2002 Olympics

2002 Olympics Ice hockey games were held at the E Center and Peaks Ice Arena in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah. Both the men's and women's tournaments were won by Canada, defeating the host United States in both finals.

Men[]

Gold:	Silver:	Bronze:
Canada Mario Lemieux-C Paul Kariya Ed Jovanovski Curtis Joseph Jarome Iginla Simon Gagné Chris Pronger Mike Peca Owen Nolan Joe Nieuwendyk Scott Niedermayer Adam Foote Theo Fleury Martin Brodeur Eric Brewer Rob Blake Ed Belfour Steve Yzerman-A Ryan Smyth Brendan Shanahan Joe Sakic-A Al MacInnis Eric Lindros	United States Bill Guerin Mike Dunham Chris Drury Aaron Miller Adam Deadmarsh Mike Richter Tom Poti Scott Young Doug Weight Keith Tkachuk Chris Chelios-C Tony Amonte Phil Housley- A Mike York Brian Rolston Tom Barrasso Gary Suter Jeremy Roenick Brian Rafalski Mike Modano Brian Leetch - A John LeClair Brett Hull	Russia Yegor Podomatsky Danny Markov Alexei Kovalev Vladimir Malakhov Alexei Zhamnov Sergei Gonchar Darius Kasparaitis-A Pavel Datsyuk Igor Kravchuk Oleg Tverdovsky Pavel Bure-A Igor Larionov-C Sergei Fedorov Alexei Yashin Nikolai Khabibulin Boris Mironov Sergei Samsonov Valeri Bure Maxim Afinogenov Ilya Bryzgalov Ilya Kovalchuk Andrei Nikolishin Oleg Kvasha

Fourteen countries played in the tournament. Six hockey powers (Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the United States) were automatically admitted to the final eight. The other eight countries (Austria, Belarus, France, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Ukraine) played in a preliminary round in two pools. The winners of those pools, Belarus and Germany, advanced to the final round with the six hockey powers.

The biggest surprise of the tournament was Belarus, 0–3–0 in Group D play, knocking off 3–0–0 Sweden in quarterfinal play. After that upset, the Swedish media held their players responsible for the loss, even going as far to publish their NHL salaries. The players responded by not returning to Sweden during the NHL break, although that was unlikely since the Olympics were held in the same continent as their NHL teams and play resumed soon after the Olympics ended.

Another major surprise was the silver medal finish of Team USA, which was not considered a contender as it was steeped heavily in over-30 veterans. Although it retained most of the players from the 1998 team which had performed below expectations, this time it was coached by Herb Brooks who had been responsible for the "Miracle on Ice" over the Soviet Union during the 1980 Olympics. Despite being close to the end of their careers, Mike Richter and Phil Housley put up phenomenal performances. Brett Hull, John LeClair and Mike Modano formed the "Divine Line" which led the tournament in scoring. Ending up, USA finished second in the round robin.

The USA's semi-final victory over Russia came coincidentally on the 22-year anniversary of the upset of the Soviet team at Lake Placid in 1980. The Americans stormed out to a 3–0 lead for the first two periods, before withstanding a furious two-goal rally from the Russians to advance. Russian coach Slava Fetisov, ironically one of the stars for the 1980 Soviet squad, complained about the selection of NHL referees to officiate Olympic matches and charged that officials were trying to fix a Canada-USA final for North American audiences.

Canada had a lackluster start, losing 5–2 to Sweden, only managing to defeat Germany by a score of 3–2, and drawing with the Czech Republic. These performances prompted an emotional response from Team Canada manager Wayne Gretzky, in particular the referee's failure to call a clear hit from behind on Canada's Theoren Fleury in the game against the Czech Republic. However, Canada improved in the elimination round, defeating Finland 2–1, and easily sweeping surprise semi-finalist Belarus 7–1. Canada then won the gold medal, defeating the USA by three goals, 5-2. Canada clearly dominated the game and achieved the result speculated. This was the first Olympic gold medal in 50 years for the Canadian ice hockey team. Canadian Joe Sakic was named tournament MVP, having scored twice and assisted on two more during the finals.

Thanks to the much-anticipated Canada-USA matchup in the final in front of a North American home crowd, TV ratings for this match were the highest in Olympic history. In the United States, the Canadian gold medal win was the highest rated hockey game, Olympic or NHL, since the 1980 Winter Olympics, with NBC's live coverage of it drawing a 10.7 rating. It was the largest network hockey audience in the U.S. in 22 years. In Canada, the CBC said that 10.6 million watched the game. Veteran CBC Sports commentator Bob Cole called in the dying seconds of the game: "Now, after 50 years, it's time for Canada to stand up and cheer! Stand up and cheer everybody! The Olympics, Salt Lake City 2002 Men's Ice Hockey Gold Medal: Canada!"

During the final, the legend of the lucky loonie was born when Canadian icemaker Trent Evans buried a Canadian one dollar coin (Loonie) under centre ice and both the Canadian men's and women's teams won gold.

