19-year-old Soviet puckstopper VLADISLAV TRETIAK stood out for several reasons at the 1972 Sapporo Games. Among those was the revolutionary "birdcage" facemask that was part of the USSR goalie's gear in Japan.

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VLADISLAV TRETIAK represented the Soviet Union an unmatched four times at the Winter Olympic Games.

Although Tretiak first tended the nets at a major international event for the USSR as a 17-year-old at the 1970 IIHF World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, it was on his first Olympic appearance at the Sapporo Games in 1972 that the entire world got a real good look at the latest piece of goaltending technology — the birdcage facemask.

Two valuable features offered in the new equipment included better ventilation as well as an excellent field of vision.

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United States goaltender JIM CRAIG featured the classic molded fibreglass facemask at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York.

Whereas many goaltenders in the National Hockey League and elsewhere made an art out of decorating goalie masks during the 1970s, the former Boston University All-America brandished a simplistic, almost all-white look.

The only blemish, an Irish shamrock next to the left eyehole for good luck.

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Jim Craig, unfortunately, did not enjoy anywhere near the success in the NHL as he did at Lake Placid in 1980.

Craig played exactly 30 NHL games (3.77 avg, 0 so), the same total as his shirt number for the U.S.A. at the Olympics, for the Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars in his four seasons as a professional.

Craig did play for the United States at the B pool of the 1983 IIHF World Championships and was named to the tournament all-star team.

JIRI HOLECEK (2) is easily one of the most accomplished goaltenders in the history of international hockey. Holecek captured three titles ('72, '76, '77) at the annual IIHF World Championships for Czechoslovakia and was chosen to the media All-Star team five times ('71, '72, '73, '76, '78).

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Perhaps Finland had saved some of the spark from their 4-3 upset victory over Sweden on the final day at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. Or maybe it was MATTI RAUTIANEN’s five goals versus Japan in their qualification game at Innsbruck that had fired up the Finns. Whatever the case, Finland certainly put forth a concentrated effort against powerful Czechoslovakia on the opening day of final round-robin play at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Austria.

Forty-seven shots in all Suomi fired at their opponent’s goal. Unfortunately for the Finns, standing in front of the Czechoslovak net was none other than JIRI HOLECEK. The 31-year-old veteran international was already a three-time winner (’71, ’73, ’75) of the IIHF Directorate’s award for Best Goalie at the annual World Championships. PERTTI KOIVULAHTI was the only Finn who would manage to put a puck past the Sparta Prague goaltender.

Holecek handled the other 46 shots effectively as JIRI NOVAK’s two goals helped the Czechoslovaks avert a major disaster derailing their bid to challenge the Soviet Union for gold medal supremacy at Innsbruck.

Holecek handed in a clean sheet for Czechoslovakia’s next match, a 5-0 defeat of the United States, to follow up. That would turn out to be the only shutout registered by any of the six teams in the final round-robin at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games.

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“Holecek is the best goalie in the world – better than (Vladislav) Tretiak, (Ken) Dryden or (Bernie) Parent.” — BOBBY HULL at the 1976 Canada Cup

 JIRI HOLECEK would collect two more Best Goalie awards at the annual IIHF World Championships, in 1976 and 1978, and finished his career with an all-time high of five such selections.

REIJO RUOTSALAINEN (29), right, confers with fellow Finn JARI KURRI (17) for the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. Ruotsalainen joined the Oilers in the spring of 1987 after spending the winter with SC Bern in Switzerland. The smooth-skating rearguard rejoined the Oilers in the spring of 1990 after a trade from the New Jersey Devils just in time to capture a second Stanley Cup with Edmonton.

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FINLAND had come to Calgary in 1988 with perhaps their strongest Olympic team yet. The Finns were featuring six former National Hockey League players including one-time New York Rangers All-Star defenseman REIJO RUOTSALAINEN. Ruotsalainen, 27, had hoisted the Stanley Cup with Wayne Gretzky and the empirical Edmonton Oilers just nine months earlier.

SWITZERLAND, in some respects, were just happy to have the opportunity to skate at the Olympic finals in Alberta. Even though the competition had been expanded to twelve teams eight years earlier, Switzerland’s appearance at the Calgary Games marked their ice hockey team’s first Winter Olympics since 1964. What’s more, the Swiss had lost all ten of their games at the 1987 IIHF World Championships A pool in Vienna the previous spring and had been immediately demoted right back down to the B pool for the following tournament.

If nothing else for the Swiss, events in Austria did foreshadow what lay ahead in Alberta for the Finns, however.

