Penalty-shot pain: Our love-mostly-hate relationship with the shootout
The shootout has long plagued Canada’s Olympic hockey teams. Here’s a brief look at its history:
1988: The shootout makes a quiet Olympic debut at Calgary’s Father David Bauer Arena in an 11th-place game between France and Norway. Norway fails to score on any of its breakaway attempts, while the French convert two of four attempts for a 7-6 victory.
1992: The IIHF changes the Olympic hockey medal round to a knockout format, instead of a second stage where the medallists are determined after the top three teams in one group play the top three teams in another group. Since ties are no longer possible in the medal round, the shootout is implemented as a solution to decide games. Canada participates in — and actually wins — the first medal-round shootout in a 4-3 quarterfinal win over Germany. German coach Ludec Bukac says afterward: “It’s better just to keep playing, or even to flip a coin.”
1994: Canada’s hate of the shootout begins in the gold-medal game of the Lillehammer Olympics, courtesy of hall-of-famer Peter Forsberg. The smooth Swede dekes Canadian goalie Corey Hirsch and scores on a one-handed backhand in the seventh shootout round. That stands as the winning goal after Paul Kariya is stopped by Tommy Salo, giving Sweden a 3-2 victory. Forsberg’s goal is so memorable it is immortalized on a postage stamp in Sweden.
1998: Canada is able to send its top NHL players to the Olympics for the first time but is stumped again in a medal-round shootout, this time by Czech great Dominik Hasek. The Dominator stops all five Canadian shooters in a 2-1 semifinal victory. Adding to the controversy for Canada is the fact that Wayne Gretzky, in his only Olympic appearance, is not among the five selected shooters. Hasek and the Czech Republic go on to beat Russia for gold in Nagano, Japan, while a demoralized Canadian team falls to Finland in the bronzemedal game.
2018: Before Canada’s heartache in the women’s final, the American men feel the pain of the shootout’s sting. The United States loses 3-2 to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals at the Pyeongchang Games on Petr Koukal’s winning goal. “It’s tough when it comes down to the shootout,” U.S. captain Brian Gionta says. “It’s tough to swallow.” The Americans have a different opinion after the gold-medal victory over Canada on Thursday. “Yesterday, the men’s team lost in a shootout, and two of our coaches said ‘God, that’s a terrible way to lose,’ ” U.S. women’s coach Robb Stauber says. “And my first response was: ‘Unless you’re on the other end.’ ”