For decades, the ice hockey world was ruled by two teams. Canada and the U.S. would bludgeon the competition, often racking up more than one gold medal each. In the 1988 Calgary Games, it looked like that was about to change. The American team trailed the Soviets 2-1 in the final. It looked like that loss might end the American dream of a fifth straight Olympic gold.
Then came a play at the blue line that changed everything. Dave Christian, son of former champion Bill Christian, sent a long slap shot in the direction of Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak. The puck took a strange bounce off a post, then deflected past Tretiak and into the net. It was an iconic moment – and what became known as the Miracle on Ice.
In the aftermath, the American hockey community reworked the rules of Olympic ice hockey. The Games switched to an NHL-sized rink, and players began wearing helmets and using goalie masks. The rules of offside and hooking were also loosened, which made for a faster game.
The Olympics still uses a round-robin format, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the quarterfinals. The format shifted again in 1998, when playoffs were introduced. Since then, the format has been tweaked a few times to fit the NHL calendar, and in 2006, all teams used NHL-sized rinks for the first time. Now the Olympic ice hockey tournament features a knockout format, and one loss ends a team’s chances at a medal.