Winter Olympic Games 2018 Official Countdown Thread

[dcro 10,210]

Lake Placid 1932

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

 

 21 weeks to go ! 

 

 

Pyeongchang 2018 is now just 21 weeks away and of course we add another piece of our logo jigsaw

 

 

 

 

 

Key:
a1	6 months to go
a2	3 months to go
a3	1 month to go
b1	150 days to go
b2	100 days to go
b3	75 days to go
c1	Four Hills Tournament begins
c2	Hahnenkamm Race begins
c3	Winter X Games begin
d1	tickets go on sale
d2	2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st)
d3	2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics
e1	lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece
e2	Olympic flame arrives in Incheon
e3	Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province
x	Olympic cauldron is lit

 

 

 

 

 

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PyeongChang 2018

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[hckošice 14,831]

Ice Hockey Tournament at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

 

The 1936 Olympic Champions, Great Britain Ice Hockey team composed of one player born in Canada, In overall nine players grew up in Canada, and eleven of the thirteen had played previously in Canada

 

 

The 1936 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament was held from 6th to 16th February 1936 at the Olympic Stadium and at the Lake Riessersee in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The tournament was also counted as the 10th World Championship and the 21st European Ice Hockey Championship.

 

The tournament was attended by fifteen teams, and finished by a huge upset. The Olympic, World and European titles unexpectedly went to Great Britain, who as the very first European team in history managed to win in a competition with both overseas teams competing.

 

The tournament was contested on two ice rinks. Part of the tournament was played in a artificial ice of the newly build Olympic Stadium for 10 000 spectators and remaining matches on the frozen Lake Riessersee. The tournament was played in different format of three rounds, In the first one all teams were divided into four preliminary groups from which only the first two teams of each pool advanced to the second round the Semifinals groups. In this stage there were 2 Semifinals groups of four teams each one, and again the first two from both pools advanced to the final group.

 

It was the British team who had been slightly advantaged in the first round in fact, since they were altogether with the Swedes the only teams playing in a only 3 teams group, after the withdraw of Yugoslavia they both had just to beat the Japanese to advance for the second stage. All other groups were composed by four teams. The most balanced group was the group C, where the Host Team of Germany and the United States team advanced both with equal amount of 4 points from 2 wins and 1 lose. But the USA team could call themselves really lucky because it was the Swiss who saved them from the absolute disaster and epic shame, The Swiss defeated Italy in the last day of the first round, but the Italians were too much tired in that game since only few hours before they played another huge match ending after the overtime with a sensational and historic win over the Americans 2-1. For the Swiss, however, this win against Italy 1-0 was the only one in the whole tournament, it was a big surprise to see the reigning European champions eliminated so early. In other hand The qualification for the semifinal round for the Canadians was much more easier, The top favorite won all 3 matches conceding only 3 goals and scoring 24.

Only one team advanced from the preliminary round without conceding a single goal, it was the Czechoslovak team, which managed to win all 3 matches of the preliminary pool with a total score 10-0 beating Belgium 5-0, Hungary 3-0 and France 2-0. The team arrived to Germany with a quite older roster and after played only 1 preparation international match. The team leader Zadák a important figure in the structures of Sparta Prague, had to face a huge pressure especially from the players of the LTC Prague. The Medias again after eight years wrote that the team is composed only by the same faces and same old names, which refuse to let their places to new young talents. The complaints were especially about the Goaltender Peka, who finished in this tournament his incredible 23 years National Team career. The complaints increased, especially after the first defeat in the tournament suffered in the semifinal round with the USA 0-2, The team, however, won the next 2 games 4-1 over Sweden and 2-1 against Austria and advanced to the final-four. In this round, unfortunately the team did not scored a single goal losing 0-5 to Great Britain and 0-7 to Canada, the 0-2 result with the Americans was counted from the semifinal group, and finished last fourth.

 

If the semifinal group B had a relatively clear outcome resulting in the easy qualification of the USA and ex-Czechoslovakia, the Semifinal group A was more tense and already in their first match the world hockey experienced a huge upset, Canada lost to Great Britain 1-2, in the next game the host Germany managed to draw with the GB team 1-1, a unexpected and new situation for the Canadians who was in a real danger to not qualify for the medal round, they had to win their last game against the hosts and they succeeded winning 6-2.

 

Thus along with Czechoslovakia only the teams composed of players which gained experiences and raised in Canada advanced to the final round, CAN, USA and GBR. The format advantaged the Americans and Brits since the results from the semifinals round meets between GB and CAN and match between TCH and USA were counted and used in the medal round, so only a 0-0 draw between USA and Great Britain was enough for both teams to secure medals and for the Great Britain´s team to win the title, Canada winning both remaining matches against USA and Czechoslovakia, also assured at least the silver medals.

