the semifinal round, when Edgar Brenchley scored a rebound goal in the 14th minute of the final period to give the British a 2-1 victory. Since its final two games of the tournament were against the British and the Canadians, respectively, the team from the United States might have rendered the great British-Canadian controversy moot. Two wins would have given the U.S. the gold medal, and the Americans almost pulled it off, tying a conservative British team, 0-0, after three overtimes couldn't break the deadlock, and then losing by a mere 1-0 margin to the Canadians in the tournament finale. By the time that U.S.-Canada final had come along, just about everyone in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was interested. As the Times article from that February 16 game states: "... attending the match were Reichsfeuhrer Adolf Hitler, Paul Goebbels and other guests of honor." Such was the draw of an ice hockey tournament liberally dosed with controversy, politics, infighting, emergency meetings, great goalkeeping ... and, to make it all work, plenty of Canadians.
1948 St. Moritz
Also like 1928, but again to a lesser extent, controversy dogged the Games of St. Moritz. The biggest debates took place at the ice hockey venue. At issue was the entry, or entries, from the United States. The controversy that engulfed the 1948 ice hockey tournament actually began a year earlier, when the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled that the Amateur Athletic Union was being replaced as the governing body for amateur ice hockey in the United States by the American Hockey Association (A.H.A.). Two teams claimed "official" U.S. status - one sanctioned by the AHA and the IHF and one entered by the American Olympic Committee (AOC) and accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Avery Brundage, chairman of the American Olympic Committee (A.O.C.), accused the A.H.A. of being under commercial sponsorship and refused to sanction its team. Both teams traveled to Switzerland, prepared to play in the Olympic tournament. Two days before the opening ceremony, the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to bar both U.S. teams from competition. However, the Swiss Olympic Organizing Committee, siding with the International Ice Hockey Federation, defied the International Olympic Committee and announced that the A.H.A. team would be allowed to play, albeit on an "unofficial" basis. The A.O.C. team got to take part in the opening-day parade, while the A.H.A. team watched from the stands. But after that, the A.O.C. team had nothing to do but enjoy their paid vacation. Meanwhile, the A.H.A. players racked up a couple of amazing scores, beating Poland 23-4 and Italy 31-1. Their coach justified these thrashings because the rules stated that if two teams were tied at the end of the tournament, the one with the largest cumulative scoring margin would be declared the winner. A compromise of sorts was worked out of this alphabetical, acronymatic quagmire. Luckily for all the political bodies involved, the Americans lost to each of the three eventual medalists - Canada, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland - and finished an innocuous, and unofficial, fourth. The IOC disowned the ice hockey tournament, but later gave it official approval on the condition that the A.H.A. team not be included in the placings. With one day left in the competition, three nations - Canada, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland - all had a chance to finish in first place. In the morning Czechoslovakia defeated the United States, 4-3, which eliminated Switzerland's hopes of placing higher than second. The final match pitted Canada against the Swiss. Two days earlier the Czechs and the Canadians had played a 0-0 tie. Consequently, Canada needed to beat Switzerland by at least two goals to win the gold medal on the basis of the goal differential tie-breaker. About 5,000 Swiss perched on mountain cliffs and watched the game, pelting officials with snowballs whenever they disagreed with a call. Their enthusiasm did little good, as the Canadian team tallied a goal in each period and won, 3-0. A final note about the Italian team: in addition to their 31-1 loss to the United States, they lost to Sweden 23-0, Canada 21-1, Czechoslovakia 22-3, and Switzerland 16-0. 1952 Oslo
Oslo's hockey tournament was played in an outdoor stadium, often amid snowstorms and fog. An American team long on bulk and brawn - and talent - fared well in the adverse conditions, winning the silver medal and, with a 3-3 tie against Canada - coming dangerously close to preventing the Canadians from winning their sixth hockey gold medal in seven tries. To avoid a duplication of 1948's problems, when two dueling U.S. teams were sent to St. Moritz and neither was officially sanctioned, the Amateur Hockey Association and the United States Olympic Committee agreed to allow the new and independent U.S. Hockey Committee select America's team. Canada, represented by the Edmonton Mercurys, won their first seven games. A final 3-3 tie with the United States gave them the championship. The Americans were just as thrilled by the outcome, since it meant they would finish second instead of fourth. The U.S. team was not popular with the spectators because of their rough style of play. In fact, three of the U.S. players, Joe Czarnota, Ken Yackel, and Andre Gambucci, spent more time in the penalty box than the team totals of any of the other eight teams in the tournament. 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo
The 1956 Cortina Games saw the first appearance at the Winter Olympics of athletes from the U.S.S.R. In the ice hockey tournament, the Soviet team swept to victory, winning all seven of their games and outscoring their opponents 40 to 9. The Soviets made a great impression, not only with their excellent play, but with their good sportsmanship and clean style as well.
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