1991 Soviet Union Vitali Prokhorov Jersey

On this day in 1991 the end of an era arrived as the Soviet Union National Team played their final game in a major international tournament.

The Soviets announced their arrival on the international hockey scene in fine style (while wearing blue jerseys!), taking the gold medal home from the 1954 World Championships in their first attempt. The Soviets had only started playing ice hockey in 1946 and stunned the hockey world with their 7-2 victory over Canada in the final.

The Soviet Union won the World Championship on their debut in 1954

After a silver medal in the 1955 World Championships, the Soviet Union claimed it's first Olympic gold medal in 1956 with a perfect 7-0 record.

The 1956 Olympic gold medalists from the Soviet Union

After a string of silver and bronze medals from 1957 to 1961, the era of Soviet dominance swung into high gear with ten consecutive gold medals from 1963 to 1972, which included a trio of consecutive Olympic golds in 1964, 1968 and 1972. Their run was interrupted by a silver at the 1972 World Championships before reeling off another four straight from the 1973 World Championships to the 1976 Olympics.

The Soviet Union National Team poses with their 1976 Olympic gold medals

Five more World Championship titles followed from 1978 to 1983 and their sixth Olympic gold in eight tries in 1984. The final chapter of the Soviet National team saw them win the World Championships in 1986, the Olympics in 1988 and their final two Worlds in 1989 and 1990, the last gold medal for the Soviet Union National Team.

The final Olympic gold medal for the Soviets came in 1988

With the political landscape at home undergoing a historic upheaval, the Soviet Union was unsure if they would even send a team to compete in the 1991 Canada Cup, but they eventually took part. Having suffered the loss of young star Alexander Mogilny to defection and players such as Slava Fetisov, Vyacheslav Bykov, Andrei Khomutov, Pavel Bure and Vladimir Konstantinov all unavailable due to commitments with professional clubs in the NHL and Europe, Evgeny Davydov left off the squad for refusing to sign a contract with the Red Army club team, and the refusal of Latvian goaltender Arturs Irbe to play for the Soviet National Team any further for personal political reasons, the Soviets did eventually decided to field a team just a few weeks before the tournament.

The Soviets set the tone for their tournament with an opening 5-2 loss to Czechoslovakia. A 3-2 loss to Sweden followed before showing signs of life when they pounded Finland 6-1. A 2-1 loss to the United States put their participation in peril.

With one playoff round berth remaining up for grabs, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the Soviet Union were tied at 2 points apiece with a single game remaining. Before the Soviets could even take to the ice, Sweden defeated Czechoslovakia, knocking the Soviet Union out of the upcoming playoff round.

In their final game, the best they could hope for was to deny Canada the top seed going forward. Ravil Khaidarov scored for the Soviets at 3:13 of the first, but the period ended even when Canada scored at 14:47 on the power play.

Sergei Fedorov

Andrei Kovalenko scored unassisted at 7:46 followed but Canada's Bill Ranford stopped Vitali Prokhorov from converting a penalty shot less than a minute to give Canada a boost by keeping the score at 2-1.

Steve Larmer evened the score for Canada at 7:15 of the third following a penalty to Soviet goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov. Alexander Semak put the Soviet Union back on top with under seven minutes to play, but Canada's Brent Sutter tied the game with 5:18 to play.

Mikhail Shtalenkov

The game would remain tied at the end, giving Canada the top spot in the Round Robin stage and bring a quiet end to the history of the Soviet Union National Team following 37 years of excellence.

From 1954 to the 1991 Worlds, the Soviet Union took home a medal in every World Championship and Olympic Games, a streak of 39 out of 40. The only time they do not appear on the podium is 1962 when they did not participate due to international politics outside of the sporting world.

In addition to the World Championships and Olympics, the Soviets won the championship in 1981, placed second in 1987 and third in 1976, lost in the semifinal in 1984 in the first four Canada Cup tournaments.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991 Soviet National Team Vitali Prokhorov jersey. This style was a huge departure from the minimalist Soviet designs of the past. Prior to the 1991 Canada Cup, the vast majority of Soviet jerseys were simple red jerseys with a few basic white stripes and one color white numbers adorned with "CCCP" across the chest in a very basic font.

Just the addition of yellow accents and running the CCCP logo at an upwards diagonal by Tackla in the 1989 was considered flashy by Soviet standards.

The addition of the bold use of black, the stylized font used for the CCCP logo and the full length sleeve stripes made for an arresting look which seemed more at home in the NHL, while still retaining the intimidating look of The Big Red Machine, even if the team's roster had changed.

There was an early prototype of this jersey made with an even more arresting hammer and sickle logo, but that style was never used in competition but remains available in replica versions, and is in fact much more commonly found that the actual 1991 Canada Cup game worn version featured here.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Our video section today begins with a tribute to Soviet hockey history and their many successes.

