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Ice Hockey at the Winter Olympics: A Timeline
When was ice hockey first included in the Olympics?
Which country dominated Olympic ice hockey initially?
When was women’s ice hockey introduced to the Olympics?
Will National Hockey League (NHL) players participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics?
Is the “Miracle on Ice” a true story?
The inclusion of ice hockey in the modern Olympics preceded the creation of the Winter Games. The first Olympic men’s ice hockey event was at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It was later included in the list of sports for the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and has been played in every edition since. Canada, which won the gold medal for ice hockey at the first Winter Games in 1924, dominated the international competition until the emergence of the Soviet Union’s team in the 1960s. The Soviet team remained the most powerful in Olympic hockey until the country’s collapse in the 1990s. Women’s ice hockey was introduced at the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
Initially, only amateur players could participate in Olympic ice hockey. Following an agreement in 1995 between professional hockey associations, led by the National Hockey League (NHL; professional North American ice hockey league) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), professional players were allowed to compete in Olympic ice hockey, starting with the 1998 Winter Games. A later dispute with the IOC led the NHL to rescind permission for league players to participate in both the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. By 2025 the sporting bodies had reached a new agreement, thus allowing NHL players to participate in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
2026 Winter Olympics tournament format
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) sets the eligibility criteria for participation in Olympic ice hockey events. For the 2026 Winter Games, 12 teams were chosen to participate in the men’s category and 10 teams in the women’s category, with a different grouping, format, and schedule for each tournament. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were banned from participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics, which led to France taking over Russia’s spot in both categories.
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Men’s tournament
The men’s contest is scheduled to be held from February 11 to 22, 2026. The 12 teams participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s ice hockey event consist of the top eight teams in the IIHF rankings following the IIHF 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship, three countries chosen through a qualification tournament, and the host country, Italy. The 12 participants were divided into three groups of four teams each.
- Group A: Canada, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Switzerland, France
- Group B: Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Italy
- Group C: United States, Latvia, Germany, Denmark
The Olympic competition format consists of a preliminary round in which each team will play against the other three in its respective group once. The teams will then be ranked 1st–12th based on their respective performances in the preliminary round according to the following criteria in order of precedence: positions in the group, the total number of points, goal difference, number of goals scored, and IIHF world ranking coming into the event. The top 4 teams will advance directly to the quarterfinal round, and the teams ranked 5th–12th will play each other in an elimination round, with the 5th seed facing off against the 12th seed, the 6th against the 11th, the 7th against the 10th, and the 8th against the 9th.
The winners of the elimination round will advance to the quarterfinals and play the top 4 teams, with the team ranked number 1 taking on the winner of the game between the teams ranked 8th and 9th, the 2nd seed playing the winner of the game between the 7th and 10th seeds, the 3rd seed playing the winner of the game between the 6th and 11th seeds, and the 4th seed facing off against the winner of the game between the 5th and 12th-ranked teams. The four winners of the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals, with the highest-ranked winning team from the preliminary standings facing off against the one with the lowest rank and the other two teams playing in the other semifinal. The two semifinal winners will advance to the final. The gold medal will be awarded to the winner of the final, and the losing team will get the silver medal. The losing semifinalists will play a separate game, with the bronze medal going to the winner.
The men’s ice hockey competition schedule can be found in the table.
