1980 Olympics Hockey

Czechoslovakia opened up the scoring early, scoring in the 2nd minute, and never really stopped. They scored 3 in the first period, 4 in the second, and then took the foot off the gas and only scored 2 in third period. Norway scored its lone goal in the second, closing the gap to 5-1. Each team ended with only 6 penalty minutes each. It was actually the Czechoslovakian second line that did the most damage. They scored 6 of the 9 goals. Milan Novy and Jaroslav Pouzar each had a hat trick, with Novy adding 3 assists and capturing the games MVP award. Norwegian goalie Jim Martinsen faced 39 shots and ended with 30 saves [76.9%]. Czech goalie Jiri Kralik faced 17 shots and ended with 16 saves [94.1%].

Romania and West Germany kicked off their Olympic Hockey journey with a mostly uneventful first period. The only notable happening was West Germany's 8th minute goal for the early lead. Romania would respond in the second period, netting bookend goals in the 1st and 18th minutes. The third period opened with a West German goal to tie it up in the 1st minute. However, Romania took advantage of a Power Play to regain the lead in the 3rd minute, and would add two more goals before the game came to it's conclusion with Romania on top, 5-2.

My game between Canada and the Netherlands had a final score of 9-1 which was close to what happened in the actual tournament. My contest saw Canada on the attack in the first period and once they scored and gained momentum the poor goaltending of the Netherlands was evident. It was 5-0 Canada after 11 minutes and the period ended with a 7-0 score. A lull in the action would have helped the Netherlands but there were only 4 lull minutes in the period. Canada out shot the Netherlands 26-14 over the course of the contest.

A. Galikov got whistled for a charging major 3 minutes into the game, but the Netherlands could not cash in on the 5-minute powerplay. Shortly after that, Fetisov and A. Galikov scored 17 seconds apart and Lebedev added one two minutes later to give the USSR a 3-0 lead after one. Petrov scored in the first minute of period 2 to make it 4-0, then the Netherlands made it interesting with back-to-back goals from Hille and van Wieren. de Cloe then scored with 1:18 left in the second to make it a 4-3 game after two! It would stay that way until about halfway through the third. Then, the Soviets rattled off SEVEN unanswered goals (Mikhailov, Maltsev, Makarov, Starikov, Kasatonov, Fetisov, and Maltsev again), three which came on a major powerplay, in the final 11 minutes to make it an 11-3 final.

Johnson scored only 46 seconds into the contest to give USA the early lead. The Americans would tack on four more goals (McLanahan, Broten, McLanahan again, and Eruzione), with the last three occurring on spectacular save rolls from the main chart, to take a 5-0 lead after one. Christian scored on the powerplay to make it 6-0 three minutes into the second, but M. Johansen responded in the next minute to put Norway on the board. Midway through the frame, USA got into some penalty trouble, and Norway capitalized with Settereng scoring with the man advantage. However, Eruzione scored another final-minute goal to put the USA lead back up to five after two. The teams traded goals in the third. McLanahan completed his hat trick three minutes in and Foyn scored late for Norway to make it an 8-3 final.

This game was not for the faint of heart. Canada's Devaney got neutralized in the first minute of the game on the first of two behavior issue rolls. Two minutes later, Suoraniemi goes in the box for roughing, and Berry cashes in on the powerplay to give Canada a 1-0 lead. Halfway through the first, D'Alvise (Devaney's replacement on the first line) had a golden opportunity to extend the CAN lead, but Kiveia made a spec save to keep it a one-goal game. In the second, it was Canada who fell into penalty trouble, and the Finns took advantage with powerplay goals from Hakulinen and Porvari to take a 2-1 lead after two. Things got worse for Canada in the third. In behavior issue roll number two, Berry got whistled for a major and subsequently got ejected when he argued with the ref about it. The Canadians wound up killing off the 5-minute powerplay, but that didn't give them any spark at all. As a matter of fact, with five minutes to go, Porvari, Kiimalainen, and Leinonen scored in back-to-back-to-back minutes to make the final 5-1.

