The sport of Olympic ice hockey has seen its share of dramatic upsets. One of the most enduring is the 1980 Lake Placid “Miracle on Ice” where the U.S. defeated the mighty Soviet team in a semifinal. This victory marked the first time a non-Soviet team had defeated a Soviet/Unified team in Olympic history.
The men’s game has featured many other dramatic upsets and is often a riveting bracket race. The Olympics are played outdoors – from Chamonix 1920 through to Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 – which can provide for some wild weather and unruly ice. The rules of the game have changed slightly since the event’s debut in 1920, but most are similar to those used in the NHL. The game is played with six skaters and a goalie on each team.
One on-the-ice marking familiar to NHL fans is the trapezoid that marks the area behind the net where a goalie may not field a puck. The Olympic version of this marking is wider and extends to the blue lines that mark the zones on the ice.
Heading into the 1988 Calgary Games, some members of the media hinted that the end of the Soviet dynasty was near. And it came to pass in spectacular fashion, as the Americans took down the mighty Red Army.