Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's event was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games programme in 1924. In July 1992, the IOC approved women's hockey as an Olympic event; it was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes, and until 1998, the players of the National Hockey League and other men's professional leagues were not allowed to compete. In the men's tournament, Canada was the most successful team of the first three decades, winning six of seven gold medals. The Soviet Union first participated in 1956 and overtook Canada as the dominant international team, winning seven of the nine tournaments in which they participated. The United States won gold in 1960 and again in 1980, which included the "Miracle on Ice" upset of the Soviet Union. Other nations to win gold in the men's event include Great Britain in 1936, Sweden in 1994 and 2006 and the Czech Republic in 1998. Finland, Germany, Russia and Switzerland have also won medals in the sport. In the women's event, Canadian and American teams have both dominated the event. The United States won the first tournament in 1998, while Canada won in 2002 and 2006.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_Olympic_Games

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

881:

Pope John VIII crowned Charles the Fat as Holy Roman Emperor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Fat

1502:

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India with the object of enforcing Portuguese interests in the Far East. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama

1541:

Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago, Chile, as Santiago del Nuevo Extremo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago%2C_Chile

1818:

Chile formally declared its independence from Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Declaration_of_Independence

1855:

Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the United States' first agriculture college. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_University

1909:

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States, was founded to work on behalf of the rights of African Americans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Colored_People

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

finagle (v): 1. To obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful methods. 2. To cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/finagle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. --Abraham Lincoln http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln