Men's Olympic Ice Hockey
Peter Forsberg had one of the Olympics' most dramatic shootout goals, in 1994. Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images
Overtime — and particularly the shootout — has produced some of the most memorable moments in Olympic hockey history.
In 1994, in Lillehammer, Norway, Peter Forsberg pulled off a move in the shootout that was so legendary it won Sweden a gold medal and became a postage stamp in his home country, and the deke has been called “the Forsberg” by players ever since.
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In the women’s tournament in 2018, in PyeongChang, South Korea, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson triple-deked around Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados, and then Maddie Rooney made a save on the other end to deliver gold for the United States women.
There won’t be a similar moment in this year’s gold medal games in Milan, Italy, after the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) made changes to its overtime rules.
The federation adopted new rules for these Olympics, eliminating the shootout in the gold medal game and replacing it with three-on-three overtime for 20-minute periods until one side scores. The new overtime rules change depending on the round of the tournament, so here’s an overview of how the games will be decided in each stage.
In the preliminary round, overtime games featured five minutes sudden-death, three-on-three overtime, followed by a five-round shootout if necessary. The men’s preliminary round featured one overtime game — Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 — while the women’s tournament had two games: Germany’s 2-1 overtime win over France and Switzerland’s 4-3 shootout win over Czechia.
Now that teams have reached the knockout stage of the tournament, the sudden-death, three-on-three overtime extends from five minutes to 10 minutes. If no goal is scored, the game will be decided in (at least) a five-round shootout. In the Olympics, teams can reuse the same shooter as many times as they’d like after the fifth round — a change for the men, because that’s not allowed in the NHL.
Hockey fans will remember T.J. Oshie’s incredible shootout performance in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, when he took six consecutive shootout attempts for the United States, and scored on Russia’s Sergei Bobrovsky in four of them, to secure a win in the preliminary round.
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One of the biggest upsets in Olympic hockey history featured a 10-minute overtime followed by a shootout. The Czech Republic knocked off a star-studded Canadian roster in the semifinal game of the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Legendary goaltender Dominik Hašek stopped all five of Canada’s shooters (Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk, Eric Lindros and Brendan Shanahan) in the shootout to win it for the Czech Republic, which went on to win gold.
The overtime in that game was five-on-five, compared to the three-on-three format the tournament will be using this year.
This is where the IIHF made the most significant changes, eliminating the shootout entirely. If teams reach overtime in the gold-medal game, they will play full, 20-minute periods of sudden-death overtime at three-on-three until a winning goal is scored.
This ensures any championship game that goes beyond regulation will end with a golden goal.
Perhaps the most famous golden goal in hockey history happened in 2010 in Vancouver. Just over seven minutes into the 20-minute overtime period, Sidney Crosby peeled off the side boards, took a pass from Jerome Iginla and beat goaltender Ryan Miller with a shot to win it.
That overtime was played at four-on-four, so if one of this year’s gold medal games reaches overtime, there will be more open ice.
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Jesse Granger is a staff writer for The Athletic NHL based in Las Vegas covering the Golden Knights and goaltending across the league. He has covered the Golden Knights since its inception and was previously an award-winning reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Follow Jesse on Twitter @JesseGranger_
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