A lightning-fast team sport that has drawn crowds to Olympic arenas for decades, ice hockey is one of the most exciting events at the Winter Games. It’s also one of the most popular events, with men’s and women’s ice hockey winning the most medals of any event at the Olympics. Canada is the king of both, having won 23 of the 30 men’s gold medals in Olympic history and 11 of the 20 women’s medals since the first appearance of the event at the 1920 Games in Antwerp.
From 1920 to 1952, teams from Canada dominated the men’s tournament before the Soviet Union entered the game in 1956 and began to dominate as well, winning seven of the next eight gold medals until the 1980 surprise victory at Lake Placid known as the Miracle on Ice. Canada then went 50 years without winning a gold medal, but reclaimed the title in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
On February 12, with the U.S. trailing Sweden 2-1 in the third period of the semifinals, a team captain came out on the ice to talk to his players. He told them that they could win if they fought hard, and they did, tying the game with less than a minute to play and eventually sending it into overtime.
In the ensuing overtime, a slap shot from Sidney Crosby set off a wild celebration in the American zone as the team won its second consecutive gold medal. That final game was notable for being the first to feature NHL players, who had been excluded from the Olympics until 1998, when they were allowed to compete in a tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation.