From 1920 to 1988, Olympic ice hockey was a round-robin tournament and medals were awarded based on total points earned. In 1992, the NHL players were allowed to participate in the Olympics for the first time and the medal game format was modified. A shootout was added to determine a winner when a game was tied after a five-minute overtime period. The shootout is a much-debated mechanism and critics call it a skills competition devoid of the strategies used in a regular 5-on-5 hockey game.
In 1998, a gold medal game was held for the first time and that was the first time a team made it into the Olympic final using only NHL players. In 2006, the tournament was changed again so that every team played five preliminary games with full use of NHL players.
Unlike the NHL, where teams are permitted to have as many as 20 skaters and two goalies on their roster, the Olympics limit players to only 15. The rink is also wider for a faster and less physical game. Fighting is not allowed in Olympic ice hockey.
The American team dominated the early decades of Olympic ice hockey, winning six of the seven gold medals during this time. However, the Soviet Union started playing in 1956 and eventually overtook Canada as the dominant international team. During the tumultuous Cold War years that followed, the U.S. won three of the next four Olympic tournaments. Then, the Soviet Union collapsed and several former Soviet states entered the Olympics as a unified team, winning four of the next five medals.