In the first of two meetings the spring of 1987 at Vienna, Finland unleashed a relentless 84-shot barrage upon Switzerland’s goal. Standing tall between the sticks, Swiss goaltender OLIVER ANKEN was undaunted, however. Although Finland ended up on top 3-2, it was Anken’s astonishing 81 saves that fashioned the all the attention and rightly so.

At Calgary the following winter, the Finns and Swiss faced off once again on the opening day of Group B play in the round-robin.

This time around, Switzerland scored twice thru PETER JAKS and JAKOB KOELLIKER within the game’s initial eight minutes and in spite of just five shots for the opening twenty minutes. For the whole of contest, actually, the Swiss would officially generate only fifteen efforts on the Finnish goal. The balance of the story is on the account of Switzerland’s goaltender, RICHARD BUCHER.

Finland did get one goal back roughly four minutes into the third period and applied furious pressure the rest of the way, but, in all, Bucher was able to block 32 pucks as Switzerland skated off 2-1 victors.

As a testament to the genuine quality of their squad in 1988, it was the Finns who ultimately went home with the set of silver medals for the ice hockey competition at Calgary.

United States netminder JIM CRAIG thwarts the Soviet Union's Lativan legend, HELMUT BALDERIS (19), as defenseman BILL BAKER (6) observes in the famous 4-3 upset of the USSR by the Americans at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. At Lake Placid in Craig, a 1977 fourth round NHL draft pick (# 72 overall) of the Atlanta Flames, the Soviets ran into one genuine red hot goaltender.

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Of course, any proper discussion of the all-time greatest single-game goaltending performances at the Winter Olympic Games could not continue without the name JIM CRAIG joining the conversation sooner as compared to later.

The United States’ startling defeat of the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Games is regarded by many to be not just the most monumental upset in the history of Olympic ice hockey, but, indeed, the most significant giant-killing in all of sport. The ultimate David slays Goliath game.

The Soviet squad at Lake Placid, winners of four consecutive Olympic tournaments, was considered to be the most powerful hockey team on earth after having spanked the National Hockey League All-Stars 6-0 in the deciding match of a best-of-three Challenge Cup series twelve months earlier at Madision Square Garden in New York City.

The United States, by contrast, was a collection of collegians in an era when American college players were lucky enough just to reach the NHL and maintain full-time position.

The U. S. had taken on the USSR at Madison Square Garden in an exhibition just a few days prior to the Lake Placid Games and had been mangled 10-3.

The Soviet attack lost no steam in Lake Placid as the USSR launched 18 shots at the former Boston University All-American netminder in the first period of the famed medal round match alone. Craig managed to keep sixteen out, however; his efforts after the Soviets had gone ahead 2-1 courtesy a SERGEI MAKAROV goal were imperative. Of particular note was Craig’s point blank save from legendary Soviet captain and international hockey’s all-time top goal scorer, BORIS MIKHAILOV, with time winding down in the opening frame.

Montreal Canadiens goalie KEN DRYDEN, doing the ABC Sports color commentary for the American television audience, pointed out prophetically at the time of the Mikhailov robbery that the Soviets failure to extend its lead could manifest itself to be extremely important — U. S. center MARK JOHNSON proved the Hall of Famer’s theory correct with a fortuitous goal just one second from the end of the first period.

The Soviets quickly regained a 3-2 advantage just two minutes after the first intermission when ALEXANDER MALTSEV made easy work of his one-on-one with Craig. Unfortunatley for the USSR, though, a familiar story fashioned itself by the end of the second period. The Soviet Union had outshot the United States 12-2 the second stanza but, despite a lop-sided 30-10 margin at the end of forty minutes, held a very slim lead of just one goal.

Indeed, the Americans were able to rally for a pair in the third period on just six shots. At the other end, Craig was able to turn back all nine Soviet attempts on goal and pushed his total to 36 saves for the length of the game. Although Johnson had scored twice and it was a goal from the U. S. captain MIKE ERUZIONE that had provided the winner, there was absolutely no question which United States player had been the difference.

The United States attempts to move the puck out of the defensive zone as Soviet forecheckers give chase at the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan. The USSR, on their way to a third consecutive Olympic gold medal, defeated the USA 7-2. Guarding the net for the Americans against the Soviets is MIKE CURRAN (30).

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Without question, the 1972 Sapporo Games produced a monumental single-game goaltending performance that rightly takes its place in Olympic history as one of, if not the, all-time best.

It is the second day of the six-team round-robin finals in Sapporo with Czechoslovakia scheduled to meet the United States.

The Czechoslovaks are the regining silver medalists from Grenoble 1968 and enter as runners-up to the USSR at the 1971 IIHF World Championships. The line-up is chock full of international class players such as forward VACLAV NEDOMANSKY, defenseman FRANTISEK POSPISIL and goalie JIRI HOLECEK. This is the one team in the tournament thought to be capable of seriously challenging the Soviet Union, whom Czechoslovakia defeated at Grenoble, for the Olympic title.

