Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics explained

Tourney Name:Ice hockey at the
Games of the VII Olympiad
Other Titles:1st Ice Hockey
World Championships
Size:200px
Country:Belgium
Dates:April 23–29, 1920
Tournament Format:Bergvall System
Num Teams:7
Arenas:Palais de Glace d'Anvers
(in Antwerp)
Type:ih
Winners:
Winnipeg Falcons
Count:1
Second:USA
Second-Flagvar:1912
Third:Czechoslovakia
Fourth:Sweden
Games:10
Goals:99
Attendance:6946
Scoring Leader: Herb Drury
Points:14
Nextseason:1924

Ice hockey was introduced to the Olympic Games at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.[1] [2] The tournament also served as the first 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.

Summary

The organizing committee for the hockey matches included Paul Loicq, the captain of the Belgian team and a future president of the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG).[4] The games used the Canadian ice hockey rules, and the Bergvall system to determine medal winning teams.[5]

The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) chose the Winnipeg Falcons as the 1920 Allan Cup champions to represent the Canada men's national team, instead of forming a national all-star team on short notice.[6] [7] Canada's manager W. A. Hewitt, introduced the CAHA rules of play to the LIHG at the Olympics.[8] Writer Andrew Podnieks described Hewitt's interpretation of the rules as "competitive yet gentlemanly", and that the rules of play were accepted for Olympic hockey.[9] Hewitt refereed the first Olympic hockey game played, an 8–0 win by the Sweden men's national team versus the Belgium men's national team, on April 23, 1920.[10]

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 56m (184feet) long by 18m (59feet) 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] Any game tied at the end of forty minutes would be extended by two periods of five minutes each, not sudden death. If tied at the end of fifty minutes, this process would repeat—and repeat as many times as needed until a winner is declared.

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.

Medalists


Robert Benson
Walter Byron
Frank Fredrickson
Chris Fridfinnson
Magnus Goodman
Haldor Halderson
Konrad Johannesson
Allan Woodman

Raymond Bonney
Anthony Conroy
Herbert Drury
Edward Fitzgerald
George Geran
Frank Goheen
Joseph McCormick
Lawrence McCormick
Frank Synott
Leon Tuck
Cyril Weidenborner

Karel Hartmann
Vilém Loos
Jan Palouš
Jan Peka
Karel Pešek
Josef Šroubek
Otakar Vindyš
Karel Wälzer

Participating nations

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:

Format

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)

Gold medal game

Silver medal round (second prix)

Silver medal game

Bronze medal round (troisième prix)

Bronze medal game

Statistics

Average age

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.[11]

Scoring leaders

Player
4 14
3 12
4 10
3 9
3 8
6 7
1 5
5 4
2 3
3 3
Source: olympedia.org

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Justin Felisko . When Ice Hockey Was A Summer Sport . USA Hockey Magazine . 2016-10-25.
  2. Web site: Ice Hockey at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417060238/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1920/ICH/ . dead . 17 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 10 May 2019.
  3. News: Smith . Stephen . 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 . 2 May 2020 . Canadian Geographic . 23 April 2020.
  4. Web site: The Birth of Swedish Ice Hockey – Antwerp 1920. Hansen. Kenth. May 1996. LA84 Digital Library. 2021-05-27.
  5. Web site: Story #21: Ice Hockey debuts at the Olympics. 2008. International Ice Hockey Federation. 2019-07-25.
  6. Podnieks, Andrew (1997), p. 2
  7. Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2005), pp. 28–29
  8. News: Pro Officials Like Own Interpretation Of Rules. December 7, 1957. Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. 43.
  9. Podnieks, Andrew (1997), p. 4
  10. Web site: IIHF Honour Roll: W. A. Hewitt. 2013. Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame. January 3, 2022.
  11. Web site: Team Canada - Olympics - Antwerpen 1920 - Player Stats . QuantHockey . 23 April 2020 . en.