 

1936 Image after the match of Germany defeating Hungary, four years later the war puts the Olympic games and ideas on it´s knees... thankfully not for long time
 

 

Rudi Ball of Germany was the only jew allowed by Hitler to play in the host team

 

 

Final Ranking:

1. Great Britain 

2. Canada 

3. United States 

4. Czechoslovakia

---------------------------------------------------------------

5. Germany  - Eliminated in the Semifinal Round

5. Sweden  - Eliminated in the Semifinal Round

7. Austria  - Eliminated in the Semifinal Round

7. Hungary  - Eliminated in the Semifinal Round

-------------------------------------------------------------

9. Italy  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

9. France  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

9. Japan  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

9. Poland  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

13. Belgium  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

13. Latvia  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

13. Switzerland  - Eliminated in the Preliminary Round

 

Ex-Czechoslovakian 1936 Ice Hockey team before their first match against Belgium at lake Riessersee

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

 20 weeks to go ! 

 

 

Time for another weekly update to the Olympic Clock.... 20 weeks to go!

 

 

 

 

 

Key:
a1	6 months to go
a2	3 months to go
a3	1 month to go
b1	150 days to go
b2	100 days to go
b3	75 days to go
c1	Four Hills Tournament begins
c2	Hahnenkamm Race begins
c3	Winter X Games begin
d1	tickets go on sale
d2	2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st)
d3	2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics
e1	lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece
e2	Olympic flame arrives in Incheon
e3	Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province
x	Olympic cauldron is lit

 

 

 

 

 

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PyeongChang 2018

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[dcro 10,210]

Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,831]

Ice Hockey Tournament at Sankt Moritz 1948

 

The Canadian team (RAFC Flyers), 1948 Olympic champions

 

After the horrors of the war , finally came peace and the Olympic Games and ideas revived, 20 years after hosting the 2nd winter games, Sankt Moritz was selected to host also them again in 1948 only 3 years after the end of the World War 2.

The Ice Hockey tournament of the 1948 Winter Olympics took place from 30th January to 10th February 1948 in Sankt Moritz, Switzerland, It was also counted as the 15th Ice Hockey World Championship and the 26th Ice Hockey European Championship as well.

 

The tournament was attended by 9 teams which played a simple Round-Robin tournament, Everyone played one match against each opponent. However, The results of the USA, which was Disqualified, were counted only for the World Championships ranking, meaning only 8 teams were classified in the Olympic tournament. The first two team had exactly the same final amount of points, exactly the same record of 7 wins and 1 draw, so for the first time the Olympic champions were decided by total Goal average tie-break formula. The Canadians had a total Goal advantage of 69:5 and Czechoslovakia 80:18,

so only by 2 goals the Canadians (represented by the Ottawa RAFC Flyers) won their 5th Olympic Gold and 21st World title, Czechoslovakia took silver medals and the European title.

 

There was a huge problem and massive controversy before the start of the tournament, USA arrived with 2 teams !!!! They both wanted to participate at the tournament, this nearly caused the cancellation of the whole tournament. USA in fact sent two different teams. One send by the AHA (American Hockey Association) registered in the LIHG (predecessor of IIHF) and compossed only by professional players and one send by the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) sponsored by the US Olympic Committee and strictly composed by amateur players.

 

No resolutions was reached before the Games and both teams arrived at St. Moritz ready to play. This created a tense showdown between the USOC's president, the LIHG, the Swiss organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC was responsible for the overall running of the Games. The IOC initially ruled that neither team could compete. This incensed the LIHG, led by its new president Fritz Kraatz, who refused (since this tournament was also counted as a Ice Hockey World Championships) to allow in the tournament a team which was not a member of the federation, and openly threatened to boycott the Olympics. and organizing immediately a separately different tourney in Davos, 

The Swiss organizing committee, fearing this eventuality, ignored the IOC's ruling and allowed the AHA team to play in the tournament and the AAU team to at least march in the opening ceremony.

Eventually the parties also agreed to allow the AHA team to play but they would receive no official ranking in the Olympic tournament, and they would not be eligible to win a medal. their ranking (4.) will be counted only for the world championships.

 

Team USA competed in the tournament with a team of professionals, but their results were counted only for the world championship ranking, their Olympic results were annulled 

 

The ice hockey tournament was held on three different stadiums, but only on natural ice. Due to an altitude of about 2,000 meters above sea level, the organizers did not expected the problems that occurred.