The United States, meanwhile, finished in last place at the 1971 IIHF WC and, thus, were relegated to the B pool for the 1972 edition. The U. S. only qualified for the final round-robin at Sapporo with a less-than-overwhelming 5-3 defeat of perennial B poolers Switzerland. A 5-1 loss to medal favorites Sweden did not exactly get the final round-robin off to a flying start for the Americans.

It should have come as no surprise, then, that the Czechoslovaks would lay absolute siege to the American goal with a total of 52 shots being fired on target. Harder to predict would have been that the diminutive MIKE CURRAN, the U. S. goaltender, would be able to adequately deal with fifty-one of those attempts. Taking advantage of both the fine work from the former University of North Dakota netminder and an off-day from Holecek in the Czechoslovak goal, the Americans skated off 5-1 winners.

Czechoslovakia and the United States would both finish the final round-robin with 3-2 records. After the Finns upset the Swedes on the final day, the United States, on the strength of their head-to-head result with the Czechoslovaks, moved into second place behind the unbeaten Soviet Union.

Curran’s goaltending had proved crucial.

The 3-2 victory over the Soviet Union by the United States at Squaw Valley in 1960 is probably better remembered than the US win over Canada that year because a) it was the second last US game b) the contest was televised nationally on a Saturday afternoon and c) the Cold War Era was in full swing.

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The 1960 Olympic ice hockey tournament was projected to be a tussle between defending champions.

Canada arrived in California having won the 1959 IIHF World Championships in Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, had captured the last Olympic gold medal in 1956 at their first attempt.

It was the unheralded United States squad, however, who had stolen the show by the time the Olympic curtain came down in 1960.

The de facto gold medal match at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games came in the middle of the final round when the U.S. (7-0) faced off against Canada (6-1).

The Canadians, who featured the tournament’s two top scorers in Fred Etcher (9 go 12 as) and Bobby Attersley (6 go 12 as), would launch no less than 39 shots on target for the American goal.

But JACK MCCARTAN, the former University of Minnesota All-American on loan from the U.S. Army, turned aside 38 of those in what was certainly the 24-year-old’s signature performance at Squaw Valley as the United States nipped Canada 2-1.

It ranks as one of the best Olympic goaltending efforts of all time.

McCartan, who later played briefly with the New York Rangers before embarking on a long career in the minor leagues, followed that act up with 25 saves for the United States in the nationally-televised 3-2 win over the USSR, who ended up with the bronze medal.

The United States, powered by six unanswered third period goals, downed Czechoslovakia 9-4 in their final game to collect the gold medal.

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It certainly remains one of the most spectacular, as well as significant, single-game goaltending performances in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

On the final day of the ice hockey tournament at Oslo in 1952, the United States goaltender DICK DESMOND withstood a 58-shot barrage from the national team of Canada, a.k.a. the Edmonton Mercurys.

Canada, already having clinched the gold medal heading into the game, was, nonetheless, searching for an unblemished record and nearly achieved the extraordinary feat of a shot-on-goal per minute for the length of a contest. The 2-0 first-period margin to start the match served notice of Canadian intentions sufficiently.

The Americans, only as a result of yeoman’s work from Desmond and in spite of their own total of just 13 shots-on-goal, ultimately knotted the score for good at 3-3 on a goal from the University of Minnesota’s JIMMY SEDIN with less than two minutes remaining.

The United States, on the strength of the draw, secured the silver medal in Oslo. As it turned out, because Czechoslovakia blanked Sweden 4-0 on the final day as well, a loss to Canada for the U.S. would have yielded fourth place and, thus, no hardware to take home at all. Without question, Desmond, the former Dartmouth University star, was decisive in goal.

Czech Republic cage master DOMINIK HASEK turns aside a Russian shot as PAVEL BURE (10) lurks in the final Group B game of the round robin stage at the 1998 Winter Games from Nagano. Russia won this match, 2-1.

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With all due respect due other men who have minded the net such as JACK MCCARTAN and JIM CRAIG of the United States, not to mention VLADISLAV TRETIAK of the old Soviet Union, there is no question the greatest goaltending performance in the history of ice hockey at the Winter Olympic Games was offered up in Japan by the netminder known as “The Dominator”.

As one might expect from a champion of champions, DOMINIK HASEK really stepped up his game once the tournament reached the knock-out stages. In the quarterfinal versus the United States, the Czech Republic fell behind 1-0 in the first period and would end up being outshot by the wide margin of 39-19 for the game. It was Hasek, however, who slammed the door shut with twenty-nine saves over the final two periods allowing his teammates the opportunity to rally for four goals and advancement.