Next, classic Soviet hockey footage is shown as Igor Larionov's daughters Alyonka and Diana sing Ave Maria prior to a legends game outdoors in Moscow's Red Square.

2008 Germany National Team Marco Sturm Jersey

Born on this date in 1978, German Marco Sturm began his path to the NHL with the EV Landshut Jr. team the 1993-94 season. That same season he made his international debut for the Germany National Team during the 1994 European Junior Championships. He would play one more season for the Landshut juniors as well as playing in not only the European Juniors, but also the 1995 World Junior Championships.

He moved up to the Landshut senior team for the 1995-96 season, scoring 12 goals and 32 points in 47 games. At age 19, Sturm was still eligible as a junior and again competed in both the European Juniors, leading all players in scoring with 11 points in 5 games as the team captain, and the World Juniors, scoring 4 goals and 10 points in 6 games for Germany.

Later that year, Sturm was selected by the San Jose Sharks 21st overall in the first round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, one of only two players selected in the first round to go on to be an NHL All-Star.

Sturm broke into the NHL with the Sharks

The 1996-97 season was Sturm's second with the Landshut senior team, this time scoring 16 goals and 43 points in 46 games. Following the DEL season, Sturm made his senior international debut at the 1997 World Championships, scoring a goal and 2 points for the Germans.

Sturm then signed with the Sharks and made the team out of training camp, scoring a goal in his first NHL game on October 4, 1997. He would finish the season with 10 goals and 30 points in 74 games, fifth among rookies and quickly established himself as an NHL regular. He would also make his Olympic debut during that season when he competed in two games for Germany at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Sturm spend the most time in the NHL with San Jose

He would play the next six seasons with the Sharks, scoring 38, 27 and 32 points from 1998-99 to 2000-01, with a high of 16 goals in 1998-99. That same season he would be named to the World All-Star Team for the NHL All-Star Game. Following the 2000-01 season, Sturm would return to the World Championships for the first time since 1997, scoring 4 goals and 5 points in 7 games.

His first of six consecutive 20 goal season would arrive in 2001-02 with 21 goals on his way to 4 points. Sturm would also return to the Olympics for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Sturm during the 2002 Olympics

He would set new personal bests with 28 goals and 48 points in 2002-03 and achieve another 20 goal, 40 point season in 2003-04. Later that fall, Sturm was a member of the German National Team at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey where he contributed 2 goals in 4 games.

Sturm competed for Germany at the 2004 World Cup

Following the World Cup, the owners locked out the players in a bitter labor dispute, which resulted in the entire 2004-05 NHL season being cancelled. As many NHL players did, Sturm returned to his home country and played with ERC Ingolstadt while hoping the NHL season would resume at any time. Eventually, he played 45 games, scoring 22 goals and 38 points for Ingolstadt as well as playing in the DEL All-Star Game.

Sturm was an all-star for Ingolstadt during the NHL lockout

Sturm returned to the Sharks for the start of the 2005-06 NHL season, but after 23 games, he was part of a blockbuster trade, which sent him, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau to the Boston Bruins for their captain Joe Thornton. When Strum left the Sharks, he was ranked sixth in franchise scoring.

After scoring 6 goals and 16 points for San Jose, Sturm would settle right in with the Bruins and add another 23 goals and 43 points in 51 games in Boston, all of which added up to career highs with 29 goals and 59 points. During the season, Sturm was named as the captain for Germany for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, but was unable to compete due to an injury he suffered in early February.

Sturm completed his career best season with the Bruins

He was healthy enough to return to the Bruins and, following the regular season, played for Germany at the 2006 Division I Group A World Championships, where he scored 4 goals and 7 points in 5 games as Germany earned the promotion back to the top level of the IIHF World Championships for 2007 with a perfect 5-0 record, as Germany dominated with 34 goals scored while only allowing 4 as they shut out Japan, Great Britain and France.

Sturm helped Germany win promotion in 2006

Sturm had another fine season with the Bruins, where his speed served him well, scoring 27 goals and 44 points, while his defensive play made him a tough opponent to compete against. He matched his 27 goals again in 2007-08, but recorded 29 assists for 56 points, the second highest of his career. Following the Bruins exit from the playoffs, Sturm played in his fourth and final World Championships with 2 goals and 3 points in 6 games while serving as the team captain.

Sturm captained the Germans at the 2008 World Championships

He missed the majority of the 2008-09 season due to a knee injury, which limited him to 19 games. Sturm rebounded with a 22 goal, 37 point season, seeing action in 76 games of the 2009-10 season, proving he was fully recovered from his knee problems. Additionally, Sturm was again named the captain of the German Olympic Team for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he played in his third Olympic Games.

