It’s been a gold medal drought of 34 years for US men’s hockey and 16 years for US women’s hockey. After grabbing silver in both in Vancouver can the US finally overcome their neighbors from the North and take home a gold, or maybe even two, in Sochi?
Ice Hockey’s Olympic History
Ice hockey is one of the original Winter Olympic sports and, like figure skating, actually began at the Summer Olympics! Ice hockey was held for the first time at the 1920 in Antwerp before making the move to the Winter Olympics when they began in 1924. It’s been held ever since then but somewhat surprisingly the women’s event was not held until 1998 due to cost concerns.
Not surprisingly ice hockey has been dominated by two places known as hockey countries… Canada and the Soviet Union. Canada won six of the first seven men’s gold medals and has won three of the four women’s gold medals. Overall their 11 gold medals and 18 overall can not be matched. The Soviet Union competed in nine Olympics and medaled in all of them with seven gold medals and their only time not finishing in the top two came in 1960, not the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” tournament. The US does have the 2nd most total medals (15) though they have only won gold twice on the men’s side (and not since 1980) and once on the women’s side (16 years ago in the debut event in Nagano in 1998).
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union the men’s tournament has been wide open with four different teams winning it and three others finishing with the silver. The women’s tournament has seen less parity with the US and Canada taking home all but one of the golds and silvers in the four Olympics so far.
How the Ice Hockey Competitions Work
The men’s and women’s ice hockey competitions don’t work the same at the Olympics so we’ll have to discuss them separately. We’ll start with the women’s tournament as it will start four days before the men’s tournament.
The women’s tournament features eight teams in two groups of four. The US is in Group A with Canada, Finland, and Switzerland. Now if you know a lot about international women’s ice hockey you might notice those four nations are all ranked in the top five right now and includes all of the top three. Group of death you ask? Nope. The Olympics is structured in such a way that all four of these teams will advance to the knockout rounds where they will be joined by only two teams from Group B. In addition to that the top two teams from this group will be given byes to the semifinals while the bottom two teams from this group face the top two from Group B in the “quarterfinals”. The US will be tested in the group stage, but if they can finish in the top two they will have the inside track to the final.
On the men’s side we have 12 teams in three groups of four and no group is given an advantage over any other. After the group stage is complete all 12 teams will be ranked to seed the knockout round. The teams that win their groups will be the top three with the runner-ups four through six, and so on. Those groups of three are seeded based on the points in the group (three for a regulation win, two for an OT/shootout win, one for an OT/shootout loss, zero for a regulation loss) and goal differential is the tiebreaker. The top four will get byes to the quarterfinals while the bottom eight have to face off in the qualification playoffs first. From there on it’s just your standard tournament to get us to our medalists.
On the men’s side the US (IIHF ranking of #6) is joined in their group by Russia (#3), Slovakia (#8) and Slovenia (#17). The US will be fighting hard to try and top the group to make sure they get that bye into the quarterfinals.
US Team
The US men’s team is 25 strong with 13 returning from the silver medal team in Vancouver. The women’s team is 21 strong with 11 returning from their silver medal team in Vancouver and one player, Julie Chu, a three-time medalist looking to finally grab that gold medal.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
US Ice Hockey
Men:
David Backes* – Forward
Dustin Brown* – Forward
Ryan Callahan* – Forward
John Carlson – Defender
Justin Faulk – Defender
Cam Fowler – Defender
Jimmy Howard – Goalie
Patrick Kane* – Forward
Ryan Kesler* – Forward
Phil Kessel* – Forward
Paul Martin – Defender
Ryan McDonagh – Defender
Ryan Miller* – Goalie
Brooks Orpik* – Defender
T.J. Oshie – Forward
Max Pacioretty – Forward
Zach Pairse* – Forward
Joe Pavelski* – Forward
Jonathan Quick* – Goalie
Kevin Shattenkirk – Defender
Paul Stastny* – Forward
Derek Stepan – Forward
Ryan Suter* – Defender
James van Riemsdyk – Forward
Blake Wheeler – Forward
Women:
Kacey Bellamy* – Defender
Megan Bozek – Defender
Alex Carpenter – Forward
Julie Chu*** – Forward
Kendall Coyne – Forward
Brianna Decker – Forward
Meghan Duggan* – Forward
Lyndsey Fry – Forward
Amanda Kessel – Forward
Hilary Knight* – Forward
Jocelyne Lamoureux* – Forward
Monique Lamoureux* – Forward
Gigi Marvin* – Defender
Brianne McLaughlin* – Goalie
Michelle Picard – Defender
Josephine Pucci – Defender
Molly Schaus* – Goalie
Anne Schleper – Defender
Kelli Stack* – Forward
Lee Stecklein – Defender
Jessie Vetter* – Goalie
* – Was on team in Vancouver
*** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, & Salt Lake City
A Sochi 2014 Ice Hockey list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
The team the US is bringing to Sochi has a lot of experience with 13 members of the team returning from Vancouver. The US brings back the top goaltender from Vancouver, Ryan Miller. Miller had a GAA (Goals Against Average) of 1.35 which was second best by .01… not bad. He also led the Olympics with a 94.56% save percentage, recorded one shutout, was named to the all-tournament team and was named MVP. Jonathan Quick didn’t make an appearance in Vancouver but was part of the team.
On the defensive side Brooks Orpik appeared in every game for the US but didn’t register a goal or an assist. Ryan Suter got some defense started from the defense as he had four assists in the tournament.