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| date | game | group | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 11 | Slovakia vs. Finland | Group B | Slovakia won 4–1 |
| Sweden vs. Italy | Group B | Sweden won 5–2 | |
| February 12 | Switzerland vs. France | Group A | Switzerland won 4–0 |
| Czechia vs. Canada | Group A | Canada won 5–0 | |
| Germany vs. Denmark | Group C | Germany won 3–1 | |
| Latvia vs. United States | Group C | United States won 5–1 | |
| February 13 | Finland vs. Sweden | Group B | Finland won 4–1 |
| Italy vs. Slovakia | Group B | Slovakia won 3–2 | |
| France vs. Czechia | Group A | Czechia won 6–3 | |
| Canada vs. Switzerland | Group A | Canada won 5–1 | |
| February 14 | Sweden vs. Slovakia | Group B | Sweden won 5–3 |
| Germany vs. Latvia | Group C | Latvia won 4–3 | |
| Finland vs. Italy | Group B | Finland won 11–0 | |
| United States vs. Denmark | Group C | United States won 6–3 | |
| February 15 | Switzerland vs. Czechia | Group A | Switzerland won 4–3 after overtime |
| Canada vs. France | Group A | Canada won 10–2 | |
| Denmark vs. Latvia | Group C | Denmark won 4–2 | |
| United States vs. Germany | Group C | United States won 5–1 |
| date | round | matchup | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 17 | Qualification play-off | Germany vs France | Germany won 5–1 |
| Qualification play-off | Switzerland vs Italy | Switzerland won 3–0 | |
| Qualification play-off | Czechia vs Denmark | Czechia won 3–2 | |
| Qualification play-off | Sweden vs Latvia | Sweden won 5–1 | |
| February 18 | Quarterfinals | Slovakia vs Germany | Slovakia won 6–2 |
| Quarterfinals | Canada vs Czechia | Canada won 4–3 after overtime | |
| Quarterfinals | Finland vs Switzerland | Finland won 3–2 after overtime | |
| Quarterfinals | United States vs Sweden | United States won 2–1 after overtime | |
| February 20 | Semifinals | Canada vs Finland | Canada won 3–2 |
| Semifinals | United States vs Slovakia | United States won 6–2 | |
| February 21 | Bronze medal game | Finland vs Slovakia | Finland won 6–1 |
| February 22 | Gold medal game | Canada vs United States | United States won 2–1 after overtime |
Women’s tournament
The women’s contest is scheduled to be held from February 5 to 19, 2026. The 10 teams participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics women’s ice hockey competition consist of the top six teams in the 2024 IIHF standings following the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, three countries chosen through a qualification tournament, and the host country, Italy. The 10 teams were divided into two groups of five teams each, with the top five teams placed in Group A and the rest in Group B.
- Group A: Canada, United States, Finland, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Switzerland
- Group B: Japan, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France
The tournament format consists of a preliminary round in which each team will play the other four in its group once. The five teams from Group A and the top-three-ranked teams from Group B will advance to the elimination rounds.
The eight remaining teams will be ranked according to their results in the preliminary round. In the quarterfinal round the top-ranked team from Group A will be matched against the team ranked third in Group B, the second-ranked team in Group A will play the second-ranked team in Group B, the third-ranked team in Group A will face off against the top-ranked team in Group B, and the teams ranked fourth and fifth in Group A will face off against each other. The four winning teams will advance to the semifinals, the winners of which will compete for the gold medal. The two losing semifinalists will play to decide the bronze medal winner.
The women’s ice hockey competition schedule can be found in the table.