Sturm scores for Germany during the 2010 Olympics

Unfortunately, Sturm was hurt 21 seconds into the Bruins second round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers, which resulted in a tear to his ACL and MCL which caused him to miss nearly half of the following 2010-11 season.

Sturm scores in overtime to win the 2010 Winter Classic for Boston

With his recovery nearly complete, Sturm was traded by Boston to the Los Angeles Kings. Ten days later he was activated from injured reserve. He scored 5 goals and 9 points in 17 games for the Kings, but was placed on waivers in late February. The following day he was claimed by the Washington Capitals, scoring a goal and 7 points in 18 regular season games before adding a goal and 3 points in 9 playoff games.

Sturm in a throwback jersey during his brief time with the Kings

Now a free agent, Sturm signed with the Vancouver Canucks, hoping they would return to the Stanley Cup Finals, but after just six games and no points, he was traded to the Florida Panthers, with whom he played in the final 42 games of his NHL career.

Sturm's final NHL club was the Florida Panthers

For the 2012-13 season, Sturm returned to Germany to play for the Cologne Sharks in February in time to play 5 regular season games and 12 playoff games, during which he scored 6 goals and 9 points in what would be he his final games before his retirement as a player.

Sturm's final season was with the Cologne Sharks

In 2015, Sturm was named the Head Coach and General Manager of the Germany National Team, which recently won their Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament to return to the Olympics in 2018 after missing out on the Game in 2014.

Sturm's final NHL totals were 938 games played with 242 goals and 245 assists for 487 points. He also scored 22 points in 68 NHL playoff games. Internationally, he played for Germany at the European Juniors twice, the World Juniors twice, the World Championships four times, the World Cup once and the Olympics three times.

Today's featured jersey is a 2008 Germany National Team Marco Sturm jersey. The IIHF celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2008 and for that year's World Championships, all teams wore a throwback jersey for one game. For Germany, their design was based on their sweaters from 1932 and was worn during a 5-1 loss to Finland on May 3, 2008.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2004 Germany National Team Marco Sturm jersey. Germany first wore this style in 2001 and continued to wear it through the 2004 World Cup before it was replaced by a new style for the 2005 World Championships.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1999-00 San Jose Sharks Marco Sturm jersey. After the Sharks introduced the color teal to the NHL in 1991, they debuted a new, bold template with with arched striping as their alternate jersey first introduced in 1997-98.

The following season that third jersey became their new primary road jersey which prompted the need for a white home version. This paring was used through the 2006-07 season when it was retired with the debut of the new Reebok Edge jerseys for the 2007-08 season.

Today's video section begins with Sturm scoring the Game 6 overtime goal against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2008 playoffs.

If that wasn't enough, here are all 29 of Sturm's goals from the 2005-06 season in chronological order.

One more Sturm goal, this his overtime game winner in the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.

2010-11 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Pavol Demitra Jersey

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the crash on takeoff of the jet carrying the Russian club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to what was supposed to be their season opening game. The crash killed 43 of the 45 people on board, taking the lives of all but one of the players, Alexander Galimov, who succumbed to his injuries five days later, and all of the other team personnel on the flight. The only other survivor of the crash was a member of the plane's crew.

"At first we didn't want to believe it. But right now there is no hope. The team is gone," a Lokomotiv team official told the Russian news outlet Sovietsky Sport.

The catastrophe claimed the lives of players and coaches from Belarus, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine, shaking the hockey community worldwide.

Among those familiar to fans of the NHL were assistant coach and 12 year NHL veteran and multiple Soviet and Russian league champion Russian Igor Korolev, eight year NHL veteran and World Championship gold medal winner Czech Karel Rachunek, Stanley Cup and World Championship gold medal winner Czech Josef Vasicek, 11 year NHL veteran, owner of the NHL's longest playing streak for a defenseman and Latvian National Team mainstay Karlis Skrastins, 12 year NHL veteran, World Championship gold medal winner and one of the first four Russians to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, assistant coach Alexander Karpovtsev, 14 year NHL veteran, with 917 games played, and Belarus National Team leader Ruslan Salei, 18 year NHL veteran of 1,222 games and Stanley Cup winner and team head coach Canadian Brad McCrimmon.

Russian Alexander Vasyunov had played two seasons with the Lowell Devils of the AHL and 18 games with the New Jersey Devils last season and German Robert Dietrich spent two seasons in North America in the Nashville Predators system with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals,

Czech Jan Marek led the KHL in goal scoring in 2008-09 and was a World Championship gold medal winner in 2010. Sweden was hit hard by the loss of goaltender Stefan Liv, a three time Swedish Elitserien champion with HV71, and World Championship gold medal and Olympic gold medal champion, both coming in Sweden's historic double of 2006. The Polish born Liv also played in North America with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL in 2006-07.

