| |
Ice Hockey
Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics will be
held at the Torino Olympic Palasport Stadio Comunale Area and
the Torino Esposizioni in Turin, Italy. The men's tournament
will be held from February 15 to 26 and the women's tournament
from February 11 to 20.
Ice hockey, known simply as hockey in Canada and the United
States, is a team sport played on ice. It is one of the world's
fastest sports, with players on skates capable of going high
speeds on natural or artificial ice surfaces. The most prominent
ice hockey nations are Canada, United States, Russia, Sweden,
Finland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
In all there are 64 members in the International Ice Hockey
Federation. As one might expect, its worldwide popularity is
concentrated primarily in locales cool enough for natural,
long-term seasonal ice cover. It is the official national winter
sport of Canada, and it has a strong enough following in certain
regions of the United States (notably the Northeast, the
Northern Midwest, and Alaska) that many Americans consider
hockey to be a "major sport" in their country as well, although
some Americans from other parts of the U.S. dispute hockey's
inclusion as a major sport. The parts of North America which
have the strongest followings of the sport are often called
"hockey country".
While most of the countries mentioned above have their own
professional ice hockey league, North America's National Hockey
League, commonly called the NHL, is considered the world's
premier professional ice hockey league and attracts almost all
of the world's elite players.
|
Ice
hockey is played on a hockey rink by six players per side, each
of whom is on ice skates. The objective of the game is to score
goals by playing a hard vulcanized rubber disc, the puck, into
the opponent's goal net, which is placed at the opposite end of
the rink. The players may control the puck using a long stick
with a blade that is commonly curved at one end. Players may
also redirect the puck with any part of their bodies, subject to
certain restrictions.
One of the six players is typically a
goaltender, whose primary job is to stop the puck from entering
the net, and who is permitted unique gear towards that end.
|
Two defencemen and a goaltender guard their goal. The referee's
raised arm indicates that he intends to call a penalty |
|
The other five players are divided into
three forwards and two defencemen. The forward positions are
named left wing, center and right wing. Forwards often play
together as units or lines, with the same three forwards always
playing together.
The defencemen usually stay together as a
pair, but may change less frequently than the forwards. A
substitution of an entire unit at once is called a line change.
Substitutions are permitted at any time during the course of the
game, although during a stoppage of play the home team is
permitted the final change.
When players are substituted during
play, it is called changing on the fly. |
A typical ice hockey game |
The boards surrounding the ice help keep the puck in play, and
play often proceeds for minutes without interruption. When play
is stopped, it is restarted with a faceoff. There are two rules
of play in ice hockey that limit the movement of the puck:
offside and icing.
In most competitive leagues, each team may carry at most 23
players on its game roster, two of whom are typically
goaltenders. North American professional leagues restrict the
total number of skaters to 18 or fewer.
The remaining characteristics of the game often depend on the
particular code of play being used. The two most important codes
are those of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and
of the North American National Hockey League (NHL), the world's
top professional league. North American amateur hockey codes,
such as those of Hockey Canada and USA Hockey, tend to be a
hybrid of the NHL and IIHF codes, while professional rules
generally follow those of the NHL. |
|
A typical game of ice hockey has two to four
officials on the ice charged with enforcing the rules of the
game. There are typically two linesmen, who are responsible only
for calling offside and icing violations, and one or two
referees, who call goals and all other penalties.
In men's hockey, but not in women's, a player may use his hip or
shoulder to hit another player if the player has the puck or is
the last to have touched it. This use of the hip and shoulder is
called body checking. Not all physical contact is legal -- in
particular, most forceful stick-on-body contact is illegal -- as
there are many infractions for which a player may be assessed a
penalty. |
Fights often occur near the goal because players want to protect
their goaltender |
| For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the penalty
box and his team has to play without him for a short amount of
time, giving the other team what is popularly termed a power
play. A two-minute minor penalty is often called for lesser
infractions such as tripping, elbowing, roughing, boarding,
high-sticking, too many players on the ice, illegal equipment,
charging (leaping into an opponent), holding, interference,
delay of game, hooking, or cross-checking.
More egregious fouls
of this type may be penalized by a four-minute double-minor
penalty, particularly those which (inadvertently) cause injury
to the victimized player. These penalties end either when the
time runs out or the other team scores on the power play; in the
case of a goal scored during the first two minutes of a double
minor, the penalty clock is set down to two minutes upon a score
(effectively expiring the first minor).
