How Does Olympic Hockey Overtime Work?
It would be awfully hard for the rules of Olympic hockey overtime to be more complicated. Not only do they vary from what NHL fans are used to, they change from round to round.
In the group stage, teams play a five-minute overtime period of 3-on-3 hockey. In the playoff round, and also the bronze medal game, it’s ten minutes of 4-on-4. In the gold medal game, the teams play a 20-minute 4-on-4 period.
In either case, the game goes to a shootout if it is still tied at the end of overtime. The shootout rules are also a bit unusual. In international play, teams choose three shooters for the shootout competition—which the IIHF calls “game-winning shot.” If there still isn’t a winner after the first five shooters take their turns, any player can shoot as many times as the coach wants. (Remember T.J. Oshie taking the final five shootout turns for the U.S. in 2014 against Russia?)
The final wrinkle is that the ice is only resurfaced before overtime in the gold medal game.
