Olympic ice hockey is different than the NHL game in many ways, including how players are treated. Fighting is not allowed and if it occurs, the offending player will be penalized and possibly ejected from the game. The rinks used for Olympic games are also larger than those found in the NHL and a team is only allowed to dress 11 players for each game. If a team is short of a legal number of players (five skaters and a goalie), they must forfeit the game.
The Good:
One of the most iconic moments in Olympic ice hockey came in the 1980 Games in Lake Placid when U.S. player Mike Eruzione scored the “Miracle on Ice.” The United States was trailing the Soviet Union in the semifinal game when Eruzione picked up a loose puck in the Soviet zone, used his defenseman as a screen and wristed it past goalie Vladislav Tretiak to win the game and the gold medal for America.
The Bad:
In the same year, a controversial incident in the final game of the men’s Olympic tournament saw a puck that appeared to cross the goal line be ruled no good by the linesman. The puck had been slowed down by a stick in the attacking team’s zone, which caused it to wobble and come to rest on the line — not fully crossing. Despite the incident, Canada won the gold medal. The following year, the IIHF introduced a shootout to determine a winner in a tied medal-game contest.