The format of the tournament was the same one used in 1998 Olympics in Nagano. It was controversial because the National Hockey League clubs would not release their players for the preliminary round. This severely hampered the campaigns of Germany and Slovakia, although the former country managed to qualify for the final group stage. Also the final group stage was criticized as being meaningless since all of the teams qualified for the quarter-finals.

The format was changed for the 2006 Olympics in an effort to address these criticisms.

Preliminary round[]

Group A[]

Top team (shaded) advanced to the first round.

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	10	3	+7	6
Latvia	3	1	1	1	11	12	−1	3
Austria	3	1	2	0	7	9	−2	2
Slovakia	3	0	2	1	8	12	−4	1

All times are local (UTC-7).

9 February 2002
16:00

Germany

3 – 0
(0–0, 0–2, 0–1)

Slovakia

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,504

Game reference

9 February 2002
19:00

Latvia

4 – 2
(1–2, 1–2, 0–0)

Austria

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,159

Game reference

10 February 2002
16:00

Austria

2 – 3
(0–2, 2–0, 0–1)

Germany

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,444

Game reference

10 February 2002
19:00

Latvia

6 – 6
(2–2, 2–4, 2–0)

Slovakia

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,377

Game reference

12 February 2002
16:00

Slovakia

2 – 3
(1–1, 1–1, 0–1)

Austria

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,362

Game reference

12 February 2002
19:00

Germany

4 – 1
(2–1, 2–0, 0–0)

Latvia

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,574

Game reference

Group B[]

Top team (shaded) advanced to the first round.

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Belarus	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	4
Ukraine	3	2	1	0	9	5	+4	4
Switzerland	3	1	1	1	7	9	−2	3
France	3	0	2	1	6	10	−4	1

All times are local (UTC-7).

9 February 2002
14:00

Belarus

1 – 0
(0–0, 0–0, 1–0)

Ukraine

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,294

Game reference

9 February 2002
21:00

Switzerland

3 – 3
(1–1, 0–1, 2–1)

France

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,504

Game reference

11 February 2002
16:00

Ukraine

5 – 2
(2–1, 2–1, 1–0)

Switzerland

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,387

Game reference

11 February 2002
19:00

Belarus

3 – 1
(1–1, 1–0, 1–0)

France

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,214

Game reference

12 February 2002
16:00

Switzerland

2 – 1
(1–0, 1–1, 0–0)

Belarus

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 7,736

Game reference

12 February 2002
19:00

France

2 – 4
(0–2, 2–2, 0–0)

Ukraine

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,019

Game reference

Consolation round[]

13th place match[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

14 February 2002
21:00

Slovakia

7 – 1
(1–0, 2–0, 4–1)

France

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 5,956

Game reference

11th place match[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

14 February 2002
15:00

Switzerland

4 – 1
(0–0, 2–0, 2–1)

Austria

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 7,986

Game reference

9th place match[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

14 February 2002
20:00

Ukraine

2 – 9
(0–6, 2–3, 0–0)

Latvia

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,449

Game reference

First round[]

Group C[]

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sweden	3	3	0	0	14	4	+10	6
Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	12	7	+5	3
Canada	3	1	1	1	8	10	−2	3
Germany	3	0	3	0	5	18	−13	0

All times are local (UTC-7).

15 February 2002
16:10

Canada

2 – 5
(1–1, 0–4, 1–0)

Sweden

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,597

Game reference

15 February 2002
19:00

Czech Republic

8 – 2
(3–0, 3–1, 2–1)

Germany

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,303

Game reference

17 February 2002
16:05

Sweden

2 – 1
(1–0, 1–1, 0–0)

Czech Republic

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

17 February 2002
19:00

Canada

3 – 2
(0–0, 3–0, 0–2)

Germany

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,425

Game reference

18 February 2002
16:10

Czech Republic

3 – 3
(1–1, 1–1, 1–1)

Canada

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

18 February 2002
19:00

Germany

1 – 7
(0–3, 0–3, 1–1)

Sweden

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,348

Game reference

Group D[]

Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States of America	3	2	0	1	16	3	+13	5
Finland	3	2	1	0	11	8	+3	4
Russia	3	1	1	1	9	9	0	3
Belarus	3	0	3	0	6	22	−16	0

All times are local (UTC-7).

