The IIHF just selected its list of the ten biggest moments in the colourful history of Olympic hockey. Do you agree or disagree with their list and what other games would you have selected? Here is the IIHF list and their comments:
1. Lake Placid, 1980: USA captain Mike Eruzione scores the winning goal at 10:00 of the third period against the Soviet Union. Team USA, comprised of college players, defeats the Soviet Union, 4-3, in what is considered the biggest upset in international hockey. It was the key game in USA's run for the gold medal, its first in 20 years. The Soviet Union had won the four previous Olympic ice hockey tournaments and they went on to win the next three (1992 as CIS). Immediately following Lake Placid, the Soviet team stayed undefeated for almost five seasons in IIHF competition. Books were written and movies were made about this victory which is as close as one can get to a true miracle in athletics.
2. Lillehammer, 1994: A 20-year-old Peter Forsberg scores on a memorable penalty shot in the shoot-out and goaltender Tommy Salo makes the ensuing save on Paul Kariya's penalty shot to lead Sweden to its first ever Olympic gold medal as Sweden defeats Canada, 3-2, in the overtime final. Forsberg's "insane" fake-move on Canada's goalie Corey Hirsch -- something that most hockey players don't dare to try in practice -- became a postage stamp and a defining moment in Swedish sports lore.
3. Nagano, 1998: Goaltender Dominik Hasek thwarts all five Canadian shooters in the penalty shootout in the semifinal as the Czech Republic eliminates Canada 2-1.
The Czechs follow up by winning the gold medal game against Russia 1-0. Low scoring defenseman Petr Svoboda, who defected from Czechoslovakia 14 years earlier, scores the lone goal, his first and last for the national team. It was the Czech Republic's/Czechoslovakia's first Olympic gold in ice hockey.
4. Cortina d'Ampezzo, 1956: Soviet Union defeats Canada 2-0 in the last game of the final round to win its first ever Olympic ice hockey gold in its first Olympic appearance, only two years after entering international competition at the 1954 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm. It marked the first time that Canada lost two games in one Olympic tournament as they were defeated by eventual silver medalist USA, 4-1, four days earlier. Vsevolod Bobrov, the first Soviet superstar, led all Olympic scorers with 9 goals in 7 games. The Soviet win marked a beginning of a new era in international hockey.
5. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1936: Great Britain defeats Canada 2-1 in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic hockey history and the early result eventually leads the Brits to the gold medal. Gerry Davey and Edgar Brenchley were the historic goal scorers for Great Britain. It was Canada's first defeat in an Olympic game and the first time since 1920 that Canada didn't win gold.
6. Salt Lake City, 2002: Joe Sakic, the eventual Olympic MVP scores the winning goal (3-2) and also adds the clinching last goal as Canada defeats USA, 5-2, in the gold medal game to give Canada its first ice hockey gold in 50 years. Managing Director Wayne Gretzky celebrates in the stands and Canadians take to the streets as five decades of Olympic frustration comes to an end. Most players say that this was the best hockey they have ever been part of. It was USA's first Olympic loss on home ice.
7. Nagano, 1998: USA defeats Canada 3-1 to win the first ever women's Olympic ice hockey tournament as one of the best and fiercest rivalries in all of international team sports hits the Olympic stage. Many traditional hockey fans, hesitant to embrace the women's game, change their minds as USA and Canada display a great performance of skill and speed. Sandra Whyte scores the clincher and has assists on the other U.S. goals.
8. Albertville, 1992: "The team with no name, no flag and no national anthem" wins the Olympic ice hockey gold. CIS, or the Commonwealth of Independent States, defeats Canada, 3-1, in the gold medal game, the last time coach Viktor Tikhonov leads a national team to a first-place finish. Tikhonov calls it "my biggest success" at the press conference as his squad did not have the star appeal of the former Soviet teams. The IIHF later credited the gold medal to Russia.
9. Squaw Valley, 1960: USA goaltender Jack McCartan plays the game of his life against the defending Olympic champion Soviet Union as the USA wins 3-2. McCartan and his teammates defeat Czechoslovakia, 9-4, the next day (Roger Christian scores 5 goals in the last period) to win the first ice hockey gold medal for the U.S. Bill Cleary, who led the U.S. team with 7 goals and 7 assists in 7 games, had this comment 35 years later: "I wouldn't trade my chance to march in the Olympic parade of athletes for 100 Stanley Cups. And when it was over, we all went back to our lives. That's the way we wanted it."
10. Salt Lake City, 2002: Raimo Helminen takes part in his sixth consecutive Olympic ice hockey tournament as the 38-year-old Finnish forward becomes the first hockey player to reach that remarkable record. Two months later, Helminen breaks the record for most national team games. A record he still holds at 330 games.
Some other footnotes: If Team USA wins a medal, 44-year-old Chris Chelios will become the oldest hockey player in Olympic history to win a medal and the third oldest to participate. It's not likely Chelios will ever catch up to goalies Bela Ordoby (Hungary) and Alfred Steinke (Germany). Both were 48 years-old in St. Moritz Olympics of 1928.
16 players have won the IIHF World Championship, the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament and the Stanley Cup and they make up the exclusive Triple Gold Club. The XX Olympic Winter Games at Torino is the next opportunity for the elite society to gain new members. Here are some of the players who will join the club -- if their team wins the gold in Torino: CZE: Pavel Kubina, FIN: Jere Lehtinen, SWE: Nicklas Lidstrom, CAN: Kris Draper. No USA-player can do it since the U.S. has not won the IIHF World Championship since 1933. Russia's Alexei Yashin has a World Championship title from 1993 but he would need both a gold in Turin and a Stanley Cup in the spring to score the triple. If Mats Sundin wins with Sweden in Turin, he just needs the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup and he may join the club.
Here are those 16 players that form the unique group that has won the IIHF World Championship, the Olympic tournament and the Stanley Cup:
1. Tomas Jonsson (SWE)
2. Hakan Loob (SWE)
3. Mats Naslund (SWE)
4. Valeri Kamensky (RUS)
5. Alexei Gusarov (RUS)
6. Peter Forsberg (SWE)
7. Vyacheslav Fetisov (RUS)
8. Igor Larionov (RUS)
9. Alexander Mogilny (RUS)
10. Vladimir Malakhov (RUS)
11. Joe Sakic (CAN)
12. Brendan Shanahan (CAN)
13. Rob Blake (CAN)
14. Scott Niedermayer (CAN)
15. Jaromir Jagr (CZE)
16. Jiri Slegr (CZE)
Damn Niinimaa... 
