Have you been watching the Olympic deoxyephedrine ice hockey tourney and cheering for the American team ? Be thankful you have n’t been forced to select which U.S. team to rootle for . American fans faced just such a riddle at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz , Switzerland , when two ice hockey squads showed up for the games and claimed to be the official American police squad . Here ’s a look at how that happened .
The Background
It would be nifty if the story hinged on some heated rivalry between the two American teams , but the tangible problem in reality staunch from the sort of horrendous foresight that was fairly common at former Olympics . ( A lot of the pre-1950 games were like field day at your grade school , only with worse provision . )
It apace became apparent that Brundage was n’t give-up the ghost to take kindly to an AHA - assembled team playing in the Olympics . However , given the manner the Olympic hockey scheme was organized at the sentence , these two radical with diametrically fight back philosophies would have to agree on who should represent the U.S.
The Argument
Despite Brundage ’s irritation , the AHA went in the lead and put together a U.S. Olympic team composed of professional actor .
Since the International Ice Hockey Federation — the same trunk that put the AHA in charge of American hockey — was in charge of approve the participate teams in the ice hockey tourney , everything seemed to be okay .
Not so tight , though . While the AHA team may have had the ice hockey world ’s approval , Brundage and the American Olympic Committee had to approve all of the American participants in the games . Brundage refused to O.K. the AHA ’s pro squad and had the AAU assemble its own all - amateur team to compete for the red , livid , and blue .
In retrospect , someone probably should have realized this system of rules was shaky at best , and at this point , thing got pretty awkward . Two " official" American teams showed up in St. Moritz ready to bring : one amateur police squad approve by the Olympic Committee , and one pro team that had the thumbs - up from the governing body of American ice hockey . Obviously , the Americans could n’t put two teams in the tournament , so tensions between the squads ' various backers started to flare .
The Resolution
If you think you ’re unconnected study this , think about how flummoxed the International Olympic Committee was . As the opening ceremonial approach , the IOC decided to simply block both of the American team from the tourney . This determination enraged the International Ice Hockey Federation , though , and it looked like the IIHF might just nix the entire tourney to boycott the IOC ’s alternative .
Cooler question finally endure . The Swiss organizing committee did n’t want to see the hockey game tournament get cancelled over this squabble , so it agreed to permit the professional AHA squad play in the tourney . As a consolation prize , the recreational AAU squad would get to march in the opening observance . This compromise did n’t please the IOC , which wash its manus of the whole hatful by severing its linkup with the tourney .
The Conclusion
When the AHA ’s American team require the chicken feed , they play like professionals in a tournament full of amateurs . They thumped Poland 23 - 4 before drub Italy 31 - 1 . However , Team USA had a tougher clock time with the unattackable squad and fell to Switzerland and Czechoslovakia in improver to weathering a 12 - 3 beating from the Canadians . Although the Americans led the tournament in marking with 86 end , their 5 - 3 record was only good enough for 4th plaza . The Canadian and Czech teams both finished 7 - 0 - 1 in the circular - robin tourney , but the Canadians take the gold on the strength of a stronger finish derived function .
The IOC eventually make out back around , too . It agree to let the pro AHA team represent the U.S. as long as the squad could n’t win a medal or appear in the tournament ’s official standing . That ’s why if you search at the 1948 Winter Olympics methamphetamine hockey standings in a record book , the U.S. team is ordinarily listed as a footnote just below the Italian powerhouse that give up 156 goals en route to an 0 - 8 record .