15 February 2002
11:05

Russia

6 – 4
(3–1, 1–2, 2–1)

Belarus

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,484

Game reference

15 February 2002
20:45

Finland

0 – 6
(0–0, 0–3, 0–3)

United States of America

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,597

Game reference

16 February 2002
16:45

Finland

8 – 1
(3–0, 3–0, 2–1)

Belarus

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

16 February 2002
21:30

United States of America

2 – 2
(0–0, 1–1, 1–1)

Russia

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

18 February 2002
11:05

Belarus

1 – 8
(1–0, 0–3, 0–5)

United States of America

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

18 February 2002
13:30

Russia

1 – 3
(1–0, 0–2, 0–1)

Finland

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 6,360

Game reference

Final round[]

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Gold medal game

C2

Czech Republic

0

D3

Russia

1

D3

Russia

2

D1

United States

3

D1

United States

5

C4

Germany

0

D1

United States

2

C3

Canada

5

D2

Finland

1

C3

Canada

2

C3

Canada

7

Bronze medal game

D4

Belarus

1

C1

Sweden

3

D4

Belarus

2

D4

Belarus

4

D3

Russia

7

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Quarter-finals[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

20 February 2002
11:05

Sweden

3 – 4
(1–2, 1–0, 1–2)

Belarus

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 7,240

Game reference

20 February 2002
13:30

Czech Republic

0 – 1
(0–0, 0–1, 0–0)

Russia

Peaks Ice Arena, Provo
Attendance: 5,219

Game reference

20 February 2002
16:00

United States of America

5 – 0
(1–0, 4–0, 0–0)

Germany

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

20 February 2002
20:15

Finland

1 – 2
(0–1, 1–1, 0–0)

Canada

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

Semi-finals[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

22 February 2002
12:00

Canada

7 – 1
(2–1, 2–0, 3–0)

Belarus

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

22 February 2002
16:20

Russia

2 – 3
(0–1, 0–2, 2–0)

United States of America

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

Bronze medal game[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

23 February 2002
12:15

Belarus

2 – 7
(1–2, 1–2, 0–3)

Russia

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

Gold medal game[]

All times are local (UTC-7).

24 February 2002
13:00

United States of America

2 – 5
(1–2, 1–1, 0–2)

Canada

E Center, West Valley City
Attendance: 8,599

Game reference

	Amonte - 08:49 Rafalski - 35:30		14:50 - Kariya 18:33 - Iginla 38:19 - Sakic 56:01 - Iginla 58:40 - Sakic

Leading scorers[]

Rk		GP	G	A	Pts
1	Mats Sundin	4	5	4	9
2	Brett Hull	6	3	5	8
3	John LeClair	6	6	1	7
4	Joe Sakic	6	4	3	7
5	Marian Hossa	2	4	2	6
6	Jean-Jacques Aeschlimann	4	3	3	6
7	Phillipe Bozon	4	3	3	6
8	Leonard Soccio	7	3	3	6
9	Mario Lemieux	5	2	4	6
10	Steve Yzerman	6	2	4	6
11	Nicklas Lidström	4	1	5	6
12	Mike Modano	6	0	6	6

Final rankings[]

Women[]

This was the second time the Winter Olympics featured women's ice hockey.

The tournament marked the arrival of Sweden as a Tier Two team, on par with Finland. This increased the number of world class teams to four, Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden. As with the 1998 Winter Olympics, when the US joined Canada as Tier One teams, another major change in the status of International Women's Ice Hockey occurs at the Olympics.

Medals
Gold	Silver	Bronze
Canada Sami Jo Small Becky Kellar Colleen Sostorics Thérèse Brisson Cherie Piper Cheryl Pounder Lori Dupuis Caroline Ouellette Danielle Goyette Jayna Hefford Jennifer Botterill Hayley Wickenheiser Dana Antal Kelly Bechard Tammy Lee Shewchuk Kim St-Pierre Vicky Sunohara Isabelle Chartrand Cassie Campbell Geraldine Heaney	United States Sara Decosta Tara Mounsey Courtney Kennedy Angela Ruggiero Lyndsay Wall Karyn Bye Sue Merz Laurie Baker Andrea Kilbourne Allison Mleczko Jenny Potter Julie Chu Shelley Looney Krissy Wendell Katie King Cammi Granato Natalie Darwitz Chris Bailey Tricia Dunn Sarah Tueting	Sweden Emelie Berggren Anna Andersson Maria Rooth Erika Holst Anna Vikman Evelina Samuelsson Maria Larsson Kristina Bergstrand Ann-Louise Edstrand Josefin Pettersson Lotta Almblad Joa Elfsberg Gunilla Andersson Nanna Jansson Therese Sjölander Ylva Lindberg Danijela Rundqvist Ulrica Lindström Kim Martin Annica Åhlén

Eight countries competed. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semi-finals.

Canada did not allow a goal in the preliminary round, while USA allowed only one goal. Canada trailed 3–2 to Finland going into the third period, but score 5 unanswered goals to advance to the final. USA had a fairly uneventful semi-final, shutting out Sweden. In the final, Canada outplayed USA despite being called for 13 penalties by the American referee (the Americans received four penalties). As a result, the game is considered somewhat controversial to many Canadian fans. The turning point of the game probably came when Canada's Jayna Hefford scored with one second left in the second period to give the Canadians a 3–1 lead going into the third period. This turned out to be the winning goal as the USA scored late in the third period on the power play to cut the lead to 3–2, but Canada hung on to win. It was the first women's hockey gold for Canada. Coming into the game, the Americans were 35–0 on their season, and had beaten the Canadians in their eight previous meetings. Canadian Hayley Wickenheiser was named tournament MVP.