Canada’s hockey teams have historically dominated at the Olympics, the occasional challenge from the Americans, Swedes, and Finns notwithstanding. As we count down to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, let’s take a look back at Canada’s most memorable moments in Olympic ice hockey history, the good, the bad, and the odd.
10. Canada sweeps gold with a staggering 110 goals (Chamonix 1924)
Canada established its world dominance in ice hockey way back during the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix 1924. (Ice hockey actually debuted in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, where Canada also won gold.)
The amateur team Toronto Granites were selected to represent Canada, scoring an astonishing 110 goals across five games and conceding only 3 points to its opponents. The star player was Harry “Moose” Watson from Newfoundland, effortlessly shooting a total of 36 goals, an Olympics record that remains unbroken to this day.
9. Canadian and Russian teams face off with KN95 masks on (Beijing 2022)
COVID caution still prevailed during the Beijing 2022 Olympics, where a preliminary game between the Canadian and Russian women’s teams was delayed by an hour because the Russians’ COVID-19 results hadn’t come back yet. In the end, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) negotiated for both teams to take to the ice with preventative KN95 masks.
After two periods, the Russian team removed their masks but the Canadian team kept theirs on. The women’s team were used to training with masks on and it evidently didn’t hamper their performance. They won against Russia 6-1.
8. “The Dominator” deprives Canada of gold while Gretzky is sidelined (Nagano 1998)
During the 1998 Nagano semi-final men’s game, a last-minute goal from Canadian Trevor Linden in regulation time brought the Canadian and Czech men’s teams to a tie, prompting a shootout. And that’s when it all went wrong for Canada.
Dominic Hasek’s unpredictable goaltending movements stopped the puck all five times Canada tried to score, leading the Czech team to victory. Famously, Wayne Gretzky wasn’t chosen as one of the shooters. This has led fans to debate for years afterwards whether “The Great One” could have turned the tables for Canada.
While the world had been practically counting on the U.S. and Canada teams to meet in a gold-medal finale, this dream was almost single-handedly destroyed by Dominic “the Dominator”. The Czech men’s team went on to shut out Russia 1-0 for Olympic gold. The 1998 victory even inspired a Czech opera, Nagano.
7. Olympian Scott Moir skips practice to drink beer and yell at hockey referees (PyeongChang 2018)
Five-time figure skating medallist Scott Moir became a social media darling for his vocal support of the Canadian women’s hockey team during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Moir apparently skipped ice skating practice to cheer on the team in the final against the U.S — and occasionally heckle referees for their questionable calls, decked out in red and white with a beer in hand. (He even handed out beers to other spectators. Can’t get more Canadian than that.)
Moir’s patriotic support of his fellow Olympians became an unexpected highlight of the games and a symbol of Canadians’ enduring love of hockey.
6. Canada women’s team loses 16-year hockey gold streak (PyeongChang 2018)
The Canadian and the US women’s teams have a longstanding Olympic rivalry. In the last six out of seven Olympic finals, the two teams have come head to head. So the expectations were high on both sides during the 2018 games in South Korea. (We all felt you, Scott Moir.)
The field was level at 2-2 when the historic shootout tipped the game for the Americans. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson duped Canada’s Shannon Szabados with a deke that clinched the winning goal for the U.S. When Meghan Agosta then failed to score against Maddie Rooney, that was the end of Canada’s 16-year Olympic winning streak.
5. The legendary “Forsberg” move that beat Team Canada (Lillehammer 1994)
Number five on our list is another historic shootout moment, though not one that Canadians remember with pride. It was the men’s hockey gold medal game between Sweden and Canada. After ten minutes of overtime, they were still tied at 2-2. In 1994, the Canadian team didn’t regularly practice for shootouts, which were only added to regular season NHL games in 2005-06.
When 20 year old Peter Forsberg of Sweden stepped up, he faced goalie Corey Hirsch. In a spectacular move, he did a forehand fake and then reached around Hirsch with his right to slide the puck into the net. It was the shot that won Sweden its first hockey Olympic gold.
“The Forsberg” tactic became legendary, forever cemented in hockey history with a Swedish stamp issued in 1995. Not to take anything away from the Swedes, but it says something about Canada’s hockey prowess that when we do lose, the win is historic enough to be commemorated with a stamp (or an opera, in the case of the Czechs), eh?