Suddenly the snow started to fell because sudden higher temperatures. in fact the Ice hockey was not considered as the main part of the Olympics, which was manifested in several directions. The IOC showed it already before the start of the Olympics in the controversy affair around the USA teams. then during the games, in the evening sessions, Only the figure skating events was preferred to be contested on the only stadium with artificial lighting in St. Moritz. Some matches of the ice hockey tournament even have been played in front of a very bad visits of some tens of peoples as their was played only in some private ice rinks at the Palace Hotel and Suvretta hotel. An exception to this unfortunate state was the moment when the domestic hockey player Torriani lighted the Olympic cauldron and performed the Olympic oath for all athletes.

 

In difference of the World Championships in Prague held past year, this tournament had no many unexpected results and surprises. the tournament was in fact of a very good level with the traditionally really strong Canadians competing, plus the reigning Olympic champions from 1936 the Brits arrived too.

The Italians unfortunately this time send a very weak team and it was clear they are going for the last place since the first match, in which they lost with the Czechoslovak team  22-3. More than half of the matches in the tournament ended with a double digit result, and this was one of them. The biggest difference in the score was in the match USA - Italy 31-1.

A significant drop in the first post-war world championship was recorded by the Austrian team. The Bronze medals have been too far this time due to a single win throughout the tournament. The Scandinavian team was also very far away from the silver medals that they took from Prague. The British pre-war Olympic triumph did not even come close because they ended up behind the only representative from northern Europe. Instead, Poland retained its position after one year and again achieved two wins.

Domestic ice was good for the Swiss. The top moments of their view included a high win against the Swedes, which was set by six goals from the Trepp and the Polter brothers line. Three days before the end of the tournament, the home team was still undefeated. but then lose to the best two teams of the tournament and took the Bronze medals.

 

The Czechoslovak hockey team arrived to St. Moritz as a reigning and defending World Champion title from last year. Coach "Mike" Buckna this time could nominate seventeen players, two more than in the previous year.  Since the start of the tournament, Czechoslovakia has been trying to overcome its opponents mainly with the offensive game, which was reflected in the individual match scores. In the first game Czechoslovakia defeated Italy 22-3, then came the match against the Swedes, One of the team's goals in the tournament was to revenge the one year's old defeat from Sweden, and it happened by winning 6-3. In the following match Czechoslovakia won over Poland 13-1, in next matches 11-4 over Great Britain (in this match the goalie Modrý was excluded and according the this times rules, one of the defenders had to go to protect the net) and 17-3 over Austria.

Also the Canadian team passed the tournament Without any losing point, Its members were mainly RCAF mens who arrived at the from various military crews stationed in Europe. The Canadians came out to gain points mainly from a careful and excellent defense game. they conceded only 5 goals througouth the tournament.

Although the match between Czechoslovakia and Canada players was due to take place a few days before the end of the tournament, it was clear that the new Olympic winner would be very likely decided in this match. Canada, receiving the minimum of goals so far, has entered the match in a more mentally favorable position. The Canadian native coach of the Czechoslovak team Buckna has decided to adapt the absolutely similar tactics for this key match to the opponent. The result of the two-sided hard defensive game was a logical 0-0 draw, more suited to the Canadians. For Czechoslovakia, it was also a significant success because they did not lost to Canda for the first time in history at the Ice Hockey World Championship.

The Czechoslovak team still waited another important duel with the host nation team, the winner knew that will be awarded by the title of European Champion. The Swiss players had hopes even after the first period, but Czechoslovakia managed to decide the outcome of the match in the later parts and won 7-1 and the silver medals, the last win against USA 4-3 was not counted for the Olympic ranking.

 

The Canadians by defeating the home team in the very last game of the tournament 3-0 officially confirmed their gold. They knew that they were +2 goals ahead of the Czechoslovakian team so in fact every win guaranteed them the triumph. For Czechoslovakia it was a bit painful knowing they just needed to score 2 more goals against one of the weakest opponents to win the historic title.

 

The Olympic Medalists in the Ice Hockey Tournament of the Sankt Moritz 1948 WOG, Czechoslovakia, Canada and Switzerland

 

 

Final Ranking:

1. Canada  (Represented by Ottawa RAFC Flyers)

2. Czechoslovakia

3. Switzerland

4. Sweden

5. Great Britain

6. Poland

7. Austria

8. Italy

- United States DSQ

 

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

 19 weeks to go ! 

 

 

Another week closer to the big event! Just 19 more Fridays until the Opening!

