Ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, was the second Olympic Championship, also serving as the second World Championships. The competition was held from Monday, January 28, 1924, to Sunday, February 3, 1924. Canada, represented by the Toronto Granites, defended its championship from the 1920 Summer Olympics. The United States and Great Britain took the silver and bronze respectively, while other contenders included Czechoslovakia, France, and Sweden.[1]

Ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics
The Toronto Granites, representing Canada, won the gold medal
Tournament details
Host country France
Venue(s)Stade Olympique de Chamonix (outdoors)
DatesJanuary 28 – February 3, 1924
Teams8
Final positions
Champions  Canada (2nd title)
Runner-up  United States
Third place  Great Britain
Fourth place Sweden
Tournament statistics
Games played16
Goals scored310 (19.38 per game)
Scoring leader(s)Canada Harry Watson 46 points
← 1920
1928 →

The Bergvall system used in the 1920 Olympics was discarded in favor of a two-level round-robin tournament. Qualifying teams were placed in pools for the opening round, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the final round. The medals were awarded based on the record in the final round. This format would remain in use until the 1992 Winter Olympics, when the final round-robin was replaced with a medal-round single-elimination tournament.

The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) chose the Toronto Granites as the 1923 Allan Cup champions to represent Canada, and W. A. Hewitt was chosen oversee the national team's finances at the Olympics.[2][3] Hewitt was empowered by the CAHA to name replacement players as needed,[4] and recruited Harold McMunn and Cyril Slater as replacements when four players from the Granites were unable to travel to the Olympics.[5] In his weekly report to the Toronto Daily Star, Hewitt wrote that the Granites would face multiple changes in conditions compared to hockey games in Canada. He did not feel the team would be affected by playing outdoors on natural ice in the morning or afternoon, despite that the team was accustomed to playing indoors with electric lighting on artificial ice. He also felt that the larger ice surface and lack of boards around the sides of the rink would mean more stick handling and less physical play.[6]

Austria was eligible to compete after having been excluded in 1920, but they withdrew just before the tournament due to the ineligibility of three international players.[7]

Medalists

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Gold Silver Bronze
  Canada (CAN)
Jack Cameron
Ernie Collett
Bert McCaffrey
Harold McMunn
Dunc Munro
Beattie Ramsay
Cyril Slater
Hooley Smith
Harry Watson
  United States (USA)
Clarence Abel
Herbert Drury
Alphonse Lacroix
John Langley
John Lyons
Justin McCarthy
Willard Rice
Irving Small
Frank Synott
  Great Britain (GBR)
William Anderson
Lorne Carr-Harris
Colin Carruthers
Eric Carruthers
Guy Clarkson
Ross Cuthbert
Geoffrey Holmes
Hamilton Jukes
Edward Pitblado
Blane Sexton

Participating nations

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A total of 82(*) ice hockey players from eight nations competed at the Chamonix Games:

(*) NOTE: Only counts players who participated in at least one game. Not all reserve players are known.

First round

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Group A

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Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT Qualification
1   Canada 3 3 0 85 0 +85 1.000 Advanced to Final Round
2   Sweden 3 2 1 18 25 −7 .667
3   Czechoslovakia 3 1 2 14 41 −27 .333
4    Switzerland 3 0 3 2 53 −51 .000
Date Result P1 P2 P3
28 Jan   Sweden 9 - 0    Switzerland 3 - 0 3 - 0 3 - 0
28 Jan   Canada 30 - 0   Czechoslovakia 8 - 0 14 - 0 8 - 0
29 Jan   Canada 22 - 0   Sweden 5 - 0 7 - 0 10 - 0
30 Jan   Canada 33 - 0    Switzerland 8 - 0 11 - 0 14 - 0
31 Jan   Sweden 9 - 3   Czechoslovakia 5 - 1 1 - 1 3 - 0
01 Feb   Czechoslovakia 11 - 2    Switzerland 4 - 0 3 - 2 4 - 0


