Olympic Ice Hockey

Held at each Winter Olympics, the Olympic ice hockey events feature two separate tournaments and sets of medals, with the top national men's and women's teams competing. The men's tournament has a long history dating back to 1920, but the women's event is new, starting at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Teams qualify for the competition based on their standings in the International Ice Hockey Federation rankings. The top nine men's and top six women's teams in the rankings receive an automatic berth, with the additional spots being filled in one of several qualification rounds held several months in advance of the winter games.

Each tournament begins with a round robin portion, with the 12 men's and eight women's teams competing in a series of games. The top teams from the preliminary rounds then enter a bracket-style tournament, playing for the bronze, silver and gold medals.

In the 2010 Olympics, the Olympic hockey events were held at the General Motors Place and the UBC Winter Sports Centre, both in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The women's event began on February 13, 2010, with the men's following on February 16. The women's gold medal game was held on February 25 and the men's, one of the last events of the Winter Olympics, was on February 28.http://www.nbcolympics.com/hockey/resultsandschedules/index.html

In both tournaments, Canada defeated the United States in the gold medal games with Finland coming in third to take home the bronze medal.

While Canada leads all other nations in total medals in Olympic ice hockey, the United States is not far behind with 15 total medals. Canada also leads all others in gold medals, winning three in the women's tournament and eight in the men's, just ahead of the Soviet Union for men's gold medals.http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ICH/mens-ice-hockey.html

Perhaps the most notable ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics came in the 1980 games that were held in Lake Placid, New York. Against all odds, U.S. coach Herb Brooks led a team of amateur players to not only upset the heavily favored Soviet team in the preliminary round, but go on to win the gold medal as well. The 1980 U.S. team was the last time the U.S. won the gold medal in men's ice hockey. The 2010 games marked the 30th anniversary of the aptly named "Miracle On Ice."http://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-championship/top-story-of-the-century.html