All time NHL Olympics moments

With the National Hockey League back in the Olympics for the first time since 2014, let’s take a look at the best moments of the NHL at the Olympics.

1998: Czech Republic Gold Medal

1998 was the first season in which NHL players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. And it provided an unlikely gold medalist.

Facing a stacked Canadian roster in the semifinal, with Hall of Famers such as Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, and Steve Yzerman, the Czechs were tied with the Canadians after 60 minutes, forcing overtime in Nagano, Japan.

Neither team could score the winner, and the game advanced to a shootout. 1996 Stanley Cup-winning coach Marc Crawford needed to pick five shooters to try to score off of Czech goalie Dominik Hasek.

He chose Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque, Brendan Shanahan, Joe Niewendyk and Eric Lindros. Four of these players were Hockey Hall of Famers.

However, Hasek turned away all five shooters to advance to the gold medal game, where the Czechs upset a similarly stacked Russian team to take gold for the first time in their country’s history.

2002: A Legend Returns

Everyone remembers the 1980 Miracle on Ice. A scrappy underdog United States team defeated the four-time defending champion Soviet Union to win the gold medal.

That team was coached by Herb Brooks. And in 2002, Brooks returned to the Olympics for the first time in 22 years to try and win the United States their first gold medal since that fateful day in 1980.

While Brooks was unsuccessful, he led the Americans to the gold-medal game for the first time since 1980. And in a fitting moment, the United States defeated the Russians for the first time since 1980 to get there- in the semifinal, on the anniversary of the Miracle on Ice.

2010: Crosby’s Golden Goal

With the Winter Olympics in Canada for the first time since 1988, there was much pressure on the home hockey team to deliver. And deliver, they did.

Canada led 2-1 late in the game on goals from the Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews and the Ducks’ Corey Perry. Ryan Kesler of the home Vancouver Canucks had scored for the Americans.

Then, Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils scored with 25 seconds left, and the game proceeded into overtime.

Seven minutes and forty seconds into the extra period, Penguins star Sidney Crosby took a pass from Flames winger and future teammate Jarome Iginla to beat Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and take gold for the Canadians for the second time in three Olympics.

The puck was later sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

2014: TJ Oshie, American Hero

The most recent time the NHL went to the Winter Olympics was 2014 in Sochi, Russia. In the preliminary round, the United States faced the host Russian team.

Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings scored twice; however, the U.S. stayed even with goals from the Ducks’ Cam Fowler and recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Joe Pavelski of the Sharks. The game proceeded into overtime and remained undecided heading into a shootout.

With Olympic rules allowing for returning shooters following the first three attempts, the U.S. leaned on T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues, who scored on four of his six attempts, the last one beating Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Americans a bye to the quarterfinal-round.

Who will join this list of legendary NHL Olympic moments this year?

Jacob Petrarca is a fourth-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jap6840@psu.edu