Ice hockey at the 1920 Summer Olympics
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.
| Men's ice hockey at the Games of the VII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Picture of the Gold Medal-winning Winnipeg Falcons taken en route to the 1920 Olympics (photo includes an unidentified ships' officer and a woman) | ||||||||||
| Venue | Palais de Glace d'Anvers | |||||||||
| Dates | April 23–29 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 60 from 7 nations | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Summary
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. 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 programme since then.
Medalists
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
.svg.png){kind=small} Robert Benson Walter Byron Frank Fredrickson Chris Fridfinnson Magnus Goodman Haldor Halderson Konrad Johannesson Allan Woodman |
.svg.png){kind=small} 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
A total of 60 ice hockey players from 7 nations competed at the Antwerp Games:
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Final tournament
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. With seven teams in the tournament, France received a bye in the first round.
Gold medal round (premier prix)
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| |
15 | ||||||||||||
| |
0 | |
2 | ||||||||||
| |
29 | |
0 | ||||||||||
| |
0 | |
12 | ||||||||||
| |
8 | |
1 | ||||||||||
| |
0 | |
4 | ||||||||||
| |
0 | ||||||||||||
Silver medal round (second prix)
The three teams defeated by Canada in the gold medal round then played against each other to determine the second place team. Czechoslovakia received a bye into the silver medal game.
| Semifinal | Final | |||||||
| |
16 | |||||||
| |
7 | |
0 | |||||
| |
0 | |||||||
Bronze medal round (troisième prix)
Lastly, the three remaining teams that were previously defeated by first place Canada or the second place United States played against each other to determine the third place team. Unlike the gold and silver tournaments, a blind draw was not held: as the organizers wanted to finish the tournament on time, and were reluctant to allow a team to play twice in one day, Czechoslovakia received a bye into the bronze medal game.[6]
| Semifinal | Final | |||||||
| |
0 | |||||||
| |
4 | |
1 | |||||
| |
0 | |||||||
Matches - Gold medal round
| 1920 Summer Olympics Champions |
|---|
Canada First title |
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.[7]
Top scorer
| Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | 14 | 0 | 14 |
Final ranking
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| 2 | | 4 | 3 | 1 | 52 | 2 |
| 3 | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 31 |
| 4 | | 6 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 20 |
| 5 | | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 |
| 6 | | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
References
- Justin Felisko. "When Ice Hockey Was A Summer Sport". USA Hockey Magazine. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
- "Ice Hockey at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
- 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.
- Hansen, Kenth (May 1996). "The Birth of Swedish Ice Hockey – Antwerp 1920". LA84 Digital Library. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
- "Story #21: Ice Hockey debuts at the Olympics". International Ice Hockey Federation. 2008. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- Hansen, Kenth (May 1996). "The Birth of Swedish Ice Hockey – Antwerp 1920". LA84 Digital Library. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
- "Team Canada - Olympics - Antwerpen 1920 - Player Stats". QuantHockey. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
External links
- 1920 Olympic Games report (digitized copy online)
- International Olympic Committee results database
- Ishockey VM OS 1920-1939
Bibliography
- 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
| Summary by year |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Men's events | ||
| Women's events | ||
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