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Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics

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Ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic Games at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.[1][2] The tournament also served as the 1st World Championships. The matches were played between April 23 and April 29, 1920. Canada, represented by the Winnipeg Falcons, won the gold medal.[3] The silver went to the United States and Czechoslovakia took the bronze.

Ice hockey at the
Games of the VII Olympiad
1st Ice Hockey
World Championships
Winnipegfalcons.jpg
Picture of the Gold Medal-winning Winnipeg Falcons taken en route to the 1920 Olympics (photo includes an unidentified ships' officer and a woman)
Tournament details
Host country Belgium
DatesApril 23–29, 1920
Tournament formatBergvall System
Teams7
Arena(s)Palais de Glace d'Anvers
(in Antwerp)
Final positions
Champions Gold medal blank.svg Canada
Winnipeg Falcons (1st title)
Runner-up Silver medal blank.svg United States
Third place Bronze medal blank.svg Czechoslovakia
Fourth place Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played10
Goals scored99 (9.9 per match)
Attendance6,946 (695 per match)
Scoring leader(s) Herb Drury
(14 points)
1924 →

SummaryEdit

The organizing committee for the hockey matches included Paul Loicq, the captain of the Belgian team and a future president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.[4] The games used the Canadian ice hockey rules, and the Bergvall system to determine medal winning teams.[5]

All matches took place in the Palais de Glace d'Anvers (ice palace of Antwerp).[3] The rink was smaller than North American standards, measuring 56 metres (184 ft) long by 18 metres (59 ft) wide. All games were played with seven players per side, with the rover position being used. For the duration of each match no substitutions were permitted and if a player exited the game due to injury the opposing team was forced to take a player out as well. Additional differences from modern play included a prohibition on forward passing and the requirement that all players including the goaltender be standing on his skates to play the puck.[4] The duration of each game was two periods of twenty minutes each.[3] If any game had been tied at the end of the 40th minute, an additional two periods of five minutes each (ten minutes total) would have been added. And this process of adding two periods of five minutes each would have continued if the score were still tied at the end of any ten-minute addendum.

This was the first ice hockey tournament at an Olympic Games, and the only ever instance of it at a Summer Olympics.[3] An ice hockey tournament was part of the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924 and has been part of every Winter program since then.

MedalistsEdit

 
Palais de Glace d'Anvers ice rink where the ice hockey tournament was held.
Gold Silver Bronze
  Canada (CAN)
Robert Benson
Walter Byron
Frank Fredrickson
Chris Fridfinnson
Magnus Goodman
Haldor Halderson
Konrad Johannesson
Allan Woodman 		  United States (USA)
Raymond Bonney
Anthony Conroy
Herbert Drury
Edward Fitzgerald
George Geran
Frank Goheen
Joseph McCormick
Lawrence McCormick
Frank Synott
Leon Tuck
Cyril Weidenborner 		  Czechoslovakia (TCH)
Karel Hartmann
Vilém Loos
Jan Palouš
Jan Peka
Karel Pešek
Josef Šroubek
Otakar Vindyš
Karel Wälzer

Participating nationsEdit

See also: Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Rosters

A total of 60 ice hockey players from 7 nations competed at the Antwerp Games:

FormatEdit

Seven nations entered teams in the inaugural Olympic ice hockey tournament. The tournament format used the Bergvall system, starting with an elimination round to determine the gold medal winner, after which teams that lost to the tournament winner would play through a new bracket to determine silver. Finally, teams which lost to either the gold or silver winners would face off in a third bracket to determine the bronze winner. For the gold medal round, teams were drawn into the bracket with France receiving a bye to the semifinals.

At the time of draw, the Swedish team questioned how the matchups for the later rounds would be determined and it was believed that teams advancing further in the earlier round would receive a bye.[4] However, no decision was made and when it came time for the silver medal round Sweden and the United States were selected to play a semifinal game while Czechoslovakia received the bye. Later for the bronze medal round, organizers wanted to ensure the tournament would conclude on schedule but were reluctant to force the Czechoslovakians to play twice in one day. As a result, the Swedish team were made to play another semifinal game which would be their fourth in as many days with the bronze medal game the following day. This led to criticism of the format despite Bergvall later noting that the system was not used correctly.[4]

Gold medal round (premier prix)Edit

BracketEdit

 
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsGold Medal Game
 
          
 