 

 

 

 

 

Key:
a1	6 months to go
a2	3 months to go
a3	1 month to go
b1	150 days to go
b2	100 days to go
b3	75 days to go
c1	Four Hills Tournament begins
c2	Hahnenkamm Race begins
c3	Winter X Games begin
d1	tickets go on sale
d2	2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st)
d3	2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics
e1	lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece
e2	Olympic flame arrives in Incheon
e3	Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province
x	Olympic cauldron is lit

 

 

 

 

 

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PyeongChang 2018

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[hckošice 14,831]

Ice Hockey Tournament at Oslo 1952

Team Canada represented by the Edmonton Mercurys the 1952 Olympic Champion - for the next 50 years, they were the last Canadian Olympic Ice Hockey champions

 

Finally the Winter Olympic Games were held in a Nordic Country.

 

The 7th Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament was played in Oslo Daelenenga stadium, Lillestrom, Sandvika, Drammen but mainly in the newly built Jordal Amfi in Oslo, Norway. At the request of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the organizers had to built a indoor rink for hockey, it was the first time in history that the Olympic tournament was played in a indoor arena.

 

Anyway, only few missed, and the Hockey was not played at all, Mainly because of the controversies around the USA teams in 1948, the IOC even dropped Ice Hockey from the Olympic program in 1951, However after huge lobbying from the sports powerhouses the same year during the IOC congress the sport was reinstated.

 

But then started another case, Due to significant performance differences in the last Winter Olympic Games and World Championships tournaments, the Netherlands, Belgium and France jointly submitted a proposal to the IOC for a new re-organization of the competition, it consisted of splitting teams in two different level groups, however the IOC did not found comprehension for that and refused it because it was opposed to one of the main Olympic principles - prevent any differentiation between strong and weaks and allowing all participants to fight for the same trophies. This resulted in a renunciation of all 3 countries to participate, later their "boycott" was jointed also by Austria and Italy. Anyway all these non-participating countries played this kind of lower category championship later this year in Liege, Belgium, it was the very first nowadays so-called lower division word championship tournament.

 

In the additional decisive bout for the bronze medals the Swedes led by one of the biggest stars of the world hockey history the legendary Sven "Tumba" Johansson defeated the non-prepared Czechoslovakian team 5-3

 

The Oslo 1952 tournament was also counted as the 19th World Championship and the 30th European Championships, It was contested by 9 Teams playing a simple Round-Robin tournament, Every team played once each opponent, with the best three nations at the end awarded by medals.

 

Canada, this time represented by the Edmonton Mercurys won the Gold, it was the 6th Olympic Ice Hockey title for Canada and the 15th World Championship title - who thought that it will be for a very very long period, exactly 50 years !!! their last Olympic Gold until the 2002 tournament in Salt Lake City and once again a gold ahead of the United States.

 

USA thanks the 3-3 tie in the last match against Canada took silver with 13 points,

and Sweden bronze (The Swedes as the highest ranked European team took also the Continental title ahead of Czechoslovakia and Switzerland). In fact there was a huge controversy about the Bronze medals. Sweden and Czechoslovakia both finishe tied in the Round-Robin with the exactly same record of 12 points for 6 wins and 2 loses, and plus they had both exactly the same Goal difference +29. Czechoslovakia even defeated Sweden in their head to head confrontation 4-0, Czechoslovakian players already started to celebrate the Bronze.........

But then the organizers decided that both teams should play in the last day one additional tie-breaker match - and Sweden won a couple of minutes before the Closing ceremony at the Jordal Amfi arena by 5-3 and won the Bronze.

 

Former Czechoslovakia, which has become a communist country, has sent a very decent team of experienced players used to play together, which was the expected strongest weapon of the team. It looked good from the start after beating Poland 8-2 in the opening match, then came another triumphs 6-0 against the host Norway and 6-1 against Germany, In the next match in front of a fantastic attendance in the indoor Jordal Amfi hall they lost to Canada 1-4, the wins 11-2 over Finland and 8-3 against Switzerland returned the team in the medal contentions, but unfortunately the team lost to USA in the crucial next game 3-6, they knew that they had to beat the Swedes to finish on the podium and they did it winning 4-0. Expecting the bronze and already celebrating they suddenly were surprised by the information of playing a additional match against Sweden later the evening of the next last day of the games, a surprised and totally non prepared team for this match lost 3-5 and finished 4th.

 

Image from the match between Canada and Czechoslovakia 4-1

 

Final Ranking:

1. Canada  (Represented by Edmonton Mercurys)

2. United States

3. Sweden

4. Czechoslovakia

5. Switzerland

6. Poland

7. Finland

8. Germany

9. Norway

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

 18 weeks to go ! 

 

 

Another week closer to the Games and the blue portion of the logo is now complete!