| date | game | group | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Fixture was postponed. | |||
| February 5 | Sweden vs. Germany | Group B | Sweden won 4–1 |
| Italy vs. France | Group B | Italy won 4–1 | |
| United States vs. Czechia | Group A | United States won 5–1 | |
| February 6 | France vs. Japan | Group B | Japan won 3–2 |
| Czechia vs. Switzerland | Group A | Switzerland won 3–3 (4–3) after a shoot-out | |
| February 7 | Germany vs. Japan | Group B | Germany won 5–2 |
| Sweden vs. Italy | Group B | Sweden won 6–1 | |
| United States vs. Finland | Group A | United States won 5–0 | |
| Switzerland vs. Canada | Group A | Canada won 4–0 | |
| February 8 | France vs. Sweden | Group B | Sweden won 4–0 |
| Czechia vs. Finland | Group A | Czechia won 2–0 | |
| February 9 | Japan vs. Italy | Group B | Italy won 3–2 |
| Germany vs. France | Group B | Germany won 2–1 after overtime | |
| Switzerland vs. United States | Group A | United States won 5–0 | |
| Canada vs. Czechia | Group A | Canada won 5–1 | |
| February 10 | Japan vs. Sweden | Group B | Sweden won 4–0 |
| Italy vs. Germany | Group B | Germany won 2–1 | |
| Canada vs. United States | Group A | United States won 5–0 | |
| Finland vs. Switzerland | Group A | Finland won 3–1 | |
| February 12* | Finland vs. Canada | Group A | Canada won 5–0 |
| date | round | matchup | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 13 | Quarterfinals | Czechia vs Sweden | Sweden won 2–0 |
| Quarterfinals | United States vs Italy | United States won 6–0 | |
| February 14 | Quarterfinals | Canada vs Germany | Canada won 5–1 |
| Quarterfinals | Finland vs Switzerland | Switzerland won 1–0 | |
| February 16 | Semifinals | United States vs Sweden | United States won 5–0 |
| Semifinals | Canada vs Switzerland | Canada won 2–1 | |
| February 19 | Bronze medal game | Sweden vs Switzerland | Switzerland won 2–1 after overtime |
| Gold medal game | United States vs Canada | United States won 2–1 after overtime |
This timeline charts key milestones in the history of ice hockey at the Winter Olympics.
1920–56: Early years and Canadian dominance
Canada’s depth of talent and its established amateur playing culture helped it dominate early Olympic-era ice hockey. The country won the gold medal during the first four ice hockey Olympic tournaments in 1920, 1924, 1928, and 1932. During the 1936 Winter Games, Great Britain defeated Canada to win its only gold medal in the event, despite controversy surrounding the eligibility of several British team members who were born in Britain but had grown up playing hockey in Canada.
The Olympics were suspended during World War II, which meant that Canada had to wait until the 1948 Games to reclaim its ice hockey crown. It won its sixth title in 1952. The Soviet Union made its debut at the Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games and won its first ice hockey gold medal, marking a seismic shift in international hockey.
1956–80: Rise of the Soviet Union and U.S. “miracles”
The Soviet dominance of Olympic hockey lasted until the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. Anatoly Tarasov, known as the “father of Russian hockey,” guided the Soviet Union to Olympic gold medals in 1964, 1968, and 1972. He combined the highly physical Canadian style of play with the finesse of European hockey, creating a unique blend of skill and aggressiveness. In addition, Tarasov developed what became known as “the great Soviet hockey machine,” a system of early recruitment and training of young athletes.
This era was also marked by an ongoing controversy surrounding the definition of amateur and professional players. For instance, Canada refused to participate in international hockey, including Olympic tournaments, from 1970 to 1977 on the grounds that the Soviet Union and other Eastern European teams were using “shamateur” (a portmanteau of “sham” and “amateur”) athletes who trained and competed full-time, similar to professional players, but drew salaries from unrelated professions to maintain their amateur status. It was common for Soviet players to hold military ranks to circumvent the Olympics’ exclusion of professional athletes. The issue remained unresolved until 1986, when the IOC changed its policy and allowed professionals to compete in the Olympics.
The only major Olympic upsets for the Soviet hockey team during this era came in 1960 and 1980, at the hands of the United States. During the 1960 Games the U.S. team, led by coach Jack Riley and featuring such talented amateur athletes as John Mayasich, Bill Cleary, and goaltender Jack McCartan, was considered the underdog despite having won the silver medal four years before. The team was also grappling with a morale problem after Riley’s controversial last-minute decision to cut players Herb Brooks and Bob Dupuis in favor of brothers Bill and Bob Cleary. However, the U.S. team rose to the occasion and took home the gold medal, also scoring its first-ever win over the Soviet team in Olympic competition.