April 23
 
 
  Sweden8
 
April 25
 
  Belgium0
 
  Sweden4
 
 
  France0
 
 
April 26
 
 
  Canada  12
 
April 24
 
  Sweden1
 
  United States29
 
April 25
 
   Switzerland0
 
  Canada2
 
April 24
 
  United States0
 
  Canada15
 
 
  Czechoslovakia0
 

QuarterfinalsEdit

23 April 1920
21:30		Sweden  8 – 0
(5–0, 3–0)		  BelgiumPalais de Glace d'Anvers
24 April 1920
17:00		United States  29 – 0
(15–0, 14–0)		   SwitzerlandPalais de Glace d'Anvers
24 April 1920
21:30		Canada  15 – 0
(7–0, 8–0)		  CzechoslovakiaPalais de Glace d'Anvers

SemifinalsEdit

25 April 1920
17:00		Sweden  4 – 0
(2–0, 2–0)		  FrancePalais de Glace d'Anvers
25 April 1920
21:00		Canada  2 – 0
(0–0, 2–0)		  United StatesPalais de Glace d'Anvers

Gold medal gameEdit

26 April 1920
22:00		  Canada  12 – 1
(5–1, 7–0)		  SwedenPalais de Glace d'Anvers

Silver medal round (second prix)Edit

BracketEdit

 
SemifinalSilver Medal Game
 
      
 
April 27
 
 
  United States7
 
April 28
 
  Sweden0
 
  United States  16
 
 
  Czechoslovakia0
 
 
 
 

SemifinalEdit

27 April 1920
22:00		United States  7 – 0
(5–0, 2–0)		  SwedenPalais de Glace d'Anvers

Silver medal gameEdit

28 April 1920
22:00		  United States  16 – 0
(7–0, 9–0)		  CzechoslovakiaPalais de Glace d'Anvers

Bronze medal round (troisième prix)Edit

BracketEdit

 
SemifinalBronze Medal Game
 
      
 
April 28
 
 
  Sweden4
 
April 29
 
   Switzerland0
 
  Czechoslovakia  1
 
 
  Sweden0
 
 
 
 

SemifinalEdit

28 April 1920
23:30		Sweden  4 – 0
(0–0, 4–0)		   SwitzerlandPalais de Glace d'Anvers

Bronze medal gameEdit

29 April 1920
23:00		  Czechoslovakia  1 – 0
(1–0, 0–0)		  SwedenPalais de Glace d'Anvers

StatisticsEdit

Average ageEdit

Team France was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 32 years and 11 months. Gold medalists team Canada was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 24 years and 5 months. Tournament average was 26 years and 9 months.[6]

Scoring leadersEdit

Player GP G
  Herb Drury (USA) 4 14
  Frank Fredrickson (CAN) 3 12
  Anthony Conroy (USA) 4 10
  Haldor Halderson (CAN) 3 9
  Joe McCormick (USA) 3 8
  Moose Goheen (USA) 6 2
  Larry McCormick (USA) 1 5
  Erik Burman (SWE) 5 4
  Gerry Geran (USA) 2 3
  Magnus Goodman (CAN) 3 3

Source: olympedia.org

Final rankingEdit

Rank Team GP W L GF GA GD
    Canada 3 3 0 29 1 28
    United States 4 3 1 52 2 50
    Czechoslovakia 3 1 2 1 31 -30
4   Sweden 6 3 3 17 20 -3
5    Switzerland 2 0 2 0 33 -33
5   France 1 0 1 0 4 -4
5   Belgium 1 0 1 0 8 -8

Source: olympedia.org

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Justin Felisko. "When Ice Hockey Was A Summer Sport". USA Hockey Magazine. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  2. ^ "Ice Hockey at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Smith, Stephen (23 April 2020). "Remembering Canada's first Olympic hockey gold: Winning gold 100 years ago in Antwerp, Belgium, Canada's team set a standard for Olympic hockey dominance that would last for three more successive Games". Canadian Geographic. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Hansen, Kenth (May 1996). "The Birth of Swedish Ice Hockey – Antwerp 1920". LA84 Digital Library. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  5. ^ "Story #21: Ice Hockey debuts at the Olympics". International Ice Hockey Federation. 2008. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  6. ^ "Team Canada - Olympics - Antwerpen 1920 - Player Stats". QuantHockey. Retrieved 23 April 2020.

External linksEdit

BibliographyEdit

  • Hansen, Kenth (May 1996), "The Birth of Swedish Ice Hockey – Antwerp 1920", Citius, Altiu, Fortius, 4 (2): 5–27
  • Wallechinsky, David; Loucky, Jaime (2005), The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: Turin 2006 Edition, Wilmington, Delaware: Sport Media Publishing, ISBN 1-894963-45-8
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