The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, was the 19th Olympic Championship. The Czech Republic, which emerged from the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, won its first winter gold medal, becoming only the seventh nation to win Olympic ice hockey gold. The tournament, held from February 7 to February 22, was played at the Big Hat and Aqua Wing arenas.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Host country ...

1998 Winter Olympics
Men's Ice Hockey

Team Czech Republic defeats Team Russia, 1–0, in the final game
Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Venue(s)	Big Hat Aqua Wing Arena
Dates	7–22 February
Teams	14
Final positions
Champions	Czech Republic (1st title)
Runner-up	Russia
Third place	Finland
Fourth place	Canada
Tournament statistics
Games played	35
Goals scored	210 (6 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Teemu Selänne (10 points)
← 1994 2002 →

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This was the first Olympics in which the National Hockey League (NHL) took a break (17 days, from February 8 to February 24) allowing national teams to include NHL players from each country.^[1][2] Unlike basketball's Dream Team in 1992, where the players stayed in a hotel in Barcelona due to security concerns,^[3] NHL players stayed in the Olympic Village due to improved security measures.^[4]

The Canadian team, despite a strong start in the round robin, lost their semifinal match against the Czech Republic in a shootout. Team Finland defeated Canada in the bronze medal game. In the final, the Czech Republic beat Russia 1-0 to win the gold medal, as goaltender Dominik Hašek shutout the Russian squad.^[5]

All times are local (UTC+9).

Group A

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kazakhstan	3	2	1	0	14	11	+3	5	First Round
2	Slovakia	3	1	1	1	9	9	0	3
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	11	11	0	2
4	Austria	3	0	2	1	9	12	−3	2

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Source: Olympedia

7 February 1998 16:00

Italy

3–5 (3–1, 0–1, 0–3)

Kazakhstan

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 8,634

	Mike Rosati	Goalies	Vitali Yeremeyev Alexander Shimin	Referee: Gerhard Müller Linesmen: Janne Rautavuori Ulf Rönnmark
	0–1 12:11 − Tregubov (Zavyalov, Pchelyakov) (PP) Zarrillo (Orlando)− 13:04 1–1 Felicetti (Figliuzzi) − 14:22 2–1 Zarrillo (Nardella, Orlando) (PP) − 19:55 3–1 3–2 25:49 − Borodulin (Glovatsky) 3–3 41:42 − Dudarev (Savenkov) 3–4 47:44 − Borodulin (A. Koreshkov, Zemlyanoy) (PP) 3–5 56:01 − Kamentsev (Dudarev) (SH)
	12 min	Penalties	10 min
	18	Shots	21

7 February 1998 16:00

Austria

2–2 (1–0, 1–2, 0–0)

Slovakia

Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 4,315

	Claus Dalpiaz	Goalies	Igor Murín	Referee: Pekka Haajanen Linesmen: Alexander Poliakov Thomas Schurr
	Lavoie (Ulrich) (PP) − 07:16 1–0 Perthaler (Schaden) − 23:30 2–0 2–1 26:35 − Cíger 2–2 33:52 − Petrovický (Kontšek, Sekeráš) (PP)
	12 min	Penalties	22 min
	12	Shots	38

8 February 1998 14:00

Austria

5–5 (2–2, 2–1, 1–2)

Kazakhstan

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 9,410

	Claus Dalpiaz	Goalies	Alexander Shimin Vitali Yeremeyev	Referee: Leonid Vaisfeld Linesmen: Kenneth Sartison Timothy Kotyra
	Puschnik (Nasheim) − 00:33 1–0 1–1 07:12 − Pchelyakov (Zavyalov) (SH) 1–2 13:09 − Shafranov Lavoie − 15:37 2–2 Pusnik (Searle) (PP) − 31:16 3–2 Lavoie (Perthaler) − 34:20 4–2 4–3 39:46 − Y. Koreshkov (Zemlyanoy, A. Koreshkov) (PP) 4–4 53:30 − Sokolov (Shafranov, A. Koreshkov) 4–5 58:08 − A. Koreshkov (Shafranov) Pusnik (Lavoie) (PP) − 58:51 5–5
	20 min	Penalties	38 min
	25	Shots	23

8 February 1998 18:00

Slovakia

4–3 (1–2, 3–1, 0–0)

Italy

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 8,620

	Igor Murín	Goalies	Mario Brunetta	Referee: Bengt Andersson Linesmen: Thomas Schurr Hirokazu Takahashi
	Plavucha (Sekeráš) − 06:41 1–0 1–1 08:50 − Figliuzzi (Insam) (PP) 1–2 11:56 − Felicetti (Mansi, De Angelis) Plavucha (Daňo) − 21:23 2–2 Petrovický − 22:00 3–2 Plavucha (Sekeráš, Cíger) − 23:36 4–2 4–3 39:13 − Chitaroni (Ramoser)
	12 min	Penalties	20 min
	22	Shots	28

