Olympic Hockey 2022: Men's, Women's Medal Winners, Final Scores and Results

The 2022 Winter Olympics were filled with exciting ice hockey action. However, there were two teams that stood above the rest in Beijing: Finland's men and Canada's women.

The Finland men's team always found a way to win, resulting in it going 6-0 and capturing its first Olympic gold medal. The Finns had previously won two silvers and four bronzes and now finally have a gold as well.

No team in either tournament was more dominant than Canada's women. While going 7-0 on their path to the gold medal, the Canadians outscored their opponents 57-10. Canada has won five golds and two silvers in the seven Winter Olympics since women's ice hockey was introduced.

Here's a look back at all the hockey action that transpired during the Beijing Games.

Medalists

Men's

Gold: Finland

Silver: Russian Olympic Committee

Bronze: Slovakia

             

Women's

Gold: Canada

Silver: United States

Bronze: Finland

           

Men's Results

Group A

Canada 5, Germany 1

United States 8, China 0

United States 4, Canada 2

Germany 3, China 2

Canada 5, China 0

United States 3, Germany 2

          

Group B

Russian Olympic Committee 1, Switzerland 0

Denmark 2, Czech Republic 1

Russian Olympic Committee 2, Denmark 0

Czech Republic 2, Switzerland 1

Denmark 5, Switzerland 3

Czech Republic 6, Russian Olympic Committee 5

          

Group C

Sweden 3, Latvia 2

Finland 6, Slovakia 2

Sweden 4, Slovakia 1

Finland 3, Latvia 1

Slovakia 5, Latvia 2

Finland 4, Sweden 3

         

Playoff Qualifiers

Denmark 3, Latvia 2

Slovakia 4, Germany 0

Switzerland 4, Czech Republic 2

Canada 7, China 2

             

Quarterfinals

Slovakia 3, United States 2

Russian Olympic Committee 3, Denmark 1

Finland 5, Switzerland 1

Sweden 2, Canada 0

         

Semifinals

Finland 2, Slovakia 0

Russian Olympic Committee 2, Sweden 1

       

Bronze-Medal Game

Slovakia 4, Sweden 0

        

Gold-Medal Game

Finland 2, Russian Olympic Committee 1

             

Women's Results

Group A

Canada 12, Switzerland 1

United States 5, Finland 2

Russian Olympic Committee 5, Switzerland 2

Canada 11, Finland 1

United States 5, Russian Olympic Committee 0

United States 8, Switzerland 0

Canada 6, Russian Olympic Committee 1

Switzerland 3, Finland 2

Canada 4, United States 2

Finland 5, Russian Olympic Committee 0

             

Group B

Czech Republic 3, China 1

Japan 3, Sweden 1

China 3, Denmark 1

Japan 6, Denmark 2

Czech Republic 3, Sweden 1

China 2, Japan 1

Denmark 3, Czech Republic 2

Sweden 2, China 1

Japan 3, Czech Republic 2

Sweden 3, Denmark 1

            

Quarterfinals

United States 4, Czech Republic 1

Canada 11, Sweden 0

Switzerland 4, Russian Olympic Committee 2

Finland 7, Japan 1

            

Semifinals

Canada 10, Switzerland 3

United States 4, Finland 1

        

Bronze-Medal Game

Finland 4, Switzerland 0

         

Gold-Medal Game

Canada 3, United States 2

When the NHL announced that it wouldn't be sending its players to the 2022 Winter Olympics because of COVID-19-related disruptions to its regular season, several nations were greatly affected. That was mainly Canada and the United States, neither of which could select its best possible team.

Without NHL players in Beijing, the Canadians and Americans weren't expected to fare as well as teams such as Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee. And that ended up being the case.

The Finns had a strong team, which became evident during the preliminary round. They opened the Winter Games with back-to-back wins over Slovakia and Latvia.

In its final game of Group C play against Sweden, Finland faced some adversity. The Swedes had a 3-0 lead during the third period. However, the Finns scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation to force overtime, and Harri Pesonen scored the game-winning goal 2:01 into OT.

That proved how difficult Finland was going to be to beat, and it was never tested that much again. The Finns beat Switzerland 5-1 in the quarterfinals and then defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the semifinals. In the gold-medal game, Finland beat the ROC 2-1, displaying its resilience once more in overcoming a one-goal deficit.

And with that, the Finns finally had secured their first Olympic gold medal.

"It is hard to put in words what this means," Finland forward Valtteri Filppula said, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. "Hockey is a big thing in Finland. We have come close a couple of times, and it's finally nice to get the first one. We played a great tournament, and this is the reward."

The Russian contingent had been looking to capture the gold for the second consecutive Winter Games. Instead, the ROC had to settle for the silver. Meanwhile, Slovakia beat Sweden 4-0 in the bronze-medal game to win its first medal in hockey since it began competing as an independent nation at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

It was always obvious that Canada and the United States were the two best teams at the Winter Olympics. So it wasn't a surprise that they both reached the gold-medal game or the impressive fashion in which they both got there.

Canada went 4-0 in the preliminary round and then continued to blow out teams in the medal round. It defeated Sweden 11-0 in the quarterfinals and then notched a 10-3 victory over Switzerland.

The U.S. wasn't quite as dominant, but part of the reason for that is because it had to play Canada in the preliminary round. The Americans won their first three games by a combined score of 18-2, which included a pair of shutout wins over the ROC and Switzerland.

In its final game of the preliminary round, the United States lost 4-2 to Canada. But it seemed almost certain that the Americans would get an opportunity for revenge later on.

Team USA cruised to the gold-medal game, beating the Czech Republic 4-1 in the quarterfinals and defeating Finland 4-1 in the semifinals. That set up the matchup everybody had been waiting for: Canada vs. the United States in the gold-medal game.

The Canadians were just too strong for their North American rival. They scored the first three goals of the gold-medal game, and though the Americans chipped away at that deficit, they ran out of time, with Canada holding on for a 3-2 victory.

"It was a group effort," Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin said, per Ryan Quigley of NBCOlympics.com. "It was line after line, put pressure [on], and we put it in when it was the right time."

Canada, which won the gold for the fifth time, got revenge against the United States after losing in the gold-medal game to its rival in 2018. The Americans settled for their fourth Olympic silver, while Finland won the bronze for the fourth time by defeating Switzerland.