Five-minute major
penalties are called for especially violent instances of most
minor infractions which result in intentional injury to an
opponent, as well as for fighting (from which comes the band
Five for Fighting) and spearing. Major penalties are always
served in full: they do not terminate on a goal scored by the
other team.
Two varieties of penalty do not always require the offending
team to play a man down. Ten-minute misconduct penalties are
served in full by the penalized player, but his team may
immediately substitute another player on the ice unless a minor
or major penalty is assessed in conjunction with the misconduct
(a two-and-ten or five-and-ten). In that case, the team
designates another player to serve the minor or major; both
players go to the penalty box, but only the designee may not be
replaced, and he is released upon the expiration of the two or
five minutes, at which point the ten-minute misconduct begins.
The rare match penalties are assessed for deliberate intent to
inflict severe injury on an opponent. The offending player is
ejected from the game and must immediately leave the playing
surface (he does not sit in the penalty box); meanwhile, if a
minor or major is assessed in addition, a designated player must
serve out that segment of the penalty in the box (similar to the
above-mentioned "two-and-ten").
A player who is tripped by an opponent on a breakaway – when
there are no defenders except the goaltender between him and the
opponent's goal – is awarded a penalty shot, an attempt to score
without opposition from any defenders except the goaltender. A
penalty shot is also awarded for a defender other than the
goaltender covering the puck in the goal crease.
Officials also stop play for puck movement violations, but no
players are penalized for these offenses. The sole exceptions
are deliberately falling on or gathering the puck to the body,
carrying the puck in the hand, and shooting the puck out of play
in one's defensive zone (all penalized two minutes for delay of
game). |
|
An important defensive tactic is checking – attempting to take
the puck from an opponent or to remove the opponent from play.
Forechecking is checking in the other team's zone, backchecking
is checking while the other team is advancing down the ice
toward one's own goal; these terms usually are applied to
checking by forwards.
Stick checking, sweep checking, and poke checking are
legal uses of the stick to obtain possession of the puck.
Body checking is using one's shoulder or hip to strike an
opponent who has the puck or who is the last to have touched
it. |
 |
Offensive tactics include improving a team's position on the ice
by advancing the puck out of one's zone towards the opponent's
zone, progressively by gaining lines, first your own blue line,
then the red line and finally the opponent's blue line.
Offensive tactics are designed ultimately to score a goal by
taking a shot. When a player purposefully directs the puck
towards the opponent's goal, he or she is said to shoot the
puck.
A deflection is a shot which redirects a shot or a pass towards
the goal from another player, by allowing the puck to strike the
stick and carom towards the goal. A one-timer is a shot which is
struck directly off a pass, without receiving the pass and
shooting in two separate actions.
A deke (short for decoy) is a feint with the body and/or stick
to fool a defender or the goalie. Headmanning the puck is the
tactic of rapidly passing to the player farthest down the ice.
A team that is losing by one or two goals in the last few
minutes of play may elect to pull the goalie; that is, removing
the goaltender and replacing him or her with an extra attacker
on the ice in the hope of gaining enough advantage to score a
goal. However, this tactic is extremely risky, and as often as
not leads to the winning team scoring a goal in the empty net.
Although it is officially prohibited in the rules, at the
professional level fights are sometimes used to affect morale of
the teams, with aggressors hoping to demoralize the opposing
players while exciting their own, as well as settling personal
scores. Both players in an altercation receive five-minute major
penalties for fighting. The player deemed to be the "instigator"
of an NHL fight is penalized an additional two minutes for
instigating, plus a ten-minute misconduct penalty.
This
so-called instigator rule is highly controversial in NHL hockey:
many coaches, sportswriters, players and fans feel it prevents
players from effectively policing the objectionable behavior of
their peers, which is often cleverly hidden from referees. They
point to less extreme on-ice violence during the era before the
rule was introduced. Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe
famously observed that "If you can't beat 'em in the alley you
can't beat 'em on the ice." |
|
A game consists of three periods of twenty minutes each, the
clock running only when the puck is in play. In international
play, the teams change ends for the second period, again for the
third period, and again after ten minutes of the third period.
In many North American leagues, including the NHL, the last
change is omitted.