One of the highest profile names to perish in the crash was Slovak star Pavol Demitra. Demitra began his professional career with two seasons in the Czechoslovak league before moving to North America following his being drafted 227th overall by the Ottawa Senators. He would split three seasons between the NHL's senators and their top minor league affiliate, the Prince Edward Island Senators from 1993-94 to 1995-96.

Demitra played for the Las Vegas Thunder and Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL as well as eight games with the St. Louis Blues following a trade. he found his greatest success with St. Louis, with three seasons of 35 goals or more, including a high of 37 in 1998-99, the year of his first NHL All-Star Game appearance. Two more All-Star appearances would follow in 2000 and 2002 before Demitra would set a career high in points with 93 in 2002-03, placing 6th overall in the league scoring race. In all, Demitra would lead St. Louis in scoring four times, in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

He would also be recognized with with the Lady Byng Trophy in 2000 after recording 28 goals and 75 points with just eight penalty minutes.

He returned to Slovakia during the NHL lockout of 2004-05 to once again play for Dukla Trencin. Once the NHL resumed play, the free agent Demitra signed to play for the Los Angeles Kings for one season prior to being traded to the Minnesota Wild to be teamed with fellow Slovak and close friend Marian Gaborik. for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

Demitra tied for the team lead in scoring during his first season in Minnesota despite Gaborik missing nearly half the season due to injury. While with the Wild, Demitra served as team captain during October of 2007.

His final two NHL seasons were spent with the Vancouver Canucks, although the second was limited to 28 games following a lengthy recovery from off-season shoulder surgery.

His NHL career concluded with 847 games played, 304 goals and 464 points for 768 points. Additionally, in 94 career playoff games, Demitra scored 23 goals and 59 points.

For the 2010-11 season, Demitra signed with Lokomotiv of the KHL in Russia, where hisrenowned playmaking abilities made the veteran the club's leading scorer and placed him in a tied for third in league scoring.

Internationally, Demitra played in the 1992 European Junior Championships and the 1993 World Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal, for Czechoslovakia. Following the division of Czechoslovakia, Demitra skated for Slovakia in both the 1996 World Championships and 1996 World Cup, the 2002 Olympics and 2003 World Championships where he earned a bronze medal.

He then went on to participate in both the 2004 World Championships and 2004 World Cup, the 2005 World Championships, 2006 Winter Olympics and 2007 World Championships.

Demitra then led all players at the 2010 Olympics in scoring with ten points in seven games on his way to being named a tournament all-star. He also scored a sublime shootout goal to give Slovakia a win over Russia in the preliminary round.

His final international appearance was as the 2011 World Championships, where he had the honor of captaining the Slovak team on home ice.

Here, Demitra and future Lokomotiv teammate Rachunek embrace following their preliminary round game at the 2011 World Championships.

Demitra leaves behind his wife Maria and his two children, Lucas and Zara.

Today's featured jersey is a 2010-11 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Pavol Demitra jersey as worn during Demitra's final season of play during which he scored 18 goals and 60 points in 54 games, which placed him fifth in league scoring. During the postseason, Demitra scored another 6 goals and 21 points for second in KHL playoff scoring.

The name Lokomotiv comes from the fact the club is owned by the Russian national railroad, Russian Railways. The club was founded back in 1959 and has won the Russian Open Championship three times (1997, 2002 and 2003), and were KHL runner's up twice (2008 and 2009) and were also runner's up in the 2003 IIHF Continental Cup.

Following the crash, the club fielded a team of young players in the VHL, the second level of Russian hockey, but will return to the KHL for the 2012-13 season, having signed NHL veterans Viktor Kozlov, Niklas Hagman, Staffan Kronwall, Curtis Sanford and Vitaly Vishnevsky to rebuild their roster in an attempt to return to their place among the top clubs in the KHL.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2006-07 Minnesota Wild Pavol Demitra jersey as worn on January 6, 2007 with the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation patch. Each player on every team would wear the Teammates for Kids patch on their jerseys for a game that January, after which the jerseys were then auctioned off for charity to raise money for the foundation.

To date, the foundation has distributed over $75 million through it's various programs in conjunction with professional athletes.

Today's first video is Demitra having the perfect timing to score a hat trick on Hat Night in Los Angeles. The results were swift and predictable!

Here is Demitra's game winning goal in the shootout against Russia in the 2010 Olympics, where he displayed his puck control by deftly lofting the puck over the Russian goaltender counter to the direction of his body following his patented "swing wide" approach to the net.

