Ice hockey is one of the most high-energy, edge-of-your-seat sports on the Olympic program. The game is contested between teams of players from around the world using rules adapted from those used by the National Hockey League (NHL). It has been an Olympic sport since 1920 and, except for two brief boycotts, has featured at every Winter Olympics.
For decades, teams from Canada dominated men’s Olympic ice hockey, winning six of seven gold medals from 1920 to 1952. The Soviet Union entered the competition in 1956, and it quickly overtook Canada as the dominant international team.
The Americans won the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” game against the Soviets, but afterward they went 50 years without a gold. They finally won again in 2002, and have gone on to win three more times. Sweden, the Czech Republic, Russia (now known as OAR) and Finland have also won men’s gold medals.
In 1998, the Olympic ice hockey tournament was opened to professional NHL players for the first time. That change, which was prompted by the expansion of the NHL, made for more exciting games and increased the number of medals won by each team.
In addition to the changes brought by the inclusion of NHL players, a significant evolution has occurred in the look and feel of the game at the Olympics. After 1960, Olympic games moved to modern indoor arenas with artificial ice, a decision repeated at Vancouver in 2010 and scheduled again for Milano Cortina 2022.