Various procedures are used if a game is tied. In tournament
play, North Americans favor sudden death overtime, in which
the teams continue to play until a goal is scored. Prior to
the 2004-05 NHL season , the National Hockey League decided
ties by playing a single five-minute sudden death overtime
period, with the added stipulation that each side can play
with a maximum of five players on the ice during the
overtime. International play and several North American
professional leagues, including the NHL, now use an overtime
period followed by a penalty shootout.
If the score remains tied after an extra overtime period,
the subsequent shootout consists of five (or three) players
from each team taking penalty shots. After these six (or
ten) total shots, the team with the most goals is awarded
the victory. If the score is still tied, the shootout then
proceeds to a sudden death (actually sudden victory) format.
Regardless of the number of goals scored during the shootout
by either team, the final score recorded will give the
winning team one more goal than the score at the end of
regulation time. |
|
The hard surfaces of the ice and boards, pucks flying at high
speed (over 160 km/h at times), and other players maneuvering
(and often intentionally colliding) pose a multitude of inherent
safety hazards. Besides skates and sticks, hockey players are
usually equipped with an array of safety gear to lessen their
risk of serious injury. This usually includes a helmet, shoulder
pads, elbow pads, mouth guard, protective gloves, heavily padded
pants, a 'jock' athletic protector, and leg guards.
Goaltenders
wear masks and much bulkier, specialized equipment designed to
protect them from many direct hits from pucks.
Youth and college hockey players are required to wear a mask
made from metal wire or transparent plastic attached to their
helmet that protects their face during play. Professional and
adult players may instead wear a visor that protects only their
eyes, or no mask at all; however, some provincial and state
legislations require full facial protection at all
non-professional levels.
Rules regarding visors and face masks
are mildly controversial at professional levels, as some players
feel that they interfere with their vision or breathing and/or
encourage carrying of the stick up high, in a reckless manner,
while others believe that they are a necessary safety
precaution.
In fact, the adoption of safety equipment has been a gradual one
at the North American professional level, where even helmets
were not mandatory until the 1980s. The famous goalie, Jacques
Plante, had to suffer a hard blow to the face with a flying puck
in 1959 before he could persuade his coach to allow him to wear
a protective goalie mask in play. |
|
The history of ice hockey is one of the most contested in all of
sports. It is known, however, that JGA Creighton is credited
with the invention of the game.
The city of Montreal had been traditionally credited with
being the birthplace of hockey, but early paintings contest
this claim; 16th-century Dutch paintings show a number of
townsfolk playing a hockey-like game on a frozen canals. |
 |
 Kingston, Ontario and Windsor, Nova Scotia also lay claim to its
origins for similar reasons. The origin of the word hockey is
officially unknown, it may derive from the Old French word
hoquet, shepherd's crook, but it may also derive from the Middle
Dutch word hokkie which is the diminutive of 'hok', meaning
litterally meaning 'shack' or 'doghouse' but in popular use
meant goal.
When Great Britain conquered Canada from France in 1763,
soldiers used their knowledge of field hockey and the physically
aggressive aspects of what the Mi'kmaq Aboriginal First Nation
in Nova Scotia called dehuntshigwa'es (lacrosse).
As Canadian winters are long and harsh, new winter sports
were always welcomed. Using cheese cutters strapped to their
boots, both English- and French-speaking Canadians played
the game on frozen rivers, lakes, and ponds. Early paintings
show hockey being played in Nova Scotia, as well as in the
state of Virginia in the United States. |
|
On March 3, 1875, the first ever organized indoor game was
played in Montreal, as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. In
1877, in order to make some sense of the game, McGill
students, James Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith,
W. F. Robertson, W. L. Murray, Frank Patrick, and Lester
Patrick invented seven ice hockey rules.
Having an organized system in place, the game became so
popular that it was featured for the first time in
Montreal's annual Winter Carnival in 1883.
In
1888, the governor general of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston
(whose sons were hockey enthusiasts), attended the Carnival and
was so impressed with the hockey spectacle that he thought there
should be a championship trophy for the best team. The Stanley
Cup was first awarded then to the champion amateur team in
Canada, and continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey
League's championship team.
As an interesting historical
footnote, one of Lord Stanley's sons was instrumental in
introducing ice hockey to the United Kingdom and from there, to
Europe at large.
