Hockey has been played in the Olympic Winter Games since 1920. Until 1972, the sport was only played in men’s competition. But in the summer of that year, a Canadian woman named Hayley Wickenheiser joined the team and changed the face of women’s Olympic hockey forever. Wickenheiser won four gold medals in total and has since been a model for many women.
The Soviet Union was the dominant force in the sport until 1992. At the Albertville Olympics, the U.S.S.R. had formally disbanded but athletes from the former Soviet Union competed for a “Unified Team.” The Unified Team won the gold medal, marking the last time the Red Army would claim Olympic hockey glory.
The most famous upset in Olympic ice hockey came at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. In the semifinal against the Soviets, the American team fell behind 1-0 in the first period. But Buzz Schneider scored a dagger of a goal, and the Americans tied the game up in the second period.
In the third period, the Americans took the lead. But with less than a minute to play, the puck made its way back into Soviet territory. The puck was on the edge of the crease, but it appeared to cross the line just before the buzzer. That’s when Dave Christian, the son of Bill Christian, who played for the 1960 team that won the first Olympic ice hockey gold medal, shot. And that’s how the Miracle on Ice was born.