In Minsk, Lokomotiv's scheduled opponents for their first game, Dynamo Minsk, held a hockey funeral for those killed in the crash, a moving and emotional ceremony.

To see the full 35 minute version of the service, click here.

***********

On a personal note, we had the pleasure of seeing Demitra play in person for the two seasons he was with the Wild and the opportunity to meet him in person following a few practices. Our favorite memory of him began when we were at a pre-game warmup one night. A kid came down the steps of the arena toward the glass wearing a goaltenders catching glove while the players were warming up. As soon as the kind stopped and held up his glove, Demitra looked up after finishing a stick handling warmup drill and lofted the puck over the glass to the kid, who caught the puck in the glove and ran off.

We commented, "It was like he knew it was coming," to which the regulars replied, "He did, Pavol always looks for a kid to give a puck to."

Armed with that knowledge, the next time we attended a game with our youngster, we did all we could to put ourselves in position to get Demitra's attention. Wearing a vibrant yellow Dukla Trencin jersey, Demitra's previous Slovak club of which he was then a part-owner, to stand out against the dark green seats of the Xcel Energy Center, and with our youngster not only dressed in a Wild jersey, but holding a Dukla Trencin sign with Demitra and Gaborik's numbers 38 and 10 to further stand out, we positioned ourselves alone six rows up to make any attempt to loft a puck to us easier than if we were right behind the glass in the first couple of rows, not to mention away from the larger number of fans at the glass.

As Demitra finished his stickhandling drill, he looked up to scan the crowd for a kid, we gave him a quick "over here!" wave, as if we needed to wearing the bright yellow of Dukla, and he softly floated the puck over the glass right to us, which landed more gently in our hands than one could ever imagine.

We repeated this later in the season, and those two seemingly ordinary warmup pucks now hold an even more special place in our modest collection of memorabilia now that Demitra and his many Lokomotiv teammates have now left us.

2018 Olympic Hockey Final Qualification Results

Yesterday hockey fans across Europe were treated to three excellent games to determine which three teams would survive the 2018 Olympic Qualification process that involved no less than 28 teams, from the 9th ranked Belarus down to #37 Georgia.

Play began back in October of 2015 with a playoff game between Bulgaria and Georgia followed by the Preliminary Round 1, which saw Estonia and Serbia advance to Preliminary Round 2, which saw Italy, Poland and Japan prevail.

Then, last Thursday play began in the Final Qualification tournaments in Minsk, Rig and Oslo.

The first game of the day was in Group F in Oslo, as #11 Norway faced off against #12 France in a group that also included #17 Kazakhstan and #18 Italy.

Despite five power plays, the first period ended with no score. Yorick Treille then opened the scoring at 1:49 of the second for France only to have NHLer Mats Zuccarello even the scoring at 6:59, both at even strength. Five more power plays came and went before the period moved to the third tied at 1-1.

After France survived Teddy da Costa's third minor of the game (as well as a misconduct), Floran Douay was sent off for slashing with 4:20 remaining, defenseman Matthias Norstebo won the game for Norway in front of their thrilled home fans when he scored after pulling the puck out of a goal mouth scramble and buried it with just 2:29 remaining. Even with Christobal Huet pulled for the French, they were unable to tie the game and Norway held serve at home to earn their place in South Korea.

Norway celebrates their game winning goal

Group D came down to a winner-take-all showdown between #9 Belarus and #14 Slovenia after #15 Denmark and #22 Poland fell by the wayside. After no scoring in the first period, Slovenia had a 2 goal lead less than three minutes into the second period after converting a 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 power plays. Belarus pulled one back off a faceoff with under two minutes remaining in the second.

A key moment came when Slovenia failed to convert a penalty shot at 8:19 of the third period to keep Belarus within one, which became a tie game three minutes later when the Belarussians converted a power play of their own. The last eight minutes passed without a decision and the game went to overtime.

After the five minutes passed without a winner, the spot in the 2018 Olympics came down to a deciding three player shootout. After each team missed, NHLer Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings scored easily for Slovenia only to have Andrei Stepanov convert for Belarus. Rok Ticar made it 2-1 for Slovenia on the very next shot, putting all the pressure on the former NHLer Andrei Kostitsyn at home with a place on the Olympics on the line in a must score situation. His attempt was a poor one, holding onto the puck too long and not getting any lift on it for even a chance to beat Slovenian goaltender Gasper Kroselj, who simply kept square to the puck and put up a wall with his right pad as Kostitsyn stuffed the puck into his pad with no chance of scoring, giving the thrilled Slovenians a trip to their second consecutive Olympics.