By 1893, Winnipeg hockey players incorporated cricket pads to
better protect the goaltender's legs. They also introduced the
"scoop" shot, later known as the wrist shot.
In the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, Houghton, MI was the
birthplace of professional ice hockey in the United States when
the Portage Lakers were formed in 1899.
The National Hockey League was formed in November of 1917, when
members of the former National Hockey Association were engaged
in a dispute with one of their fellow owners over insurance
proceeds. The NHA disbanded, and the new league began play in
December of that year.
On February 16, 2005, the NHL became the first major
professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire
season because of a labour dispute. Play resumed again in the
fall of 2005. |
|
Ice hockey is one of the fastest growing
women's sports in the world, with the number of participants
increasing 400 percent in the last 10 years.
While there are
not as many organized leagues for women as there are for men,
there exist leagues of all levels, including the National
Women's Hockey League, Western Women's Hockey League, and
various European leagues; as well as university teams, national
and Olympic teams, and recreational teams. There have been nine IIHF World Women Championships. |
Women playing hockey at
Rideau Hall circa. 1890
(earliest known
image of
women's hockey) |
| The chief difference between women's and men's ice hockey is
that bodychecking is not allowed in women's ice hockey. After
the 1990 Women's World Championship, bodychecking was eliminated
because women in many countries do not have the size and mass
seen in North American players.
There are many who feel that the
relative lack of physical play is a detriment to its popularity
among the mainstream hockey public.
One woman, Manon Rhéaume, appeared as a goaltender for the Tampa
Bay Lightning in a preseason game hosting the St. Louis Blues,
and in 2003 Hayley Wickenheiser made history by becoming the
first woman skater to play in a men's ice hockey league when she
signed with the Kirkkonummi Salamat in the Finnish Suomi-sarja
league. |
|
Europeans highly regard the annual men's Ice Hockey World
Championships, but it is less important to North Americans,
because it coincides with the NHL playoffs. Now that most
Europeans play in the NHL, the world championships no longer
represent the best of any nation's players.
Hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924 (and at
the summer games in 1920). Canada won six of the first seven
gold medals. The USSR won all but two Olympic ice hockey golds
from 1956 to 1988, and won a final time as the Unified Team
at the 1992 Albertville Olympics.
Since all players in the communist system were
"amateurs," the USSR's elite national team was the best the
country had to offer, while the best Americans, Swedes,
Finns, and Canadians were professionals and thus barred from
Olympic competition.
Nonetheless, American amateur college
players defeated the heavily favored Soviet squad on the way to
winning the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. This
"Miracle on Ice" launched a surge of newfound popularity for a
game many Americans had not cared much about before.
The 1972 Summit Series established Canada and the USSR as a
major international ice hockey rivalry. It was followed by five
Canada Cup tournaments, where the best players from every hockey
nation could play. This tournament later became the World Cup of
Hockey, played in in 1996 and 2004. Since 1998, NHL
professionals have played in the Olympics as well, so that the
best in the world have had more opportunities to face off.