1980: The “Miracle on Ice”
The U.S. team’s gold medal at the Lake Placid 1980 Olympic Winter Games has become one of the most famous underdog success stories in Olympic hockey history, with the team’s upset victory over the heavily favored Soviets during the competition dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.” The stakes were much higher than in 1960, following two decades of Cold War-charged geopolitical conflict and the Soviet team entering the competition as the runaway favorites after winning four consecutive Olympic ice hockey gold medals in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976. It was also the first time since 1960 that the United States had hosted the Winter Games. The “shamateur” issue was again seen as a major factor, with the U.S. roster built largely around college players, whereas the Soviet team was composed of seasoned, effectively full-time players.
Herb Brooks, who had famously been cut from the 1960 gold-medal-winning team, was chosen to coach the U.S. 1980 Olympic team. After an exhaustive tryout process, the final 20-man roster consisted mainly of college-age players from Minnesota and New England, including team captain Mike Eruzione, goaltender Jim Craig, Mark Johnson, Dave Christian, and Rob McClanahan. Buzz Schneider was the only selected player with any Olympic experience, having been part of the 1976 Olympic team. In contrast, the Soviet team, coached by Victor Tikhonov, included such Olympic veterans as talismanic goalie Vladislav Tretiak, team captain Boris Mikhailov, Valeri Kharlamov, and Viacheslav Fetisov. The U.S. team was seeded 7th out of 12 teams in the tournament, and the Soviet team was the top seed. Both sides went unbeaten in their respective groups (the United States with four wins and a tie and the Soviets with five wins) to advance to the four-team medal round.
On February 22, 2026, the anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, the U.S. men’s team won its third Olympic hockey gold medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Games.
On February 22, 1980, the U.S. and Soviet teams faced off in front of a sold-out crowd of nearly 10,000 jammed into the Lake Placid arena. The teams traded goals in the first period, with Soviet player Valery Krotov deflecting a shot past Craig and Schneider tying the game with a high shot. The Soviets took a 2–1 lead after Sergei Makarov scored, but U.S. player Mark Johnson’s last-second goal meant that the teams were tied 2–2 after the first period.
In a surprise move, Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin at the start of the second period. The Soviets dominated the second period, outshooting the United States 12–2 but scoring only one goal, by Alexander Maltsev, thanks to a series of extraordinary saves by Craig. With one period to go, the Soviets led 3–2.
Tikhonov’s decision to pull Tretiak would prove to cost the Soviets dearly, as Johnson scored to tie the game for the third time midway through the third period. Barely 90 seconds later, Eruzione connected on a 20-foot wrist shot to give the United States its first lead of the game. With the score at 4–3, Craig made a series of clutch saves over the game’s final 10 minutes to secure a U.S. victory; he finished with an impressive save percentage of .923 (the proportion of shots stopped to total shots faced, including goals scored against).
ABC sportscaster Al Michaels immortalized the game with one of the most renowned calls in sports broadcasting history that led to the game being dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.” As the final seconds were counting down, Michaels uttered: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” The U.S. team’s win has become an integral part of ice hockey and Winter Olympics history. ESPN has called it “the most famous hockey game ever played.” In 1999 Sports Illustrated ranked it the top sports moment of the 20th century.
The United States secured the gold medal after beating Finland two days later.
1984–2014: Professionals, women’s hockey, and Canada’s return to the top
The Soviet ice hockey team returned to the top of the Winter Olympics competition by winning golds in the 1980s and early 1990s, with its last victory in 1992 as a special team following the collapse of the U.S.S.R. The controversy regarding the eligibility of professional hockey players and any ambiguity about “shamateurs” was also settled when, in 1986, the IOC removed the ban on professional athletes competing in the Olympics.