Romania played above themselves, especially in the early parts of the 1st period where they scored the first 2 goals of the game within the first 8 minutes. Romania was even able to keep it close through 2 periods. But, Sweden was just too strong in the end. Sweden would score 4 in the first and 4 in the third, adding a single goal in the second. M. Ahlberg scored 3 and T. Eriksson scored 2 for the winning Swedes. Cazacu recorded a hat trick for Romania in a losing effort. Sweden outshot Romania 34 to 17.

Defenses led the way in this one. Both of Canada's lines held firm, creating multiple turnovers. After a successful Penalty Kill, we end the first period scoreless. Poland breaks the stalemate in the 8th minute of the second period, but Canada responds with a late goal of their own. We head to the third period all tied at 1. It looked like we were heading for a draw as the minutes ticked away. Finally, in the 20th minute Poland managed a breakaway Goal as time expired. Poland wins a stunner, 2-1!

In a remarkably accurate replay, the US tied Sweden 1-1 while bringing in an extra attacker in the last two minutes on a Rob McLanahan goal. The first period was scoreless as Jim Craig shut down the Swedish attack. The Swedes opened the second period with a Mats Ahlberg wrister assisted by Tomas Jonsson and Leif Holmgren. Three minutes into the second a cheap shot by the Swedes pushed the Americans into submission for the rest of the period as Sweden dominated play. After a Craig save in the first minute of the third period, the hometown fans swung the momentum with chants of "USA" each time Craig turned away Swedish scoring chances. After a Ken Morrow takeaway in the 18th minute, Coach Herb Brooks called for the extra attacker and McClanahan scored the tying goal as the US forced Pelle Lindbergh into a failed attempt at a spectacular save. Morrow and Mark Johnson got the assists. However, the game wasn't over as Craig came up with two more saves in the final minute. Shots on goal were 33-25 in favor of Sweden. Both teams were 0-5 on the power play.

The second round matchup between West Germany and Norway was mostly uneventful in the first two periods but the action picked up in the final period. West Germany had a 2-0 lead after two periods and then sealed the victory early in the third period. They scored at the 5:00 and 7:00 minutes marks of the final period which was soon followed by the injury of one of Norway’s best skaters, Geir Myhre. The final score was 5-1. West Germany outshot Norway 28-21.

The Soviet Union scored 4 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, and 3 in the 3rd to crush a spunky Polish team. Poland did score 1 in the 2nd - a period that was very quiet in both goals and play. Mikhailov scored 2 and added 3 assists to take game MVP. Petrov scored the first and last goals of the game. Pytel scored the lone Polish goal. The Soviets outshot Poland 32 to 21. Each team had 4 penalties.

In a game where it looked like the Czechs were phoning it in, they were lucky to get out with the win. West Germany opened the scoring early in first scoring in the 4th minute. Czechoslovakia would lead at the end of the first period by scoring 2 goals in the middle of the period, one with the help of a major W. German penalty. In a very lack luster second period, Czechosloakia would score a single goal and lead 3-1 going into the final period. Looking like they would finally put together a strong period, the Czechs put some early pressure on the W Germans and scored a goal 2 minutes into the period. The teams would trade goals in the middle of the period, with the West Germans pulling within 2 at the 10 minute mark. But showing they could turn it on when it mattered, Czechoslovakia scored in the very next minute and was able to hold on for the 5-2 uninspired victory. While no one played exceptionally well, P. Stasny was able to pick up 2 goals and M Stasny scored 1 and added 2 assists.

The Stastny brothers got the Czechs on the board three minutes, with Peter scoring and Marian and Anton providing the assists. Things started to get physical toward the end of the first. With Berdila in the box on a roughing call, Pouzar scores on the power play to increase the Czech lead, and scores again in the final minute to make it 3-0 Czechoslovakia after one. Tureanu gets Romania on the board early in the second, but Lukac and Martinec score in back-to-back minutes, then Peter Stastny notched his second of the game to give the Czechs a five-goal lead. Cazacu gave Romania some life at the end of the second when he scored to close the gap to four. The third period featured plenty of lulls and pushing/shoving incidents, but no scoring.

