Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is a Canadian sport that began in the early 19th century. Around 1860, a ball was substituted for a puck, and, in 1879, two McGill University students, W. F. Robertson and R. F. Smith, devised the first rules, combining field hockey and rugby regulations. Originally, the game was played nine to a side. The sport became the Canadian national sport with leagues everywhere. In 1894, Lord Stanley of Preston, Governor-General of Canada, donated the Stanley Cup, that was first won in 1894 by a team representing the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.

Ice hockey was contested at the 1920 Summer Olympics at Antwerpen, held in early April. These were also the first World Championships and were played by seven-man sides, the only time seven-man teams played in the Olympics. In 1924, now at the Winter Olympics, the competition began using the current standard of six men on the ice at a time.

Ice hockey has been held at every Olympic Winter Games. Canada dominated early Olympic ice hockey tournaments as might be expected. In 1956, the Soviet Union first entered the Olympic Winter Games and won the ice hockey tournament quite handily. It was the pre-eminent country until its political division, its dominance interrupted only by major upset victories by the United States in 1960 and 1980.

Professionalism has always been a consideration in Olympic ice hockey. Canada dominated the early years of Olympic hockey, despite not being able to use their pros. When the Soviet Union came in in 1956, and assumed that dominance, Canada claimed that the Soviet ice hockey players were amateurs in name only, which was likely correct. Canada then boycotted the Olympic ice hockey tournament, not sending a team in 1972 or 1976.

Finally, in the late 1980s, some professionals were allowed to compete in Olympic ice hockey, and, in 1998, all players from the National Hockey League (NHL) became eligible. In fact, the NHL has usually shut down for slightly over two weeks in mid-season to allow its players to compete at the Olympics, although this did not occur in 2018. Women’s ice hockey appeared for the first time on the Olympic Program at Nagano 1998.

Canada now leads the medal count (23 medals and 14 golds), followed by the Soviet Union (nine medals and seven golds) and the United States (18 medals and four golds). The athletes with the most medals have been two Canadian women, Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser, with five medals and four golds. Caroline Ouellette, also from Canada, has also won four gold medals. On the men’s side, there are six players with three gold medals, and eight players with a total of four medals, but only Russian-born Vladislav Tretyak enters both lists, representing the Soviet Union from 1972 to 1984.

The sport is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which was founded on 15 May 1908. As of 2022, it has 59 full member nations, 22 associate members and one affiliate member, totaling 82 member associations.

Presidents of the International Ice Hockey Federation:

• Louis Magnus (FRA, 1908-1912)
• Henri van den Bulcke (BEL, 1912-1914)
• Louis Magnus (FRA, 1914)
• Peter Patton (GBR, 1914)
• Henri van den Bulcke (BEL, 1914-1920)
• Max Sillig (SUI, 1920-1922)
• Paul Loicq (BEL, 1922-1947)
• Fritz Kraatz (SUI, 1947-1948)
• George Hardy (CAN, 1948-1951)
• Fritz Kraatz (SUI, 1951-1954)
• Walter Brown (USA, 1954-1957)
• Bunny Ahearne (GBR, 1957-1960)
• Robert Lebel (CAN, 1960-1963)
• Bunny Ahearne (GBR, 1963-1966)
• William Thayer Tutt (GBR, 1966-1969)
• Bunny Ahearne (GBR, 1969-1975)
• Günther Sabetzki (FRG/GER, 1975-1994)
• René Fasel (SUI, 1994-present)