10 February 1998 14:00

Slovakia

3–4 (1–1, 1–0, 1–3)

Kazakhstan

Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 3,659

	Igor Murín	Goalies	Vitali Yeremeyev	Referee: Gerhard Müller Linesmen: Janne Rautavuori Ulf Rönnmark
	Plavucha (Daňo) − 05:42 1–0 1–1 09:07 − Y. Koreshkov (Sokolov) (PP) Jánoš (Petrovický) − 28:03 2–1 2–2 42:55 − Borodulin (Zavyalov) 2–3 47:04 − Shafranov (A. Koreshkov, Y. Koreshkov) Bondra (Švehla) (PP) − 52:16 3–3 3–4 58:39 − A. Koreshkov (Zemlyanoy)
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	32	Shots	25

10 February 1998 18:00

Italy

5–2 (2–0, 2–0, 1–2)

Austria

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 8,473

	Mike Rosati	Goalies	Claus Dalpiaz	Referee: Brad Meier Linesmen: Václav Český Rudolf Lauff
	Figliuzzi (Biafore) − 05:18 1–0 Figliuzzi − 12:41 2–0 Chitaroni (De Angelis, Busillo) (PP) − 27:49 3–0 Ramoser (Nardella) − 36:57 4–0 4–1 43:41 − Ressmann (Pusnik) Zarrillo (Topatigh) − 50:39 5–1 5–2 53:27 − Kromp (Searle)
	20 min	Penalties	16 min
	33	Shots	22

Group B

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belarus	3	2	1	0	14	4	+10	5	First Round
2	Germany	3	2	0	1	7	9	−2	4
3	France	3	1	0	2	5	8	−3	2
4	Japan	3	0	1	2	5	10	−5	1

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Source: Olympedia

7 February 1998 20:00

Germany

3–1 (0–0, 1–0, 2–1)

Japan

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 9,861

	Josef Heiß	Goalies	Shinichi Iwasaki	Referee: Donald Adam Linesmen: Václav Český Rudolf Lauff
	Hecht (Wieland) – 37:03 1–0 1–1 43:50 – Sugisawa (Otomo) Kunce (Wieland) – 51:24 2–1 Benda (MacKay) – 55:05 3–1
	22 min	Penalties	16 min
	33	Shots	21

7 February 1998 20:00

France

0–4 (0–1, 0–1, 0–2)

Belarus

Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 3,419

	Cristobal Huet	Goalies	Andrey Mezin	Referee: Brad Meier Linesmen: Kenneth Sartison Timothy Kotyra
	0–1 15:06 – Karachun (Romanov) 0–2 38:52 – Bekbulatov 0–3 46:21 – Kalyuzhny (Karachun, Antonenko) 0–4 53:10 – Skabelka (Andriyevsky) (PP)
	26 min	Penalties	14 min
	18	Shots	36

9 February 1998 14:00

Germany

2–8 (0–2, 2–3, 0–3)

Belarus

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 8,063

	Klaus Merk	Goalies	Andrey Mezin Aleksandr Shumidub	Referee: Pekka Haajanen Linesmen: Ulf Gerhard Rönnmark Janne Rautavuori
	0–1 8:23 – Antonenko (Stas) 0–2 14:51 – Salei (Khmyl) (PP) Hegen (Bergen, MacKay) (PP) – 23:39 1–2 1–3 28:05 – Andriyevsky (Matushkin, Romanov) (PP) 1–4 28:37 – Kovalyov (Roshchin, Lozhkin) Bergen (Brandl) (PP) – 38:39 2–4 2–5 39:49 – Skabelka (Bekbulatov) 2–6 43:38 – Galchenyuk (Alekseyev) 2–7 46:35 – Aliakseyev (Kovalyov) 2–8 57:17 – Yerkovich (Galchenyuk) (PP)
	14 min	Penalties	22 min
	28	Shots	31

9 February 1998 18:00

Japan

2–5 (2–1, 0–1, 0–3)

France

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 9,930

	Dusty Imoo	Goalies	François Gravel	Referee: Gerhard Müller Linesmen: Václav Český Rudolf Lauff
	Fujita (Sakai, Kudo) – 7:36 1–0 1–1 14:42 – Bozon (SH) Kuwabara (Sugisawa, Yahata) (PP) – 15:32 2–1 2–2 23:51 – Barin (Mortas, Ouellet) 2–3 57:05 – Pouget (Poudrier, Bozon) (PP) 2–4 59:08 – Bozon (Poudrier) (SH, EN) 2–5 59:37 – Poudrier (Lemoine) (SH, EN)
	18 min	Penalties	41 min
	21	Shots	25

10 February 1998 14:00

Japan

2–2 (1–1, 1–1, 0–0)