Professional hockey players, however, were not allowed to compete at the Olympics and in other major international events until the 1995 agreement among the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, and the IIHF came into effect. This led to substantial structural adjustments in Olympic hockey, including a shift from open tryouts toward roster building by national governing bodies for team selection. The NHL also altered its season to accommodate Olympic participation. The Nagano 1998 Winter Games marked the first time that professional players participated in the Olympic ice hockey competition, including such NHL stars as Wayne Gretzky, Martin Brodeur, and Joe Sakic from Canada; Mike Modano and Brett Hull from the United States; Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure from Russia; and Jaromír Jágr and Dominik Hašek from the Czech Republic. The Czech team scored upset victories against Canada and Russia to win the gold medal.
The Nagano Games also featured women’s ice hockey for the first time in Olympic history. The U.S. women’s team won gold, beating Canada in the final.
With the inclusion of professional players, international hockey and Olympic events became known colloquially as “best-on-best” competitions. Canada reemerged as an international ice hockey powerhouse in the 2000s and 2010s, with the men’s and women’s teams both securing gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (2002), Vancouver (2010), and Sochi (2014). The Canadian women’s team also won gold at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. The men’s 2002 win was the team’s first gold medal in 50 years.
2014–22: NHL-IOC dispute
After the Sochi 2014 Games, a dispute erupted between the NHL and the IOC over which organization should cover participation-related costs, such as travel, insurance, and accommodations for participating athletes. This dispute was compounded by multiple NHL franchises criticizing the midseason disruption to the league schedule and the risk of injury to its players during the Olympics. The NHL ultimately chose not to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after participating in five consecutive Winter Games.
The disruption to the NHL regular season caused by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that NHL players also did not participate in the 2022 Beijing Games.
2022–26: NHL players returning to the Winter Games
In 2024 NHL executives said they were planning the return of “best-on-best” hockey for the 2026 Winter Games. They announced that NHL players would again be eligible to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics. In July 2025 the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, and the IIHF signed a formal agreement to this effect at the IOC headquarters in Switzerland.
List of ice hockey medal winners
A list of Olympic ice hockey medal winners in both the men’s and women’s categories can be found in the tables.
| year | gold | silver | bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Athletes from former Soviet republics competed under this name after the collapse of the Soviet Union | |||
| **Athletes competed under a neutral flag because of a ban against Russia for manipulating drug-testing data | |||
| 1920 | Canada | United States | Czechoslovakia |
| 1924 | Canada | United States | Great Britain |
| 1928 | Canada | Sweden | Switzerland |
| 1932 | Canada | United States | Germany |
| 1936 | Great Britain | Canada | United States |
| 1948 | Canada | Czechoslovakia | Switzerland |
| 1952 | Canada | United States | Sweden |
| 1956 | Soviet Union | United States | Canada |
| 1960 | United States | Canada | Soviet Union |
| 1964 | Soviet Union | Sweden | Czechoslovakia |
| 1968 | Soviet Union | Czechoslovakia | Canada |
| 1972 | Soviet Union | United States | Czechoslovakia |
| 1976 | Soviet Union | Czechoslovakia | West Germany |
| 1980 | United States | Soviet Union | Sweden |
| 1984 | Soviet Union | Czechoslovakia | Sweden |
| 1988 | Soviet Union | Finland | Sweden |
| 1992 | Unified Team* | Canada | Czechoslovakia |
| 1994 | Sweden | Canada | Finland |
| 1998 | Czech Republic | Russia | Finland |
| 2002 | Canada | United States | Russia |
| 2006 | Sweden | Finland | Czech Republic |
| 2010 | Canada | United States | Finland |
| 2014 | Canada | Sweden | Finland |
| 2018 | Olympic Athletes from Russia** | Germany | Canada |
| 2022 | Finland | Russian Olympic Committee** | Slovakia |
| 2026 | United States | Canada | Finland |
| year | gold | silver | bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | United States | Canada | Finland |
| 2002 | Canada | United States | Sweden |
| 2006 | Canada | Sweden | United States |
| 2010 | Canada | United States | Finland |
| 2014 | Canada | United States | Switzerland |
| 2018 | United States | Canada | Finland |
| 2022 | Canada | United States | Finland |
| 2026 | United States | Canada | Switzerland |