The Olympic Games And Ice Hockey
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While plenty of individuals have taken part in ice hockey for decades, it was not until 1920 that it became part of the Olympics. The ladies event has been around since the 1998 Winter Olympics. The competition was limited to amateur players until 1988 and the National Hockey League (NHL) did not permit participation by its players right up until 1998. The game at the Olympics follows the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation, which are actually somewhat different from NHL rules.
At the start of the men's hockey event, Canada was the most prominent in the first 30 years, winning 6 of 7 gold medals. America, Czechoslovakia and Sweden were the other successful medal winning teams during this time period. From 1920 to 1968, the Olympic Games were also considered to be the world championship for that year. The Soviet Union first took part in 1956 and replaced Canada as the victorious team by winning 7 of 9 tournaments in which they participated. Canada went for 50 years without a gold medal before they won in 2002 and soon after in 2010 at the competition that they hosted. Some other teams to win gold included the US, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain.
In 1988, the rules were relaxed to permit all players to take part instead of only amateurs as had been the case. The NHL was in fact hesitant to allow its players to get involved because the Olympics are held in the midst of the NHL season. The NHL was nervous that they would be required to postpone their tournament if a lot of NHL players took part in the Olympics. Nevertheless, they relented in 1988 and, based on the most up-to-date rules, every team is permitted to use NHL players even in the preliminary games.
The International Olympic Committee in July of 1992 made a decision to incorporate women's ice hockey in the Olympics and the first ladies competition occurred at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan in 1998. The Nagano authorities were initially not wanting to stage this event due to the extra expenses. A compromise was finally reached, that restricted participation to 6 teams with the condition that no additional facilities would be provided. Since the beginning, the women's event has been reigned over by America and Canada and they've only lost to one another. The 1st tournament in 1998 was won by the United States while Canada has won in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Some critics have protested about the domination of the US and Canada, but it appears that this will keep on until the other countries have managed to raise their standards of women's ice hockey. |
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By :
William Greenburg
Submitted
2011-11-16 09:50:21 |
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