Group B

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Match between France and the United States
Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT Qualification
1   United States 3 3 0 52 0 +52 1.000 Advanced to Final Round
2   Great Britain 3 2 1 34 16 +18 .667
3   France 3 1 2 9 42 −33 .333
4   Belgium 3 0 3 8 45 −37 .000
Date Result P1 P2 P3
28 Jan   United States 19 - 0   Belgium 9 - 0 6 - 0 4 - 0
29 Jan   Great Britain 15 - 2   France 5 - 1 3 - 1 7 - 0
30 Jan   Great Britain 19 - 3   Belgium 8 - 1 6 - 1 5 - 1
30 Jan   United States 22 - 0   France 12 - 0 1 - 0 9 - 0
31 Jan   France 7 - 5   Belgium 3 - 3 3 - 1 1 - 1
31 Jan   United States 11 - 0   Great Britain 6 - 0 2 - 0 3 - 0

Final round

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Canada and Great Britain in the final round.
 
The final game, between Canada and the United States.
Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT
    Canada 3 3 0 47 3 +44 1.000
    United States 3 2 1 32 6 +26 .667
    Great Britain 3 1 2 6 33 −27 .333
4   Sweden 3 0 3 3 46 −43 .000

Note: The CAN v SWE and USA v GBR games were carried forward from the previous round.

When the Olympics organizers wanted to select hockey referees by drawing names out of a hat, Hewitt and United States Amateur Hockey Association president William S. Haddock agreed to a coin toss to decide on the referee for the game between Canada and the United States men's national team. Hewitt feared having an inexperienced referee for the game, and his suggested to have Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG) president Paul Loicq officiate the game was confirmed by the coin toss.[8] The Granites defeated the United States team by a 6–1 score, and won all six games played to be the Olympic gold medallists.[9]

Date Result P1 P2 P3
01 Feb   Canada 19 - 2   Great Britain 6 - 0 6 - 0 7 - 0
01 Feb   United States 20 - 0   Sweden 5 - 0 7 - 0 8 - 0
02 Feb   Great Britain 4 - 3   Sweden 0 - 1 2 - 2 2 - 0
03 Feb   Canada 6 - 1   United States 2 - 1 3 - 0 1 - 0

Statistics

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Average age

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Team Czechoslovakia was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 31 years and 5 months. Team Belgium was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 24 years and 1 months. Gold medalists Canada averaged 25 years and 2 months. Tournament average was 27 years and 11 months.[10]

Top scorer

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Team GP G A Pts
  Harry Watson 5 37 9 46

Final ranking

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The French national team.
1   Canada (CAN)
2   United States (USA)
3   Great Britain (GBR)
4   Sweden (SWE)
5   Czechoslovakia (TCH)
5   France (FRA)
7   Belgium (BEL)
7   Switzerland (SUI)

These standings are presented as the IIHF has them,[11] however the IOC does not rank the teams below 4th[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Ice Hockey at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ "J. H. Crocker Is Olympic Head". The Winnipeg Tribune. Winnipeg, Manitoba. 24 October 1923. p. 13. 
  3. ^ "Billy Hewitt Again In Charge of Hockey Team; Granites Sail January 11". The Brandon Sun. Brandon, Manitoba. 17 October 1923. p. 4. 
  4. ^ "Bar Commercial Teams From Race For Allan Cup". Lethbridge Herald. Lethbridge, Alberta. 5 December 1923. p. 6. 
  5. ^ Rodden, Mike (13 September 1966). "Sports Highways". The Kingston Whig-Standard. Kingston, Ontario. p. 9. 
  6. ^ "Canadian Team Find Change In Match Conditions". Brandon Daily Sun. Brandon, Manitoba. 22 January 1924. p. 4. 
  7. ^ "Eishockey". ANNO. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  8. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (1997), p. 16
  9. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (1997), p. 17
  10. ^ "Team Canada - Olympics - Chamonix 1924 - Player Stats". QuantHockey. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  11. ^ IIHF Media Guide and Record Book (2011) p. 103
  12. ^ IOC database of results

Sources

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