Hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1920 games in Antwerp Belgium and it was Canada that decisively skated away with the gold medal after such victories as the 15-0 lopsided win over Czechoslovakia and 12-1 shellacking of Sweden. As the birthplace of hockey, Canada’s success at the inaugural Olympic competition was somewhat poetic and began a heritage enjoyed by no other nation today.

Canada’s dominance in the world of hockey, however, saw many challenges; even witnessing a 50 year gold-less streak, though with ingenious coaching and a strong junior program to cultivate world class skills, Canada continued to develop young talent and groom its players to produce a program that is today the envy of the world of hockey. Then, with the allowance of professional athletes to compete at the Olympics, the games witnessed NHL stars like Gretzky, Messier and Lemieux compete for their country and the skill of play improve and the expectation for success intensify.

Each Olympic appearance is chronicled here in exacting detail with the outcome of each tournament and stories from the ice, the bench, the dressing room and the road to the games. Each team shared moments of glory and hardship. They were collections of proud men and women with national honour and a common drive to win. Their stories are ones of legends and make up the colourful history of this nations rich hockey heritage.

From the 1920 Winnipeg falcons that represented Canada at those inaugural games and braved a heroic journey across the Atlantic and Europe just to get there to the double gold victory of 2002, the story of Canadian Olympic hockey history is an incredible tribute to one nation’s national past-time and the players that united a country in celebration. Complete with extensive archival photography and personal player accounts, this collection offers a rare and unique look into the world of Canadian Olympic Hockey.

Praise for Andrew Podnieks’ writing:

“The detail is astonishing ... a stunning testament to the history of sports photojournalism in this country.” —The Edmonton Journal

“Illuminating…Serious students of the game know already to follow where Podnieks leads…his attention to and reverence for the game compares with Nabokov and his bond with butterflies.” —The Globe & Mail

“The author of numerous books on hockey and some of the sport’s greatest players, Andrew Podnieks undertook the most ambitious project of his career with Players, an exhaustive encyclopedia of hockey lore that will delight hockey fans both young and old.” —Read Magazine

Photo Credit: Mary Jane Nguyen

Andrew Podnieks is the author of more than 50 books on hockey, most notably 2008’s best-selling book on the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens, Honoured Canadiens, which has sold over 140,000 copies. He is also the author of Players: The Ultimate A-Z Guide of Everyone Who Has Ever Played in the NHL; The Complete Hockey Dictionary; World of Hockey: Celebrating a Century of the IIHF; A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs; Canada’s Olympic Hockey Teams, 1920-1998; A Canadian Saturday Night; and, Portraits of the Game: Classic Photographs from the Turofsky Collection at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Andrew Podnieks’ website can be found at www.andrewpodnieks.com