By Zane Miller
On Monday, April 26th, 1920, Canada defeated Sweden 12-1 in the gold medal game to win the first gold medal in Olympic men’s ice hockey history. It was the first gold medal for Canada in Olympic men’s ice hockey. The United States defeated Czechoslovakia 16-0 in the silver medal game, taking their first silver medal in Olympic men’s ice hockey. Czechoslovakia defeated Sweden 1-0 in the bronze medal game, taking their first bronze medal in Olympic men’s ice hockey. The tournament was held in Belgium, with Antwerp as the host city.
The tournament was held during the 1920 Summer Olympics, the only time that ice hockey was a part of the Summer Olympics, as ice hockey would instead join the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924. The tournament also used an unusual format known as the ‘Bergvall system’ to determine medalists, which saw the gold medal game be held first after the preliminary games, followed by the silver medal and bronze medal games. This was the only year that the format was used, as the tournament instead went to a round-robin format in 1924.
Herb Drury of the United States scored the most goals during the tournament with 14.
1920 Final Standings
1. Canada (3-0, 1.000) (Gold)
2. United States (3-1, .750) (Silver)
3. Czechoslovakia (1-2, .333) (Bronze)
4. Sweden (3-3, .500)
5. Switzerland (0-2, .000)
6. France (0-1, .000)
7. Belgium (0-1, .000)
Game Results
Medalists final game starting lineups
Link to stats database: https://www.olympedia.org/results/20000
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