With out a doubt one of the most popular Winter Olympic events in history, the ice hockey tournament has been staged at the Olympic Games since the Summer Olympics in 1920. Ice Hockey became an official Winter Olympic Event during the 1924 games. It wasn’t until 1998 when the women’s ice hockey tournament became an official Olympic event.

In the early days Team Canada dominated the tournament winning 6 out of the first 7 competitions, but was soon taken over by the then powerful Soviet Union. From 1956 to 1988 the men’s Russian team had won 7 Olympic gold medals in only 9 opportunities. As it stands now the Canadian team has won a total of 16 medals and the Russian team has a total of 9. Clearly a competition dominated by Canada and Russia in previous Winter Olympics. However, over the previous five Winter Olympics the likes of Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia have joined the ranks as Olympic powerhouses during the tournament. The women’s tournament over the years has been dominated by Canada and the USA. This will prove to be an exciting tournament during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

In Vancouver there will be 8 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams competing in the hockey tournament. During the 2010 Winter Olympics the ice hockey event will be contested in a round robin format for both the men’s and women’s teams. In the case of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the games will be played on regulation NHL sized rinks, which are four metres narrower than the traditional International rinks used for Olympic events.

The ice hockey tournaments will be taking place over two separate venues, Canada Hockey Place (General Motors Place, home of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks) and UBC Thunderbird Arena (located on the University of British Columbia campus). Canada Hockey Place is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver and holds a spectator capacity of 18,630. As for the UBC Thunderbird Arena it has undergone some renovations to the ice surfaces in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The venue capacity is 7,200.

This will prove to be an amazing aspect of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, both the regular ice hockey tournaments and the sledge hockey tournament. Don’t miss either one.