1. What 'first' occurred for the 1998 Winter Olympics?
From Quiz 1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games
Answer:
First time the NHL took an Olympic break
1998 was not the first time that professionals were allowed to compete. 1994 (Lillehammer Games) was the first for professionals. However, the National Hockey League did not take a break for the Olympics in 1994, and NHL teams did not release their players to allow them to compete internationally. Some people thought that this was a huge disadvantage for Canada and the USA, because in Europe there are plenty of top calibre hockey players who play only in their home country and not in NHL. In North America, however, the majority of excellent professional players play in the NHL. So, while Russia and Sweden, for example, had teams stacked with pros, Canada and the US could not have the best of the best on their Olympic teams.
Starting in 1998, the NHL takes a three week break in Olympic years so that their players may compete. As a result, Canada and the US went into the 1998 Games heavily favoured. As it turns out, the NHL break didn't necessarily work in their favour. After all, the European teams now had NHL players too, and the gold-medal winning Czech Republic was certainly helped by the stellar goaltending of Dominik Hasek who, at that time, was playing for the Buffalo Sabres.
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