The USA was able to defeat a very strong West German squad 4-2 [historically it was also 4-2]. The West Germans opened up the scoring in the 5th minute of the 1st period. USA scored 2 later in the period [14th and 18th minutes] to go up 2-1 going into the first break. West Germany scored the only goal in the 2nd period to even things up 2-2 going into the 3rd period. The Americans got stronger as the 3rd period progressed and just put too much pressure on the West German defense. In the 12th and 13th minutes of the 3rd the USA were able to score the winning and pull away goal to take the victory 4-2. All 6 goals in the game were scored by different players.

Japan surprised the Finns by coming out and hitting hard resulting in a Yoshio Hoshino goal in the second minute of the game. Unfortunately for Japan, that would be all of their offense despite outhitting Finland throughout the game. Finland settled down and dominated the game as they should, scoring two goals in the first and second periods and three in the third for a 7-1 victory. Jukka Porvari and Mikko Leinonen each had two goals. Takeshi Iwamoto had 37 saves for Japan, while Antero Kivel stopped 26 for Finland. Finland went one for five on the power play. Japan could not score in their three tries with a man advantage.

The shots came fast and furious in this one, with Japan scoring the first goal in the opening minute. They would score a second time in the fourth minute, and at ten minutes, they held a 3-0 lead. The Netherlands didn't lay down, and scored a pair of goals of their own in the last 5 minutes of the period to get within 1 at 3-2. It was much of the same in period 2 as Japan once again scored early, netting goals in the 4th and 6th minutes. Not to be outdone, the Netherlands answered with 2 goals back-to-back at the 8 and 9 minute marks. Japan was able to extend it's lead back to 2 with a 18th minute goal. We entered the 3rd with Japan leading 6-4. Things didn't quite go the way Japan wanted this time around, as the Netherlands would score twice in the period, giving us a final score of 6-6.

Finland bowls over Poland 6-2 behind Provari’s 4 goal effort. After an even first period in which both teams were tied Finald wrestled control and never looked back as Provari completed a hat trick by early 3rd period. Finland was an offensive onslaught pouring on 10 shots on goal to Polands 5.

Two of the best teams in the tournament were matched up and the game lived up to any expectations associated with it. There was no lull in the action in the first period and it was Finland that scored first thanks to being awarded a penalty shot at the eleven-minute mark. They then scored a second goal soon afterward and the period ended with a 2-0 score. The second period did have a few lulls but the action around the net was intense with many rebound shots. Each team scored once and the second period ended with Finland up by a 3-1 advantage. The USSR was on the attack in the final period and within the first six minutes of the period the score was tied 3-3. The Soviets added a goal at the fifteen-minute mark and survived Finland’s empty net attack in the final minute to secure a hard fought 4-3 victory. The USSR outshot Finland 32-23.

It was all Poland possession-wise in the first period. Iwamoto was able to hold off the onslaught until Janiszewski and Kokoszka scored at 12:24 and 13:58, respectively, to put Poland up 2-0. Jobczyk added one at the end of the frame to make it 3-0 after one. Malysiak padded the lead to four in the opening minute of the second. Then, Japan caught some life with power play goals from Honma and Misawa before Kokoszka made it 5-2 in favor of Poland after two. Zabawa scored two goals in the third to extend the Poland lead to five. Then, Japan went on the power play again thanks to a Chowaniec roughing minor, but this time Poland scored two shorthanded goals (Pytel and Zabawa again) to close the door on this one. Fujii gets a goal in garbage time to make it a 9-3 final.