4. The greatest women’s hockey team ever assembled (Beijing 2022)
After the disappointment of PyeongChang 2018, the women’s hockey team came to Beijing with a take-no-prisoners mindset. In the final match-up against arch-rivals Team USA, the Americans managed to score a shot with 13.5 seconds on the clock, but it was too late. Canada won with a 3-2 lead, reclaiming its crown as Olympic champions.
The group that went to Beijing 2022 was arguably the greatest women’s team ever assembled. This is borne out by the numbers: a perfect 7-0 run of games against all their opponents and a record-breaking 57-10 goals.
Marie-Philip Poulin became the first player, male or female, to score in four Olympic hockey gold medal games. She had more than earned her moniker “Captain Clutch” for her ability to score late game-winning goals.
Sarah Nurse also deserves a notable mention. She became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal for hockey, and she set an Olympic record for 18 points, the most won in a single tournament. All hail Team Canada.
3. Joe Sakic leads men’s team to first gold in 50 years (Salt Lake City 2002)
When Assistant Captain Joe Sakic headed to Salt Lake City in 2002, the Canadian men’s hockey team hadn’t won Olympic gold since 1952. The humbling lessons of Nagano 1998 still weighed on the team and tensions were high following some middling preliminary performances. But now it was Team Canada vs. Team USA in the final.
Team USA got the first goal early on. But Paul Kariya and Jerome Iginla quickly scored two goals in the first period and Team Canada had a close 3-2 lead by the end of the second. With only four minutes remaining in the third, Iginla slotted his second goal of the game. In the final 80 seconds, Sakic flicked the winning wrist shot straight past American goalie Mike Richter.
“Jooooooooooe Sakic!!!”, shouted CBC commentator Bob Cole, as Canadians everywhere erupted in celebration of Canada’s first men’s hockey gold in 50 years.
2002 was an Olympics for the history books because Canada brought home double hockey gold — the first for the women’s team since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. A piece of lore enhanced the double win. A Canadian icemaker had placed a loonie in the ice for luck, and the “lucky loonie” that brought the two teams to victory now lives in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
2. The miracle goal post and the gold that almost didn’t happen (Sochi 2014)
It looked like it was all over for the Canadian women’s team. Less than four minutes left in the gold medal game against the US (who else), and Team Canada was behind 2-0. Then Brianne Jenner made her shot and scored a small glimmer of hope for Canada. But then an unlucky collision left the net wide open for American Kelli Stack to send the puck gliding down the ice…only for it to hit the goal post and boomerang back to Team Canada.
Only 55 seconds remained now. True to her moniker “Captain Clutch”, Marie-Philip Poulin managed to tie the game with another goal, sending the game into overtime. It could have gone either way but the hockey gods were smiling down on Canada. Captain Clutch sent the winning shot past the American goalie. What looked like a silver medal for Canada just minutes earlier turned into the fourth consecutive hockey gold for the women’s team.
The Sochi 2014 women’s gold game takes second place on our list because of its dramatic, edge-of-seat turn of events. Which leads us to our top Olympic hockey moment of all time.
1. Sid the Kid and the most-watched Canadian broadcast ever (Vancouver 2010)
Hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympics meant that the pressure was immense on all athletes, not least on the men’s hockey team. They had finished seventh in the 2006 Winter Olympics, a disappointment in Turin that would have been unbearable in Vancouver, in the heartland of hockey. It’s not an exaggeration to say that a second-place finish would have ruined the Olympics for a lot of Canadians.
The final game was between, you guessed it, Canada and the US. It was a nail-biter throughout. Canada started in the lead but then American Zach Parise tied the game 2-2 with a mere 24 seconds left in the third period. That gold medal looked less certain all of a sudden.
It was going to be decided in overtime then. About eight minutes in, Jarome Iginla had the puck. Sidney Crosby, then just 22 years old and not yet the NHL legend he would become, screamed “Iggy!” Iginla passed him the puck and Crosby spun it into the net to rapturous applause. That shot became known as the “Golden Goal”, the goal watched by a large portion of 26.5 million Canadians. It was the most-watched Canadian broadcast ever.
Vancouver 2010 was the year Team Canada “Owned The Podium”, winning an unprecedented 14 gold medals. But Canada’s greatest Olympic hockey moments have shown that it’s often a close call right up till the last seconds of a game.
The Milano Cortina 2026 team is stacked with NHL stars, including Crosby and Connor McDavid. Will they bring home hockey gold? In the coming weeks, I’ll be taking a closer look at Team Canada’s chances. Check out all the key events that Canada is expected to excel in here.