Up front the US returns nine forwards from Vancouver, this should be a strong area for the US in Sochi. Dustin Brown didn’t score for the US at all but was an assistant captain there and returns as one of the veterans on this team. The multiple goal scorers for the US were Patrick Kane (3 goals, 2 assists), Zach Pairse (4 goals, 5 assists), and Ryan Kessler (2 goals). David Backes also scored (1 goal, 2 assists), as did Phil Kessel (1 goal, 1 assist) and Paul Stastny (1 goal, 2 assists). Ryan Callahan had 1 assist for the US while Joe Vaelski added 2 assists. Pairse was named to the all-tournament team as one of the top forwards.
On the women’s side the US returns all three goalies from Vancouver. Molly Schaus and Brianne McLaughlin each played in the 12-1 win over China before Jessie Vetter started the final four games for the US recording two shutouts and posting a 0.75 GAA and a 95.77% save percentage.
In defense the US has two returning players. Kacey Bellamy and Gigi Marvin. Marvin was a forward with the team in 2010 who had three assists while Bellamy is the only returning defender from a team that only gave up four goals. Bellamy had an assist herself in Vancouver.
Up front the US returns six players, all of whom scored for the US in Vancouver. The top goal scorers returning are Meghan Duggan who had 4 goals and Monique Lamoureux who had 4 goals and 6 assists. Kelli Stack had 3 goals herself to go along with 5 assists. Both Jocelyne Lamoureux and Julie Chu had 2 goals and 4 assists in Vancouver. Finally Hillary Knight had a whopping 7 assists but only registered a single goal.
Julie Chu is the only player on either the men’s or women’s team who has been to multiple Olympics. She was part of the bronze medal winning team in Turin where she had five assists for the US. She also won a silver in Salt Lake City when she had two goals and two assists for the US.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Saturday, February 8th
3 AM – Women’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Finland – Ice Hockey
Monday, February 10th
5 AM – Women’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Switzerland – Ice Hockey
Wednesday, February 12th
7:30 AM – Women’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Canada – Ice Hockey
Thursday, February 13th
7:30 AM – Men’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Slovakia – Ice Hockey
Saturday, February 15th
7:30 AM – Men’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Russia – Ice Hockey
Sunday, February 16th
7:30 AM – Men’s Preliminary Round – Group A – USA vs. Slovenia – Ice Hockey
Women’s Quarterfinals – TBD
Monday, February 17th
Women’s Semifinals – TBD
Tuesday, February 18th
Men’s Qualification Playoffs – TBD
Wednesday, February 19th
Men’s Quarterfinals – TBD
Thursday, February 20th
7 AM – Women’s Bronze Medal Game
12 PM – Women’s Gold Medal Game
Friday, February 21st
Men’s Semifinals – TBD
Saturday, February 22nd
10 AM – Men’s Bronze Medal Game
Sunday, February 23rd
7 AM – Men’s Gold Medal Game
US Recent World Championship History
The most recent world hockey championships were held in 2013. The men’s tournament was held in Sweden and Finland in May 2013 while the women’s tournament was held in Canada in early April.
The US men’s team was part of a eight-team group with Russia, Finland, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, France, and Austria. The US came in as the fourth highest ranked team in that group but impressed by going 5-2 with the only losses to Russia (5-3) and Slovakia (4-1) to finish 3rd in their group and reach the playoff round. In the playoff round the US was forced to square off with Russia again and responded with a thumping 8-3 victory. The US then faced a Switzerland side that had come into the tournament ranked ninth but who had won every game they played in the tournament. The US fell 3-0 to fall into the bronze medal game against Finland. That game finished 2-2 but the Americans won a shootout to grab the bronze. Paul Stastny was named to the All-Tournament Team for the US with 15 points in the ten games.
The women’s tournament was conducted with the same format as the Olympics will be, so the US was in Group A with the other top three teams in the world. The US opened with a 2-2 game with Canada which they lost in a shootout before knocking off Finland 4-2 and Switzerland 5-0. That gave the US a 2nd place finish in their group and a bye into the semifinals. In the semifinals the US beat Finland 3-0 to advance to a rematch with Canada on their home turf. Three minutes into the third period with the score tied 2-2 Amanda Kessel scored for the US. The US held on for the 3-2 win and won the world championship over Canada. Amazingly despite winning the gold medal the US only placed one player, forward Brianna Decker, on the All-Tournament Team.
US Olympic History
On the men’s side the US has been to 21 Olympics (the most of any country out of 22 that have been held) and have had varying levels of success. The US has medaled in 11 of those 21 Olympics, including silvers in both Salt Lake City and Vancouver, but seven of those medals came in the first nine Olympic hockey tournaments. Before Salt Lake City the US went through a stretch of 22 years where they never finished higher than 4th and only once higher than 6th. In all the US has only medaled four times in the 13 Olympics since 1960. Their last medal away from North America was a silver in Sapporo, Japan… 42 years ago. Their last time with medals in consecutive Olympics was part of a stretch of three straight from 1952-1960. Needless to say the US can make some history on the men’s side in this Olympics.
On the women’s side the US has never finished worse than third and won the inaugural event in 1998. Still the US hasn’t been able to top Canada when it matters since that first tournament 16 years ago losing the gold medal games to them in 2002 and 2010. In 2006 the US lost their semifinal to Sweden 3-2. The US has an all-time record of 18-3 at the Olympics.
