MILAN (AP) — Three of the four men’s hockey quarterfinal games Wednesday going past regulation provided a reminder of how overtime rules work at the Olympics.
Canada beat Czechia 82 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime. Finland also tied it late and needed more than three minutes to defeat Switzerland.
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The rules to decide games change as the tournament unfolds.
Group play is like the NHL
All of the round-robin games on the men’s and women’s sides follow NHL rules: 5 minutes of 3-on-3 OT, followed by a shootout. One change is that the shootout is five rounds at a minimum, whereas the NHL has three.
American T.J. Oshie’s shootout heroics to beat host Russia in Sochi is among the most memorable moments of it since the league began participating in 1998. That year, Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek also famously eliminated Canada in a shootout, in which coach Marc Crawford infamously did not choose Wayne Gretzky as one of his five shooters.
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There was only one group play shootout in Milan: Switzerland’s women’s team beating Czechia.
The knockout round brings longer overtime
In the single-elimination knockout round from the qualification playoff and the quarterfinals into the semifinals and the bronze medal game, teams play 10 minutes of 3 on 3 before going to a shootout, also with a minimum of five skaters each.
Mitch Marner won it for Canada on Wednesday skating through three defenders before backhanding the puck into the net.
“I don’t know what favors us or doesn’t favor us, we’ve obviously got some pretty good speed and skill,” Canada’s Tom Wilson said. “If it’s 5 on 5, I hope that would play to our skills, but also, I mean it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not paid to do the rules. I’m here to play hockey and help this country win any way I can.”
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Gold medal game can no longer be decided by a shootout
When the U.S. beat Canada in the women’s final in 2018 in South Korea, they did so in a thrilling shoutout. That’s no longer possible.
The gold medal game now goes to the format the NHL uses in the Stanley Cup playoffs: sudden-death, 5-on-5 overtime until someone scores a goal.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