Anze Kopitar scores in the shootout for Slovenia

The final game to start on Sunday was between the host #10 Latvia and #13 Germany after #16 Austria and #20 Japan could not compete, with the pair scoring a total of 2 goals combined in the four games against the two group leaders.

The first period ended with Germany up 1-0 on a goal by NHLer Leon Draisaitl on a power play at 16:18. At the 4:51 mark of the second period, Germany gave the home fans in Riga a reason for concern when they extended their lead to 2-0 when Felix Schultz scored his third goal of the tournament. Miks Indrasis got Latvia on the board and gave  the home fans life with his goal on a power play at 13:24 to close out the scoring in the second period.

Again on a power play, Martins Karsums game Latvia the momentum when he tied the contest at 2-2 at 6:19 of the third period. There was no scoring for an extended period until Kaspars Daugavins was sent off for tripping with 5:23 to play. 14 seconds later NHLer Tom Kuhnhackl, son of German legend, IIHF Hall of Famer and Olympic bronze medalist Erich Kuhnhackl, broke the hearts of the home fans when he put his second effort under the leg of Elvis Merzlikins for the eventual winning goal. Despite a power play opportunity and pulling Merzilkins with 46 seconds to play, Latvia could not get the goal they needed to keep their Olympic hopes alive and bringing and end to their Olympic participation streak at four dating back to 2002 in Salt Lake City. Germany, meanwhile, returns to the Olympic hockey tournament after missing the last Games in Sochi in 2014.

 Tom Kuhnhackl sends German to the 2018 Olympics

With the results now in, the final groups for PyeongChang have now been set. Slovenia, the lowest ranked of the three qualifiers at #14 in the IIHF World Rankings, has now been assigned to Group B along with Russia (2), the United States (5) and Slovakia (8).

Germany (13) and Norway (11) were placed in Group C along with Sweden (3) and Finland (4), while Group A was already set with Canada (1), the Czech Republic (6), Switzerland (7) and the host nation South Korea (23). The South Koreans were given a place in the tournament in hopes that their desire to be competitive would result in investment and improvement in their national team program that would benefit South Korean hockey in the long run, as well as a not so altruistic desire to sell more tickets to the games now that there will be a home team involved.

The one squad the inclusion of the South Koreans affected the most was surely Belarus, who at #9 in the IIHF World Rankings in 2015 when the top 8 teams were automatically entered into the tournament, as the usual procedure is to include the top 9 teams and let the rest of the world battle it out on merit for the remaining three places. The inclusion of the hosts in the Olympic field as the host nation cost Belarus it's automatic entry and forced it into the qualifying process, where they failed to deliver today as the host of their Group, ultimately falling a shootout short of defending their place in the Games.

Today's featured jersey is a 1998 Norway National Team Ole Eskild Dahlstrom jersey. This rare, one year only style was worn by Norway for the 1998 season before reverting back to their traditional Norway Ice Hockey Federation round logo from 1999 all the way through the 2005 season until the arrival of the Nike Swift jersey for 2006.

Norway has had a spotty history of Olympic participation, first competing in 1952. They would not appear again until making  three consecutive appearances in 1964, 1968 and 1972 when they had their best ever placing of 8th. After missing the 1976 games, they were back for the next five Games in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and again two years later in 1994 when the IOC adjusted the schedule to get the Summer and Winter Olympics off of the same four year cycle. They would not qualify for the next three Olympics, but will now be in their third consecutive Winter Olympics, 2010, 2014 and now 2018.

2018 Olympic Hockey Final Qualification Update

The deciding games of the 2018 Olympic Hockey Final Qualification tournaments take place today across three cities in Europe.

First, in Group D, host Belarus opened their schedule with a solid 5-2 win over Denmark, while NHL star Anze Kopitar announced his intentions to return Slovenia to their second consecutive Olympics by scoring a hat trick in their 6-1 hammering of Poland. On Friday, the teams swapped opponents, with Slovenia shutting out the Danes 3-0 while Belarus kept pace with a 5-3 win over Poland to set up their winner-take-all game today in Minsk against Slovenia, as both teams enter the final day undefeated.

Anze Kopitar scoring one of his three goals against Poland

Former NHLer Sergei Kostitsyn leads Group E in scoring with 2 goals and 5 points with Kopitar right behind him with 4 points thanks to an assist to go with his 3 goals. Also with 4 points is Andrei Stas of Belarus from 2 goals and 2 assists.

Sergei Kostitsyn has battled to the tournament scoring lead

For the first time ever, the IIHF has made the Final Olympic Qualification games available online, as well as being free. Today's Belarus vs. Slovenia game can be streamed live here. 