There have been nine women's world championships, beginning in
1990. Women's hockey has been played at the Olympics since 1998.
Currently Canada and the US dominate the world scene (all world
championship and Olympic finals have involved both countries). |
Statistics
Goal
Assist
Plus/minus
Save percentage
Goals Against Average |
 |
|
Alternate captain
Captain
Centre
Coach
Defenceman
Forward
Goal judge
Goaltender
Official
Power forward
Winger
Puck Bunnies |
Rink
Crease
Blue line
Hash marks
Rink
Penalty box
Red line
Slot |
Game play
Faceoff
Backhanded shot
Boarding
Checking
One timer
Power play
Shorthanded
Five on three
Penalty shot
Penalty
Icing
Fighting
Hat trick
Gordie Howe hat trick
Overtime
The point
Shot
Slapshot
Neutral zone trap
Breakaway
Deke
wristshot
flickshot |
Equipment
Hockey pants
Hockey stick
Hockey jersey
Shin guards/pads
Goalie mask
Hockey puck
Helmets
Visors
Zamboni
Ice Skates
Jock/Jill
Mouthguard |
|
| |
|
| |
|
2006 Winter Olympic Games
Ice Hockey
Men's competition
Group A
| Team |
P: |
W: |
L: |
T: |
GF: |
GA: |
Pts: |
Canada |
Czech Republic |
Finland |
Germany |
Switzerland |
Italy |
Preliminary round
|
15 February |
13:00 |
Game #2 |
Italy |
|
- |
|
Canada |
| 15:30 |
Game #3 |
Switzerland |
|
- |
|
Finland |
| 17:00 |
Game #4 |
Germany |
|
- |
|
Czech Republic |
|
16 February |
12:00 |
Game #7 |
Finland |
|
- |
|
Italy |
| 13:00 |
Game #8 |
Czech Republic |
|
- |
|
Switzerland |
| 20:00 |
Game #11 |
Canada |
|
- |
|
Germany |
|
18 February |
13:00 |
Game #14 |
Italy |
|
- |
|
Germany |
| 15:30 |
Game #15 |
Canada |
|
- |
|
Switzerland |
| 21:00 |
Game #18 |
Czech Republic |
|
- |
|
Finland |
|
19 February |
12:00 |
Game #19 |
Germany |
|
- |
|
Switzerland |
| 20:00 |
Game #23 |
Czech Republic |
|
- |
|
Italy |
| 21:00 |
Game #24 |
Finland |
|
- |
|
Canada |
|
21 February |
12:30 |
Game #26 |
Switzerland |
|
- |
|
Italy |
| 15:30 |
Game #27 |
Finland |
|
- |
|
Germany |
| 16:30 |
Game #28 |
Canada |
|
- |
|
Czech Republic |
Group B
| Team |
P: |
W: |
L: |
T: |
GF: |
GA: |
Pts: |
Sweden |
Slovakia |
United States of America |
Russia |
Latvia |
Kazakhstan |
Preliminary round
|
15 February |
11:30 |
Game #1 |
Kazakhstan |
|
- |
|
Sweden |
| 20:00 |
Game #5 |
Russia |
|
- |
|
Slovakia |
| 21:00 |
Game #6 |
Latvia |
|
- |
|
United States |
|
16 February |
16:00 |
Game #9 |
Sweden |
|
- |
|
Russia |
| 17:00 |
Game #10 |
Slovakia |
|
- |
|
Latvia |
| 21:00 |
Game #12 |
United States |
|
- |
|
Kazakhstan |
|
18 February |
11:30 |
Game #13 |
Kazakhstan |
|
- |
|
Russia |
| 17:00 |
Game #16 |
Sweden |
|
- |
|
Latvia |
| 20:00 |
Game #17 |
Slovakia |
|
- |
|
United States |
|
19 February |
13:00 |
Game #20 |
Russia |
|
- |
|
Latvia |
| 16:00 |
Game #21 |
Slovakia |
|
- |
|
Kazakhstan |
| 17:00 |
Game #22 |
United States |
|
- |
|
Sweden |
|
21 February |
11:30 |
Game #25 |
Latvia |
|
- |
|
Kazakhstan |
| 20:00 |
Game #29 |
Sweden |
|
- |
|
Slovakia |
| 20:30 |
Game #30 |
United States |
|
- |
|
Russia |
Quarterfinals
|
22 February |
16:30 |
Game #31 |
1st place, pool A |
|
- |
|
4th place, pool B |
| 17:30 |
Game #32 |
2nd place, pool A |
|
- |
|
3rd place, pool B |
| 20:30 |
Game #33 |
3rd place, pool A |
|
- |
|
2nd place, pool B |
| 21:30 |
Game #34 |
4th place, pool A |
|
- |
|
1st place, pool B |
Semifinals
|
24 February |
16:30 |
Game #35 |
Winner, game #31 |
|
- |
|
Winner, game #33 |
| 21:00 |
Game #36 |
Winner, game #32 |
|
- |
|
Winner, game #34 |
Bronze medal game
The winner will receive the bronze medal, with the loser
gaining 4th place.
|
25 February |
20:30 |
Game #37 |
Loser, game #35 |
|
- |
|
Loser, game #36 |
Gold medal game
The winner will receive the gold medal, with the loser
receiving the silver medal.
