1. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? The United States' "Miracle On Ice" performance on home ice at the 1980 Lake Placid Games remains as one of the top Olympic highlights in history. A rag-tag band of collegians that was seeded seventh out of 12 teams, the Americans used several surprising comebacks in pool play to advance with Sweden, Finland and the Soviet Union into the medal round. Led by center and team captain Mike Eruzione and goalkeeper Jim Craig, the Americans defeated world power USSR 4-3 in what was becoming the customary come-from-behind style in the semifinal game. However, the United States still needed to defeat Finland in the final to win the gold, rather than finish in third place. After falling behind 2-1 to the Finns, the Americans rallied for a 4-2 victory, with TV viewers treated to shots of Craig skating around the frenzy-filled arena looking for his father and Eruzione calling for the entire U.S. team to join him on the medal stand for the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
2. SUPREME SOVIETS: When the Soviet Union broke onto the Olympic hockey scene at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Games, it started a dynamic dynasty that symbolized international domination. From the nine Winter Olympics from 1956 to 1988, the USSR collected seven golds, a silver and a bronze - with both lesser medals coming as the United States won top honors on home soil at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games and the 1980 Lake Placid Games. During that stretch, the Soviets compiled a 53-5-2 record and outscored the opposition 411 to 111. Toss in the ex-Soviet squad competing as the Unified Team at the 1992 Lillehammer Games, and the totals increase to 10 gold medals, 60 overall victories and a 457-125 goal differential.
3. PROS AND COMMUNISM — AND THE NHL: Professionalism in Olympics hockey has been an age-old issue. When Communist bloc countries joined the Olympic movement in the post-World War II era, many of their players were on government payroll as military employees — hence, the USSR's "Red Army" hockey team — while other free-world nations made do with bona fide amateurs. Canada even withdrew from hockey competition at the 1972 Sapporo Games to protest. However, the National Hockey League noticed the international appeal of the NBA's foray into Olympic basketball with the original "Dream Team" at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics and opted to allow NHL players to participate in the Winter Olympics, beginning with some of the lesser-profile players at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. However, the NHL suspended play during the 1997-98 season, allowing all qualifying NHL pros to participate in the 1998 Nagano Games, with star-studded squads facing off in the medal round.
4. ORIGINAL POWERHOUSE: Talk about an Olympic hockey empire, and most will think first and foremost of the USSR domination from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s. But Canada created a monster out on the ice long before the Soviets had their Union. During the seven Olympic tournaments from 1920 to 1952, Canada commanded respect by capturing six gold medals and one silver. The Canadians won 37 of 41 games, suffering just three losses and one tie. Even more impressively, they tallied 403 goals in 41 games while allowing just 34 in the stretch of seven Games. Canada hasn't won a hockey gold since, managing just three silvers and two bronzes since 1952.
5. YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY: For the 1998 Nagano Games, it was determined that a woman's place is also on the ice — women's ice hockey was added as a medal sport. And the inaugural gold-medal game was what everyone expected — a pairing of United States and Canada in what was to settle a decade-long North American grudge match. Having defeated the Canadians 7-4 just four days earlier in pool play, the Americans repeated the feat by a 3-1 score as the United States earned its first Olympic hockey gold since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" in men's competition.
6. MIRACLE PRECURSOR: The 1980 Lake Placid Games were not the only Olympics where a makeshift team of American college players took on and beat a dominant Soviet squad. The United States did the same at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games — only the feat wasn't broadcast live into living rooms across the country or globe. Team USA went undefeated in seven games, including a 2-1 quarterfinal win against co-favorite Canada, a surprising 3-2 comeback victory over the Soviets (the first U.S. victory vs. the USSR) and then a surprising 9-4 triumph over Czechoslovakia in the gold-medal game. The Americans were trailing the Czechs 4-3 after two periods of the championship game when USSR team captain Nikolai Sologubov came into the dressing room and gestured for the tense, exhausted U.S. squad to use oxygen during the final period. The Americans did and responded with a six-goal effort for the gold.
7. THE NHL COMES TO THE OLYMPICS: The 1998 Nagano Games were supposed to feature a galaxy full of NHL stars, what with the U.S.-based pro league shutting down to let its players fully participate in the Winter Olympics. But the results were not quite what was expected. The games were broadcast back to North America at odd hours, including some in the middle of the night. Despite a NHL-laden team, the United States and Canada both underachieved, with the Americans best remembered for boorish behavior of their trashing of their Olympic Village rooms. Meanwhile, Canada and its stellar lineup — featuring names like Gretzky, Lemieux, Lindros and Roy — stumbled its way into and then out of medal contention, ultimately losing to Finland in the bronze-medal game. And the gold medal went to the Czech Republic, headlined by superstars Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek and precious few NHL players - in fact, the least NHL players on any team in the medal round.
8. WOE, CANADA: If the United States' upset victories over the Soviets and the rest of the world at the 1960 and 1980 Games are highlights, so should be Great Britain's upset of Canada at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games. Canada had established itself as supreme ruler of Olympic hockey since the sport's debut in 1920, collecting four straight golds and an undefeated streak of 20 straight games. Great Britain held off Canada 2-1 in the semifinals and clinched the gold by surviving a 0-0 triple-overtime tie with the United States in the final match. The Brits had a strong Canadian flavor, with one player who was a native of Canada and nine other teammates who had moved to that country as teenagers and had picked up the sport.
9. TOTAL DOMINATION: Olympic ice hockey is replete with examples of dynasties and domination, but perhaps the prime example is Canada's performance in the 1924 Chamonix Games. Ice hockey actually debuted at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games, but at the inaugural Winter Olympics, Canada ripped through the competition by winning all five of its games. The Canadians outscored their opponents 110 to 3, including a 33-0 pummeling of Switzerland that still stands as the most lopsided victory in Olympic hockey history.
10. SWEET SWEDES: After managing just two silver medals and four bronze medals in 15 previous Olympic tournaments, Sweden captured its first-ever hockey gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Games — and had to work overtime and more to do it. Facing Canada — a team it had lost to in preliminary play — for the championship, Sweden battled to a 2-2 tie after regulation and a 10-minute overtime period. In the shootout, Peter Nedved and Paul Kariya gave Canada a 2-0 lead, while Sweden's Magnus Svensson and Peter Forsberg later scored to draw even and force an ensuing sudden-death phase. After each team missed a shot, Forsberg scored for Sweden, while goalie Tommy Salo stopped Paul Kariya's shot to clinch the gold for the Swedes.