Group E began with Germany shutting out Japan 5-0 while Latvia delighted the home fans with an 8-1 drubbing of Austria on Thursday. On top of their game, Germany recorded their second consecutive shutout, blanking Austria 6-0 on Friday. Latvia kept pace by holding off a spirited Japanese squad by a score of 3-1.

After Japan and Austria play in the early game, host Latvia will attempt to overcome the German defense, which has yet to yield a single goal. With both Germany and Latvia tied with 6 points from two wins each, again, the winner of their game will advance to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.

Felix Schultz has 3 goals and 4 points for the Germans to lead the group in scoring.

Korbinian Holzer and Christian Erhoff are among

seven NHLers on the German roster

Today's Latvia vs. Germany game can be streamed live here.

Things have been slightly more complicated in Group F. In the opening game on Thursday, France and Italy traded goals in the second period and couldn't decide the game in regulation time. The extra period would not last long though, as Stephane da Costa would win the game for France just 27 seconds into overtime to give France 2 points in the standings to Italy's 1.

Stephane da Costa would eventually win the game for France

In Thursday's second game, Kazakhstan and host Norway traded goals in the first four minutes of the second period before the Kazakhs scored twice in three minutes just after the midway point of the second to take a 3-1 lead heading into the final period.

Norway failed to convert a power play early in the period and then managed to hold off a Kazakhstan 5-on-3 advantage for 1:52 as Ole-Kristian Tollefson was sent off for slashing just 8 seconds after Mathis Olmib was whistled for hooking for Norway.

With 2:28 remaining in the game, Norway pulled goaltender Lars Haugen. 1:11 later Jonas Holos converted for the Norwegians to make the deficit one goal with assists from Mats Zuccarello and Patrick Thoresen.

Mats Zuccarello was a part of the thrilling Noway comeback

Norway again pulled their goaltender in a late bid to tie the game with 1:02 left to play. Then, with just 21 seconds to go, Ivan Kuchin was sent off for Kazakhstan for boarding. With their net still empty, Norway now had a 6-on-4 advantage and it would take just 7 seconds for Anders Bastiansen to thrill the home fans when he tied the game at 3-3 with 14 seconds to play.

With each team assured a point as the game went to overtime, it was Kazakhstan who took the win and the extra point that came with it when Brandon Bochenski scored at 31 seconds from Nigel Dawes and Kevin Dallman - good Kazakh boys all.

Import Brandon Bochenski broke the hearts of the home fans

when he won the game for Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan were not able to duplicate their success on Friday however, losing 4-1 to France. Their regulation and overtime wins gave France 5 out of 6 possible points and have them atop Group F heading into the final day of play today.

Norway also booked their place in today's deciding game with France when then beat Italy by an identical 4-1 score. The Norwegians now head into today with 4 points in the standings from a regulation win and an overtime loss, one back of France. But that is of little consequence, as the winner of today's game, regardless of whether it is in regulation or overtime, will earn the place in the 2018 Olympics because if Norway requires overtime to win, leaving both teams tied at 6 points, Norway will have won their head-to-head matchup.

Today's Norway vs. France game can be streamed live here.

Today's featured jersey is a 2010 Germany National Team Dennis Seidenberg jersey as worn by Germany during the last time they qualified for the Olympic hockey tournament in 2010 in Vancouver. 

Germany had competed in every Olympic hockey tournament dating back to 1952 until they failed to qualify for the Games in Sochi, Russia. Going into the qualification process, Germany was ranked 10th in the IIHF World Rankings, the highest of all the teams not automatically entered into the 2014 Olympics.

As one of the top three nations not automatically qualified, they were the host of the Group D Final Qualification Tournament. They opened with a 5-1 win over the Netherlands, but their hopes took a blow when they lost to Italy in overtime of their second game. They desperately sought to get the goal they needed to defeat Austria in regulation to claim the place in Sochi, but it was not to be as the game went to overtime, giving Austria the margin they needed to eliminate Germany before the overtime even began. Rubbing salt in the wound, Germany would go on to win the game, which was followed by the most depressed "victory" celebration in hockey history, as the Germans had won the battle but lost the war.

Prior to 2014, Germany had won a bronze medal back in 1932. During the time after World War II when the country was divided into East and West Germany, a single team was sent to represent both halves of Germany in 1956, 1960 and 1964, with both nations sending separate teams to the Games in 1968. Following that, the East Germans de-emphasized team sports such as hockey, and only the West Germans sent a team through 1988, with the highlight being a bronze medal in 1976. From 1992, following the reunification of Germany back into a single nation, they continued to appear at the Olympics through 2010, with their best results being 5th place in both 1984 and 1988.

This jersey was first worn for the 2010 Olympic Games and continued to be used until being replaced for the 2014 Olympics, first by the German women's team and later by the men at the World Championships later that spring.