|
26 February |
14:00 |
Game #38 |
Winner, game #35 |
|
- |
|
Winner, game #36 |
********************************
Women's competition
Group A
| Team |
P: |
W: |
L: |
T: |
GF: |
GA: |
Pts: |
|
Canada |
|
Sweden |
|
Russia |
|
Italy |
Preliminary round
|
11 February |
15:30 |
Game #2 |
Sweden |
|
- |
|
Russia |
| 20:30 |
Game #4 |
Canada |
|
- |
|
Italy |
|
12 February |
16:30 |
Game #5 |
Russia |
|
- |
|
Canada |
|
13 February |
15:00 |
Game #7 |
Sweden |
|
- |
|
Italy |
|
14 February |
13:00 |
Game #9 |
Italy |
|
- |
|
Russia |
| 15:30 |
Game #10 |
Canada |
|
- |
|
Sweden |
Group B
| Team |
P: |
W: |
L: |
T: |
GF: |
GA: |
Pts: |
|
United States |
|
Finland |
|
Germany |
|
Switzerland |
Preliminary round
|
11 February |
13:00 |
Game #1 |
Finland |
|
- |
|
Germany |
| 18:00 |
Game #3 |
United States |
|
- |
|
Switzerland |
|
12 February |
19:00 |
Game #6 |
Germany |
|
- |
|
United States |
|
13 February |
17:30 |
Game #8 |
Finland |
|
- |
|
Switzerland |
|
14 February |
18:00 |
Game #11 |
Switzerland |
|
- |
|
Germany |
| 20:30 |
Game #12 |
United States |
|
- |
|
Finland |
Classification 5-8
|
17 February |
13:00 |
Game #13 |
3rd place |
|
- |
|
4th place |
| 18:30 |
Game #15 |
4th place |
|
- |
|
3rd place |
Classification 7/8
|
20 February |
13:00 |
Game #17 |
loser, game #13 |
|
- |
|
loser, game #15 |
Classification 5/6
|
20 February |
17:00 |
Game #19 |
winner, game #13 |
|
- |
|
winner, game #15 |
Semifinals
|
17 February |
17:00 |
Game #14 |
1st place |
|
- |
|
2nd place |
| 21:00 |
Game #16 |
2nd place |
|
- |
|
1st place |
Bronze medal match
|
20 February |
16:30 |
Game #18 |
loser, game #14 |
|
- |
|
loser, game #16 |
Gold medal match
|
20 February |
20:30 |
Game #20 |
winner, game #14 |
|
- |
|
winner, game #16 |
|
2002
Winter Olympic Games
Ice Hockey
| Medal |
Team |
| Gold |
Canada : Al MacInnis, Eric Brewer, Rob Blake,
Paul Kariya, Owen Nolan, Jarome Iginla, Brendan
Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Ed Belfour, Simon Gagné, Joe
Nieuwendyk, Scott Niedermayer, Martin Brodeur, Curtis
Joseph, Michael Peca, Chris Pronger, Adam Foote, Ed
Jovanovski, Mario Lemieux, Theoren Fleury, Eric Lindros,
Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth |
| Silver |
USA : Mike Dunham, Brian Leetch, Brian Rafalski, Tom
Poti, Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Mike Modano, John
LeClair, Tony Amonte, Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin, Brett
Hull, Chris Drury, Gary Suter, Chris Chelios, Adam
Deadmarsh, Tom Barrasso, Aaron Miller, Mike Richter,
Doug Weight, Scott Young
Mike York, Jeremy Roenick |
| Bronze |
Russia : Yegor Podomatsky, Danil Markov, Alexei
Kovalev, Vladimir Malakhov, Alexei Zhamnov, Sergei
Gonchar, Darius Kasparaitis, Pavel Datsyuk, Igor
Kravchuk, Oleg Tverdovsky, Pavel Bure, Igor Larionov
Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Yashin, Nikolai Khabibulin,
Boris Mironov, Sergei Samsonov, Valeri Bure, Maxim
Anfinogenov, Ilya Bryzgalov, Ilya Kovalchuk, Andrei
Nikolishin, Oleg Kvashna |
Fourteen countries played in the tournament. Six
countries, hockey powers Canada, the Czech Republic,
Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States of America
were admitted to the final eight.
The other eight countries, Austria, Belarus, France,
Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine played in
a preliminary round in two pools. The winners of those
pools, Belarus and Germany, advanced to the final round with
the other six.
