Ice hockey has been part of the Olympic program since 1920, and women’s ice hockey was first played in 1998. The sport is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation, which has 59 full members, 22 associate members and one affiliate member, totaling 82 national governing bodies. Teams consist of between 15 and 20 skaters (forwards and defensemen) plus two or three goalies.
For most of the sport’s history, Canada dominated men’s Olympic ice hockey, winning six gold medals between 1920 and 1952. That dominance was broken by Great Britain in 1936, and the Soviet Union began winning golds in 1960 and 1980.
The Miracle on Ice was the most famous moment in Olympic ice hockey, and lives on in the sport’s mythology to this day. But the Olympics had plenty of other stories to tell over the next 50 years. In 2002, in Salt Lake City, Canada reset its story by beating the U.S. team led by 1980 “Miracle” coach Herb Brooks to win the gold medal.
In the Olympic tournament, players can be assessed for offside and hooking fouls in addition to normal penalty calls. Offside occurs when a player’s skates enter the attacking zone prior to the puck, while a hooking foul results when a player grabs another player’s stick or body as they are skating.
Unlike the NHL, where face-offs are decided by which side puts its stick down first, the Olympics use a rule that dictates that the team closest to the opposing goal during a face-off must put its blade down first. Also, unlike the NHL, where players are allowed to play for more than one professional team, in the Olympics, players must only be able to participate with their country’s national team.