2004 Switzerland National Team Martin Gerber Jersey

Born on this date in 1974, Martin Gerber played three seasons for SC Langnau Tigers of the Swiss League from 1998-99 to 2000-01. During this time he also made his debut for Switzerland at the 2000 World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Following the 2000-01 season, Gerber was drafted in the eighth round by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and subsequently played for Farjestads BK in the Swedish Elitserien, where he would lead them to the regular season and playoff championships. 2002 would also see him play for Switzerland at both the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and again at the World Championships in Sweden.

The following season he would migrate to North America and being his NHL career, first with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.

Switzerland would call on him again for the 2004 World Championships in the Czech Republic before a busy 2004-05 campaign would see him return to Europe where he split his time between previous clubs SC Langnau Tigers in Switzerland and then Färjestads BK in Sweden followed by a successful Olympic Qualifying tournament and the 2005 World Championships for Switzerland held in Austria.

With the resumption of play in the NHL in 2005-06 Gerber would now tend goal for the Carolina Hurricanes who obtained him in a trade with the Mighty Ducks. Gerber would post a 38-14-6 record with the Hurricanes, but would be replaced by his regular season backup Cam Ward in the first round of the playoffs, who would lead the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup, making Gerber only the second Swiss player to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after David Aebischer in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche.

Gerber and Aebischer would also share the goaltending duties for Switzerland at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, where Switzerland would post memorable wins against the Czech Republic by a 3-2 score, followed by a stunning 2-0 win over Canada two days later with Gerber making 49 saves for the shutout for perhaps the greatest 48 hours in Swiss hockey history.

Gerber would sign as a free agent with the Ottawa Senators, where he would play the next two seasons, 2006-07 and 2007-08, going 45-27-7 and making another appearance for Switzerland at the 2008 World Championships in Canada. He would start the 2008-09 season with Ottawa and then move to the Toronto Maple Leafs after being claimed on waivers followed by his seventh trip to the 2009 World Championships, this time hosted by Switzerland.

For the 2009-10 season, Gerber signed with Atlant Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he went 15-6-6. He would also help Switzerland to a fine 5th place finish at the 2010 World Championships, his best career result to date at the Worlds.

It was back to North America for the 2010-11 season, playing 42 games for the Oklahoma City Barons of the AHL as well as 3 games with their parent club, the Edmonton Oilers for his most recent NHL appearances.

Gerber returned to Sweden for two seasons, beginning by spending 2011-12 with the Vaxjo Lakers before moving to Rogle BK for the 2012-13 season.

Following the conclusion of the Swedish regular season, Gerber once again joined the Switzerland National Team for his ninth World Championships. Switzerland was placed in Group S, the "S" standing for Stockholm, as the tournament location was shared with Helsinki, Finland. Switzerland shocked the hosts by defeating Sweden 3-2 in their opening night game. They next raised eyebrows by defeating Canada 3-2 in a shootout, with Gerber stopping 7 of 8 Canadian attempts.

Next to fall was the Czech Republic, who they put away with 3 third period goals on their way to a 5-2 win. Now through the toughest part of their schedule and full of confidence, the Swiss rolled through Slovenia 7-1, Denmark 4-1, Norway 3-1 and Belarus 4-1 to win the group undefeated with 6 wins and an overtime win for 20 points, two ahead of the Canadians.

In the playoff round, they again faced the Czech Republic, coming out on top 2-1. They advanced to play the United States, easily defeating the Americans 3-0 to guarantee themselves a medal and advance to the championship final. There, they met Sweden, who they had defeated in their opening game, but, playing again in Stockholm, the Swiss fell 5-1 in the final but earned a terrific silver medal for Switzerland and Gerber, who went 4-2 in the tournament with a 1.81 goals against average and a 92% save percentage. It was the best Swiss result at the World Championships since their only other previous silver medal back in 1935, a span of 78 years and their first medal of any kind in 60 years!

Gerber then returned to his native Switzerland for the first time since 2004-05 when he signed with the Kloten Flyers of the Swiss National League A, posting winning records for each of his first two seasons with the Flyers.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Switzerland National Team Martin Gerber jersey as worn in the 2004 World Championships held in the Czech Republic. This jersey features custom made Tissot sponsorship patches on the shoulders, as well as the International Ice Hockey Federation patch on the lower back.

This jersey style arrived back in 1998 and remained in use through the 2004 World Championships.

Our first video highlight is a player profile on Martin Gerber from his time with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here is Gerber making an astounding, if not controversial, save against Rick Nash of Canada during his shutout of the Canadians during the 2006 Olympics.

This next highlight is Switzerland's second goal of the game against Canada by Paul DiPietro.

And finally, the last minute of the game as the Swiss players celebrate their upset victory.