The biggest surprise of the tournament was Belarus, 0-3-0 in
Group D play, knocking off 3-0-0 Sweden in quarterfinal
play. Canada won the gold medal, defeating the USA in a game
that was very close until a couple of late goals gave Canada
its final three-goal margin. Canadian Joe Sakic was named
tournament MVP.
Preliminary Round
Group A:
Germany 3-0-0
Latvia 1-1-1
Austria 1-2-0
Slovakia 0-2-1
Group B:
Belarus 2-1-0 (finished ahead of Ukraine by defeating them
head-to-head)
Ukraine 2-1-0
Switzerland 1-1-1
France 0-2-1
Final Round
Group C:
Sweden 3-0-0
Czech Republic 1-1-1 (finished ahead of Canada on goal
differential)
Canada 1-1-1
Germany 0-3-0
Group D:
USA 2-0-1
Finland 2-1-0
Russia 1-1-1
Belarus 0-3-0
Quarter-finals (February 20)
Belarus 4 Sweden 3
Russia 1 Czech Republic 0
USA 5 Germany 0
Canada 2 Finland 1
Semi-finals (February 22)
Canada 7 Belarus 1
USA 3 Russia 2
Bronze medal game (February 23)
Russia 7 Belarus 2
Gold medal game (February 24)
Canada 5 USA 2
*****************************************
Women
This was the second time the Winter Olympics
featured women's ice hockey.
| Medal |
Team |
| Gold |
Canada : Sami Jo Small, Becky Kellar, Colleen
Sostorics, Therese Brisson, Cherie Piper, Cheryl Pounder,
Lori Dupuis, Caroline Ouellette, Danielle Goyette, Jayna
Hefford, Jennifer Botterill, Hayley Wickenheiser, Dana
Antal, Kelly Bechard, Tammy Shewchuk, Kim St-Pierre,
Vicky Sunohara, Isabelle Chartrand, Cassie Campbell,
Geraldine Heaney |
| Silver |
United States: Sara Decosta, Tara Mounsey, Courtney
Kennedy, Angela Ruggiero, Lyndsay Wall, Karyn Bye, Sue
Merz, Laurie Baker, Andrea Kilbourne, A.J. Mleczko,
Jenny Potter, Julie Chu, Shelley Looney, Krissy Wendell,
Katie King, Cammi Granato, Natalie Darwitz, Chris
Bailey, Tricia Dunn, Sarah Tueting |
| Bronze |
Sweden: Emelie Berggren, Anna Andersson, Maria Rooth,
Erika Holst, Anna Vikman, Evina Samuelsson, Maria
Larsson, Kristina Bergstrand, Anne-Louise Edstrand,
Josefin Pettersson, Lotta Almblad, Joa Elfsberg, Gunilla
Andersson, Nanna Jansson, Therese Sjolander, Ylva
Lindberg, Danijela Rundqvist, Ulrica Lindstrom, Kim
Martin, Annica Ahlen |
Eight countries competed. The top two teams in each pool
advanced to the semi-finals.
Canada did not allow a goal in the preliminary round,
while USA allowed only one goal. Canada trailed 3-2 to
Finland going into the third period, but score 5 unanswered
goals to advance to the final.
USA had a fairly uneventful semi-final, shutting out
Sweden. In the final, Canada outplayed USA despite being
called for 13 penalties by the American referee (the
Americans received four penalties). As a result, the game is
considered somewhat controversial to many Canadian fans.
The turning point of the game probably came when Canada's
Jayna Hefford scored with one second left in the second
period to give the Canadians a 3-1 lead going into the third
period.
This turned out to be the winning goal as the USA scored
late in the third period on the
power play to cut the lead to 3-2, but Canada hung on to
win. It was the first women's hockey gold for Canada. Coming
into the game, the Americans were 35-0 on their season, and
had beaten the Canadians in their eight previous meetings.
Canadian
Hayley Wickenheiser was named tournament MVP.
Preliminary Round
Group A
- Canada 3-0-0
- Sweden 2-1-0
- Russia 1-2-0
- Kazakhstan 0-3-0
Group B
- United States 3-0-0
- Finland 2-1-0
- Germany 0-2-1 (finished ahead of China on goal
differential)
- People's Republic of China 0-2-1
Semi-finals
- Canada 7 Finland 3
- USA 4 Sweden 0
Bronze medal game (February 21)
Gold medal game (February 22)
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Credits
: Parts of this article are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"Ice Hockey".
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