 

 

 

Key:
a1	6 months to go
a2	3 months to go
a3	1 month to go
b1	150 days to go
b2	100 days to go
b3	75 days to go
c1	Four Hills Tournament begins
c2	Hahnenkamm Race begins
c3	Winter X Games begin
d1	tickets go on sale
d2	2018 Olympic year arrives (Jan 1st)
d3	2018 Olympic Prediction Contests Open on Totallympics
e1	lighting of Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece
e2	Olympic flame arrives in Incheon
e3	Olympic flame arrives in Gangwon province
x	Olympic cauldron is lit

 

 

 

 

 

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PyeongChang 2018

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[hckošice 14,831]

Ice Hockey Tournament at Cortina d´Ampezzo 1956

The ex-Soviet Union Olympic debut ended in a absolute dominance of the tournament, the first ever USSR Olympic team won the whole tournament winning all matches.

 

The Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at the 1956 Winter Olympic Games was played at the Olympic Stadium and at the Appollonio Stadium in Cortina d´Ampezzo, Italy from 26th January to 4th February 1956. It was the 8th Ice Hockey Olympic Tournament and was also counted as the 23rd World Championships and 34th European Ice Hockey Championships.

 

The world started to notice a new Hockey powerhouse and a new super dominance in this sport started to raise. The Soviet Union made it´s Olympic debut in 1956, The Athletes from the former Soviet Union won more medals than any other nation, and in the Ice Hockey they absolutely dominated the competition as well. Really interesting fact, since the nation started to compete internationally in this sport only since 1954.

 

The tournament had a 2 rounds format. All 10 participating Nations were divided into 3 preliminary Round pools, the first 2 teams from each group advanced to the final stage played in a Round-Robin format (Each team faced every opponent) the remaining 4 non-qualified teams played a Consolation round-robin for 7th-10th places.

 

There was also some noteworthy moments that happened already before the start of the games. Especially around the Germans teams, Both East and West German teams wanted to participate, but the IOC announced they will allow only one team to compete under a unified German flag, a situation that was unfortunately not going to be solved so easy, since both teams couldn´t come to a agreement how the team will be formed, so they decided to play a Qualification game before the games to got the right to represent Germany, and it´s the West Germany who won the match and represented the so-called Unified German team in Cortina. The East Germans at least hosted the same year the often called "B" category world Championships in Berlin for the non participating countries.

 

The USSR won all their games and won their first historic Olympic gold in their debut under the five rings, it was their second World Championships title and 3rd European title in their 3rd International competition. The United States took silver and Canada won their 8th Olympic medal in their 8th Olympic participation, however, this time it was the first Bronze. Canada was represented this time by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmens.

 

Image from the match USSR - Canada  2-0

 

In the preliminary round there wasn´t any big surprises to mention about, All favorites advanced to the final round without noticeable problems. Canada and the Unified German team advanced from Group A, Czechoslovakia and USA from Group B and USSR and Sweden from the Group C. Canada, Czechoslovakia and USSR as unbeaten teams.

 

The Final round started with a very important match between the United States and Canada and USA defeated their neighbors for the very first time in Olympic History 4-1, since Canada lost also in their last game to the ex-USSR 0-2, but defeated all their remaining rivals in the final-six they took the bronze. The Soviet Union won all matches to claim gold, including the crucial match over the USA 4-0.

 

The Consolation round was won by the Host Italy winning all 3 matches.

 

Czechoslovakia send to Cortina a similar team to the one from the Oslo Games led by some great players as the Bubník brothers or Defencer Karel Gut and forward Vladimír Zábrodský, but failed to fulfill the medal expectations, In the first round it looked promising, the team won both games 4-3 against USA and 4-0 against Poland. but lost already their first match in the final round to Canada 3-6 a lost which came in a very wrong moment, only few hours later the next day they had to play again this time against Sweden, and it appeared that the players suffered a strong blow especially on the mental side, they absolutely failed in this game and lost 0-5, meaning the end of any medal hopes. then came another lose this time in the "Friendly" match against the "Beloved Big Brother" of USSR 4-7. The only points and only win in the final round was achieved against the German Unified team 9-3 and the unsuccessful tourney was closed by another failure with the USA 4-9. The team at least won the Continental Bronze medals behind the USSR and Sweden.

 

Picture from the game between the gold and silver medalists USSR and United States in the first day of the Final Round

 

 

Final Ranking:

1. Soviet Union

2. United States

3. Canada (Represented by Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmens)

4. Sweden

5. Czechoslovakia

6. Germany Unified Team (Composed only by West Germany players)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. Italy  -  Consolation Round

8. Poland  - Consolation Round

9. Switzerland  - Consolation Round

10. Austria  - Consolation Round