As for the Canadian team laden with National Hockey League stars including the legendary WAYNE GRETZKY, the Canucks only managed to put a puck past Hasek with their goaltender on the bench and sixty-three ticks on the clock. The Canadians did outshoot the Czechs 5-1 in the sudden-death overtime period.

To close out the tournament in proper fashion, facing a squad with such world class players as PAVEL BURE and SERGEI FEDOROV on board, it was, in retrospect, a foregone conclusion that Hasek would successfully deal with all 20 Russian shots on goal to post a shutout and make a single goal for the Czech Republic stand up in the Gold Medal Match.

Czech Republic goalie DOMINIK HASEK looks back after saving from Canada's THEO FLEURY, who started the shootout session of the sensational semi-final at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

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For extreme viewing enjoyment, a 10 minute 41 second clip of the entire shootout from the 1998 Olympic ice hockey semi-final matching CANADA and the CZECH REPUBLIC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb9-hbwmb0Y

“Canada vs Czech Republic Shootout (Feb 20, 1998)”

This footage from the game broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Company contains such intricate events as the coaching staffs for the two teams, led by MARC CRAWFORD of Canada and the late IVAN HLINKA of the Czech Republic, pondering and preparing the the official list of players to be involved in the shootout as well as the coin toss involving long-time National Hockey League referee BILL MCCREARY and the two captains, the Philadelphia Flyers’ ERIC LINDROS of Canada and one-time Boston Bruin VLADIMIR RUZICKA of the Czech Republic.

Also interesting are the shots of Canada’s WAYNE GRETZKY on the bench before and during the shootout. Nagano marked the only appearance at the Winter Olympics for the Great One. The aging Gretzky, who won three Canada Cups on the international stage and grabbed a bronze at the 1982 IIHF World Championships in Finland, ultimately left Japan without an Olympic medal.

Gretzky, who scored 23 goals (with 67 assists) in 82 games for the New York Rangers during the 1997-98 season, was not among the skaters selected by Canada for the shootout.

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Score – CZECH REPUBLIC 2 – CANADA 1

Goals – CZE Slegr (Patera) 49:46, CAN Linden (Lindros) 58:57

Penalties – CZE Bernaek 5:33, CZE Svoboda 17:39, CAN Linden 37:25

Shots on Goal — 28 CZE (5-14-8-1) – 25 CAN (3-11-6-5)

Referee – McCreary (Canada)

Linesmen – Collins (United States), Rautavuori (Finland)

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THE SHOOTOUT

Goaltenders

• # 39 — Czech Republic — Dominik HASEK
• # 33 — Canada — Patrick ROY

Shooters

• # 74 – Canada — Theo FLEURY — saved
• # 21 – Czech Republic — Robert REICHEL — GOAL
• # 77 – Canada — Ray BOURQUE — saved
• # 26 – Czech Republic — Martin RUCINSKY — saved
• # 25 – Canada — Joe NIEUWENDYK — saved
• # 10 – Czech Republic — Pavel PATERA — saved
• # 88 – Canada — Eric LINDROS — saved off post
• # 68 – Czech Republic — Jaromir JAGR — hit post
• # 14 – Canada — Brendan SHANAHAN — saved

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Hasek’s most dramatic save has to be from Lindros in the fourth round. The Flyers’ captain, with a full head of steam, makes a move to his backhand and appears to have caught Hasek leaning a bit the wrong way with Canada running out of chances in the shootout round. Hasek, however, is able to get his goalstick down in the nick of time to just steer Lindros’ shot safely off the goalpost.

Oddly enough, the Canadian captain is followed in the fourth round by the Czech Republic’s JAROMIR JAGR, another star skating in the National Hockey League for a Pennsylvania club at that time. The Pittsburgh Penquin also catches iron, though # 68 clanks the post straight off his forehand wrist shot.

ROBERT REICHEL, the sole shooter to find the back of the net, scored 252 goals in 830 games for the Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs in 11 National Hockey League seasons.

Reichel, 38, is still active in the Czech elite league for HC Litvinov, his hometown club.

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Dominik HASEK posted a 2.09 goals-against-average with 13 shutouts in 72 games for the Buffalo Sabres during the 1997-98 National Hockey League season.

The goal-scoring record that 1997-98 NHL season for Canada’s shooters:

• 27 goals, 82 games — Theo FLEURY — Calgary Flames
• 13 goals, 82 games — Ray BOURQUE — Boston Bruins
• 39 goals, 73 games — Joe NIEUWENDYK — Dallas Stars
• 30 goals, 63 games — Eric LINDROS — Philadelphia Flyers
• 28 goals, 75 games — Brendan SHANAHAN — Detroit Red Wings