The National Hockey League’s debut at the 1998 Winter Olympics brought a dream experience for Canada fans. Two weeks later, it ended in nightmare.
The 1998 Winter Games, hosted in Nagano, Japan, marked the first time the NHL took a break to allow national teams to include NHLers from each participating country. Canada and the United States were the only two countries in the 14-team tournament to have their entire roster be filled from the NHL.
It was Canada’s first look at Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur and other Hockey Hall of famers all together on one team.
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat and the World’s history.
Canada swept their round-robin play, beating Belarus 5-0 on Feb. 13 with a pair of goals from Eric Lindros before rattling off a three-goal third period to beat Sweden 3-2 on Valentine’s Day.
They beat the United States 4-1 on Feb. 16 with two goals from Keith Primeau to win Group D, starting their push for the country’s first men’s hockey gold since 1952 when the Edmonton Mercurys represented Canada and took first place.
Canada beat Kazakhstan 4-1 in the quarter-finals on Feb. 18, with Greztky recording two assists.
The nightmare came in the semifinals on Feb. 20 against Czechia (then Czech Republic) and Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek.
Hasek and Roy went save for save through 40 minutes before Czechia grabbed a 1-0 lead with 10:14 left in the game. Medicine Hat product and former Tiger Trevor Linden scored the equalizer with 1:03 left in the game to force overtime and eventually, a shootout.
The game’s first shooter, Canada’s Theo Fleury, was stopped by Hasek’s shoulder. Czechia’s Robert Reichel beat Roy on the blocker side for the 1-0 lead in the shootout.
Canada head coach Marc Crawford then rolled out Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk and Lindros, all turned aside by Hasek. Roy stopped Martin Rucinský, Pavel Patera, and future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr hit the post to keep it a 1-0 shootout score.
Throughout the shootout the cameras kept cutting between Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time scorer, left just to watch and the Czechia bench, arm-in-arm as they watched on.
The game and the country’s medal hopes relied on Canada’s last shooter, Detroit Red Wings’ forward Brendan Shanahan. He skated in on Hasek and ran out of room, stopped by the Czech net minder who sprinted to celebrate with his team.
Czechia went on to shut out Russia 1-0 on Feb. 22 to capture the country’s first men’s hockey Olympic gold.
The Canadian heartbreak continued, losing 3-2 to Finland in the bronze medal game on Feb. 21, leaving Japan without a medal.
“There is a feeling that this is our game and a belief that we have to take it back,” David Mills, a history professor at the University of Alberta said in the Feb. 21, 1998 News. “Hockey is an experience that most Canadians can share. We spend our winters in hockey rinks, and it’s a sport that boys and increasingly girls are raised on.
“This is something that in many ways unites Canadians.”
The Canadian men rebounded with a gold at the 2002 Olympics in Utah. Mario Lemieux made his Olympic debut, Sakic was named tournament MVP in his second Games.
They suffered another heartbreak in 2006, losing two group stage games before falling to Russia in the quarter-finals.
Home ice advantage paid off in 2010 as Team Canada men, playing in front of a sea of red and white in Vancouver, captured a record eighth gold after beating the United States in the finals with the ‘Golden Goal’ from Sidney Crosby.
Canada also won gold in 2014 in dominating fashion, allowing just three goals across six games, en route to three straight golds.
The 2026 Games, the first featuring NHLers since 2014, almost saw another debilitating loss to Czechia.
Canada trailed Czechia 3-2 with 7:42 left in Wednesday’s quarter-final action before Nick Suzuki redirected a point shot from Devon Toews with 3:27 left in the game to force overtime.
Just 1:22 into the overtime, Mitchell Marner skated through a trio of Czechia defenders and scored to send Canada to the semifinals.
Canada plays Finland on Friday at 8:40 a.m. with a spot in Sunday’s gold medal final on the line.