Finland used early goals in the first and second period to propel them to victory in a game that was closer than the experts expected. Finland scored in the 1st minute of period 1, but Holland answered in the 5th. Finland scored a second goal in the 8th minute to lead 2-1 at the end of the first period. Finland expanded their lead to 3-1 with a goal in the 1st minute of the second period. But, a pesky Netherlands squad scored a minute later to close the gap back to 1. But, Finland was able to score 3 minutes later to push the lead back to 2. Finland added a goal 3 minutes later and held on to lead 6-2 at the end of 3. Netherlands added a single goal in the third period, but was unable to capitalize on Finland squad playing sub-par hockey. All 9 goals were scored within the first 8 minutes of each period. Finish forward Leppanen was recognized as the game MVP by scoring 3 goals and picking up 1 assist.

In a highly anticipated result, the Soviets dominated Japan from start to finish. The Soviets scored 2 goals in the first two minutes of the game, and by the first intermission already held a 5-0 lead. Myshkin was given the start, and he came up with two spectacular saves in the 2nd period, but also allowed Japan's only goal. The Soviets tacked on three more goals and led 8-1 at the 2nd intermission. The 3rd period saw a number of penalties, including a 5 minute major for Nakamura. That led to two more goals for the Soviets, who pulled their top line in the 3rd period to allow their 4th string line some minutes. The Soviets finished with a flourish, scoring 3 goals in the final three minutes.

Romania used a flurry of goals in the middle of the 1st period to jump out to a 3 to 0 lead over the Norwegians. Romania used each of the 3 lines and 3 different goal scorers in scoring their goals in the 10th, 11th, and 13th minutes. Norway would get one back at the 7 minute mark of the second period. But, a very quiet third period would end the game with Romania taking the very much needed victory 3-1.

USA gets scare wins 4-2 over Romania. strange game was tied 2-2 going into the 3rd before USA pulls away. Romanian defense was tough throughout but a few skill checks and poor goaltending led to their defeat. Romania goals to Haluca and Costeau; Christoff, Ramsey and Johnson for Team USA. Romania SOG 4, US 5.

After giving up an early power play goal on a double-minor, the Czechs scored four straight goals to take a 4-1 lead with ten minutes left, gaining the 3-goal cushion and putting the dagger in the American hopes with a short-handled goal by Marian Stastny. He had also assisted his brother Peter on a second-period goal, one of two failed SPEC SAVE goals against Jim Craig. The USA was just 1 of 7 on power plays as Milan Chalupa spent ten minutes in the penalty box himself, picking up the double minor just six minutes in, which was converted by Mark Johnson in the 8th minute of action. However, Czechoslovakia equalied just three minutes later before taking the lead for good in the fifth minute of the second period when Craig could not stop a blistering shot from Jiri Novak. The Statsny brothers then combined for a breakaway goal in the 12th minute of the second period to go ahead 3-1. Buzz Schneider would score a breakaway goal with seven minutes to go for the Americans, but two big saves by Jiri Kralik in the following minute helped the visitors put the game away. He had 28 saves while Craig made 24.

This contest was a defensive battle with Czechoslovakia enforcing their will on Sweden with a 4-1 victory. They scored twice in the first period and then added goals in each of the next two periods. Sweden’s lone goal came in the second period. Each team had some offensive talent on the ice but the game was characterized by many possessions resulting in no shots on goal. This was especially true for Sweden and when they did get shots, they were usually not good opportunities to score. Czechoslovakia outshot Sweden 24-20.

No surprise result here as Sweden dominates Norway with a 9-1 win. Mats Naslund assisted on 6 goals and Ahlberg and Holmgren benefitted, scoring three goals each. Norway stayed close in the 1st period, down 2-1 in the first intermission. After that, it was all Sweden as they are now in position to advance to the medal round with a win over West Germany.

The first period was mostly a lull-fest, although Holmgren opened the scoring for Sweden at 6:05 and Kretschmer scored 1:27 later to make it a 1-1 score after one. Naslund scored 3:50 into the second and that opened the floodgates for Sweden. The Swedes followed up with four more (Jonsson on PP, Ahlberg, Lundqvist, Holmgren on PP) to make it a five-goal difference after two. In the third, Holmgren got the next two to give himself a four-goal game and Lundqvist scored his second to make it a 9-1 final.