Belarus

The Big Hat, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 3,659

	Dusty Imoo	Goalies	Aleksandr Shumidub	Referee: Donald Adam Linesmen: Timothy Kotyra Kenneth Sartison
	0–1 12:36 – Romanov (Andriyevsky, Skabelka) Kabayama (Fujita, Sakai) (PP) – 19:02 1–1 1–2 30:32 – Bekbulatov (Matushkin) Kuwabara (Yahata, Sugisawa) (PP) – 34:23 2–2
	16 min	Penalties	12 min
	19	Shots	44

10 February 1998 18:00

France

0–2 (0–0, 0–1, 0–1)

Germany

Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano, Japan Attendance: 3,916

	François Gravel	Goalies	Olaf Kolzig	Referee: Bengt Andersson Linesmen: Aleksandr Polyakov Hirokazu Takahashi
	0–1 27:46 – MacKay (Draisaitl, Lüdemann) 0–2 58:06 – Draisaitl (Krupp)
	12 min	Penalties	16 min
	25	Shots	31

More information Gold, Silver ...

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Czech Republic (CZE) Josef Beránek Jan Čaloun Roman Čechmánek Jiří Dopita Roman Hamrlík Dominik Hašek Milan Hejduk Milan Hnilička Jaromír Jágr František Kučera Robert Lang David Moravec Pavel Patera Libor Procházka Martin Procházka Robert Reichel Martin Ručinský Vladimír Růžička-C Jiří Šlégr Richard Šmehlík Jaroslav Špaček Martin Straka Petr Svoboda	Russia (RUS) Pavel Bure-C Valeri Bure Oleg Chevtsov Sergei Fedorov Sergei Gonchar Alexei Gusarov Valeri Kamensky Darius Kasparaitis Andrei Kovalenko Igor Kravchuk Sergei Krivokrasov Boris Mironov Dmitri Mironov Alexei Morozov Sergei Nemchinov Mikhail Shtalenkov German Titov Andrei Trefilov Alexei Yashin Dmitri Yushkevich Valeri Zelepukin Alexei Zhitnik Alexei Zhamnov	Finland (FIN) Aki-Petteri Berg Tuomas Grönman Raimo Helminen Sami Kapanen Saku Koivu-C Jari Kurri Janne Laukkanen Jere Lehtinen Juha Lind Jyrki Lumme Jarmo Myllys Mika Nieminen Janne Niinimaa Teppo Numminen Ville Peltonen Kimmo Rintanen Teemu Selänne Ari Sulander Jukka Tammi Esa Tikkanen Kimmo Timonen Antti Törmänen Juha Ylönen

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Source:

• Gold – "Team members CZECH REPUBLIC". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
• Silver – "Team members Russia". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
• Bronze – "Team members Finland". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-07-29.

Several of general manager Bobby Clarke's selections for Team Canada were controversial. Eric Lindros was named captain over longtime leaders such as Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman, and Ray Bourque (Clarke at the time was general manager of Lindros's NHL team, the Philadelphia Flyers).^[7] Rob Zamuner was a surprise pick, while Mark Messier, Adam Oates, Ron Francis, Doug Gilmour and Scott Niedermayer were omitted.^[8] Japanese fans were disappointed when their adopted hero, Paul Kariya, a Canadian of Japanese heritage and one of Canada's best stars, failed to make the Games due to a head injury sustained from a crosscheck by Gary Suter during regular season NHL play.^[9][10][11]

Memorably, during the shootout in their semifinal match against the Czech Republic, Canadian coach Marc Crawford opted to have defenceman Ray Bourque shoot in the shootout instead of high-scoring forwards Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman. Hockey commentators alternatively criticized Crawford's decision (Bourque, like the other four Canadian shooters, failed to score) or praised it on the grounds that Bourque was one of hockey's most accurate shooters at the time and Gretzky had always been surprisingly mediocre on breakaways.^[12][13]

Swedish player Ulf Samuelsson was discovered to have applied for American citizenship. Under Swedish law at the time, when one acquires a foreign passport, their citizenship is annulled. Samuelsson was ejected after having played the first game against Belarus, although Sweden kept their points from the win. The Czech National Olympic Committee felt that Sweden should lose the points and filed a protest with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which was rejected.^[14][15]

The United States team, loaded with 17 NHL stars, was eliminated in the first game of the knockout round, and responded by trashing their rooms in the Olympic Village.^[12] Three apartments were vandalized, ten chairs were broken and three fire extinguishers were emptied. Six of those chairs and one fire extinguisher were thrown down five stories into a courtyard.^[16][12]

More information Team ...

	Team
	Czech Republic
	Russia
	Finland
4th	Canada
5th	Sweden
6th	United States
7th	Belarus
8th	Kazakhstan
9th	Germany
10th	Slovakia
11th	France
12th	Italy
13th	Japan
14th	Austria

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These standings are presented as the IIHF has them,^[17] however both the NHL and IOC maintain that all quarterfinal losers are ranked equal at 5th.^[18][19]