What is ice hockey?
Ice hockey is a fast, fluid and exciting team sport featuring two teams of six players (a goaltender and five skaters) on ice. It draws big crowds at the Olympic Games thanks to the drama and tension of the matches.
Ice hockey originated in Canada in the early 19th century, based on several similar sports played in Europe, although the word “hockey” comes from the old French word “hocquet”, meaning “stick”. Around 1860, a puck was substituted for a ball, and in 1879, two McGill University students, Robertson and Smith, devised the first rules.
The first recognised team, the McGill University Hockey Club, was formed in 1880 as hockey became the Canadian national sport and spread throughout the country. In 1892, the Governor General of Canada donated the Stanley Cup, which was first won by a team representing the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.
The sport migrated south to the United States during the 1890s, and games are known to have taken place there between Johns Hopkins and Yale universities in 1895. Ice hockey spread to Europe around the turn of the century, and the first Olympic Games to include ice hockey for men were 1920 Antwerp Games (in summer, predating the first Olympic Winter Games).
The basic aim of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team within the allotted time. There are rolling substitutions for each team. Penalties are penalised by removing the offending player(s) from the game to the penalty box for a period of 2 (minor penalty), 4 (double minor penalty), 5 (major penalty), or 10 (misconduct penalty) minutes.
Ice hockey games are played over three periods of 20 minutes each, with the clock stopping on each pause of play. If the scores are tied, games are usually decided by overtime periods (of varying length, depending on the tournament or even the round within a tournament) or even by penalty-shot shootout.
Olympic history of ice hockey
Six-a-side men’s ice hockey has been on the programme of every edition of the Olympic Winter Games since 1924 in Chamonix. A seven-a-side competition had first taken place at the summer edition of the Olympic Games at Antwerp 1920 four years earlier, marking the sport's Olympic debut.
Women’s ice hockey was accepted as an Olympic sport in 1992, and made its official debut in 1998 in Nagano.
Unsurprisingly, Canada dominated the first tournaments. However, in 1956, and until its dissolution, the Soviet Union took over and became the number one team. It was interrupted only by USA victories in 1960 in Squaw Valley and in 1980 in Lake Placid.
Professional National Hockey League players competed in men's tournaments from 1998 through 2014.
Ice hockey national teams to watch
Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland have some of the best women's national team programmes in the world – although every Olympic and World Championship gold medal has been won by either the Canadians or the Americans.
On the men's side, there is a bigger spread of top teams, with the likes of Canada, Finland, Czechia, Switzerland, the U.S., and Sweden among the top seeds for the Milano Cortina 2026 tournament.
Ice hockey at Milano Cortina 2026: competition rules and event format
There are two events, a men's tournament and women's tournament, taking place at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena from 5–22 February.
Teams will be split into groups, before moving on to a direct-elimination bracket. There are 10 teams in the women's tournament and 12 in the men's tournament, playing in two and three groups respectively.
The women's tournament sees the top eight teams (all five in Group A and the top three in Group B) progress to the quarter-finals, while the men's event features the top four teams from across the three groups qualifying directly for the quarter-finals and the remaining eight teams playing in a playoff round to reach the quarter-finals.