Poland secured a spot in the 5th Place consolation game with an 8-3 win over Netherlands. The #1 line for Poland dominated all three periods of play, accounting for 7 or their 8 goals. Throw in a couple of spectacular saves from Wojtynck and badly timed penatlties for Netherlands, and this one was really never in doubt. Poland will face the United States next.

The Soviets bulled over Canada 3-0 behind 2 goals by Petrov and 1 by Maltsov. USSR had 10 shots on goal while smothering the Canadian attack, limiting them to 5 SOG. Canada highlights included a spectacular save in the 2nd period and was able to kill off a minor penalty fairly easily.

In a key battle for medal contention, Finland moves into third place with a 3-1 victory over Sweden. Meanwhile, Sweden remains at the bottom of the standings in the Medal Round. Reijo Leppanen (Levo, Hakulinen) opened the scoring for the Finns eight minutes into the contest. Finland took advantage of Hakan Eriksson slash in the last minute of the first period, to take a 2-0 lead on a power play one-timer by Seppo Suoraniemi (Leinonen, Porvari) in the opening minute of the second stanza. Finland controlled the game from there until Lasse Litma charged into Eriksson for a five-minute major and ending Eriksson's night. Mats Naslund (Holmgren, Ahlberg) cut the lead in half at 2-1 with 15 minutes to go. However, the Swedes couldn't mount a comeback from there and Jukka Porvari (Kiimalainen, Leinonen) hit the empty netter for the final score.

Final Score: USSR 3 - Czechoslovakia 0. The Soviets used single goals in each period and some great goaltending by Tretjak to move closer to their 5th straight Olympic gold medal. The 1st period was a back and forth affair until the last minute when Makarov made the most of a rebound opportunity and put the Soviets up 1-0. While that would end up being enough, Fetisov scored the first of his 2 goals in the 10th minute of the second period. He would add his final goal in the last minute of the third period by hitting an open net chip shot. Goalkeeper Vladislav Tretjak took game MVP honors, making 24 saves to record the unexpected shutout against a very strong Czech team.

Sweden 4, Soviet Union 3. This was by far the most thrilling game I rolled in this project, and I dare anyone to top the drama of this one. Sweden stunned the crowd 13 seconds in as Naslund put one past Tretiak to give the Swedes the early lead. Then, with Kasatonov in the box on a roughing minor, Holmgren continued his hot play with a power play goal to make the score 2-0 Sweden at the 7-minute mark. Halfway through the period, Tretiak made a spectacular save on Molin. The Soviets took advantage of the momentum boost, with Fetisov putting them on the board to make the score 2-1. It would stay that way until late in the second when Mikhailov cashed in on the power play to tie things up at 2 heading into the second intermission. In the third, A Galikov scored a 4-on-3 power play goal to give the USSR its first lead with seven minutes left. Two minutes later, Molin scored for Sweden and we're tied once again. It all came down to a faceoff in the final minute. Sweden wins it and gets an immediate play. Naslund receives the pass from Ahlberg, AND HE SCORES! The Soviets pull Tretiak for a desperation shot at tying it, but can't get the play result off the faceoff and the Swedes upset the Soviets!

Czechoslovakia scored in the first minute of the game which certainly set the tone. They added another goal and led 2-0 at the first intermission. Finland changed the momentum when they scored in the first minute of the second period but some costly penalties hurt them greatly. They gave up a power play goal at the 16-minute mark of the second period and never regained the momentum. Czechoslovakia scored a breakaway goal late in the 3rd period and that sealed a 4-1 victory. Czechoslovakia outshot Finland 30-20.

The United States rallied in the 2nd period scoring three unanswered goals to pull away from Poland and win the 5th Place consolation game. USA opened the scoring in the 1st when Rob McClanahan scored. Poland answered back with a goal from Jobczyk. The United States killed a late penalty, one of two they would kill in the game. The second period opened with a goal by Mike Ramsey. Verchota added another goal, and Johnson closed out the 2nd period with a late goal to make it a 4-1 lead. The game was a positional battle for most of the 3rd period, until Mike Eruzione scored the final goal for Team USA.