1948 жылғы қысқы Олимпиада: Хоккей турнирінің даулары мен жеңістері

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The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, was the sixth Olympic Championship, also served as the 15th World Championships and the 26th European Championships. Canada won its fifth Olympic gold medal and 12th World Championship, represented by the Ottawa RCAF Flyers team of Canadian Armed Forces personnel. The highest finishing European team Czechoslovakia, won the silver medal and its eighth European Championship. Bibi Torriani played for Switzerland which won the bronze medal, and became the first ice hockey player to recite the Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes. The hockey tournament was in jeopardy of not being played due to disagreements between the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace and the International Olympic Committee, and a threatened boycott by the United States Olympic Committee when two American hockey teams showed up to play. Writer Jack Sullivan referred to the 1948 Winter Olympics as "the most controversial, name calling, complaint filled, Winter Olympic Games ever held".

After the 1936 Winter Olympics, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) revised its definition of amateur when it failed to win the gold medal in hockey, and broke away from the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada despite the possibility that its players may no longer be eligible for Olympic hockey. In August 1937, Eastern Amateur Hockey League president Tommy Lockhart broke away from the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States over disagreements on Canadian born players in his league, then reached a co operative agreement directly with the CAHA. He then founded the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) as a rival governing body of ice hockey. The CAHA and the AHAUS joined to form the International Ice Hockey Association in 1940. Former CAHA president W. G. Hardy was elected its president, and sought for acceptance by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on terms acceptable to the CAHA. CAHA president George Dudley subsequently threatened to withdraw Canada from the Olympics over the definition of amateur. An IOC decision on the matter was postponed when the 1940 Winter Olympics and 1944 Winter Olympics were cancelled due to World War II. Paul Loicq stepped down as after 25 years as LIHG president, and was succeeded by Fritz Kraatz in 1947.

Canada did not participate in the 1947 Ice Hockey World Championships and the CAHA had decided not to participate in the 1948 Winter Olympics in disagreement with the definition of amateur by the IOC. CAHA president Al Pickard felt Canada was obliged to send a Canada men's national ice hockey team truly representative of the "greatest hockey country" in the world, and honestly take the Olympic Oath as amateurs. He stated that Canada would have been misunderstood, "if we had refused to participate because we did not get our own way". He also confirmed that the CAHA would pay the national team's expenses for the Olympics, and provide support to use the best Canadian players available.

The LIHG met in September 1947 to decide on whether to have an ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics, or host a separate Ice Hockey World Championships elsewhere in Switzerland in 1948. Prior to the meeting, Avery Brundage of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) reportedly campaigned to delegates to vote against inclusion of the AHAUS in the upcoming Olympics. George Dudley and Bunny Ahearne felt that the Swiss Olympic organizing committee would agree to either definition of amateur as long as hockey would be included, since it would be the most profitable event at the Olympics. The LIHG passed a resolution that its teams would only play against teams approved by the CAHA and the AHAUS, which was accepted by the Swiss Olympic organizing committee. In November 1947, Ahearne reported that the AAU still planned on sending a team to the Olympics. Brundage threatened that the USOC would boycott the Olympics if the AHAUS team was recognized. The idea of hosting a separate Ice Hockey World Championships surfaced again in January, and Ahearne stated that such a tournament could be arranged on 48 hours' notice. The Swiss Olympic organizing committee insisted on the AHAUS team being recognized, despite persistent charges by Brundage that the AHAUS team was "tainted with professionalism". Brundage and the AAU supported a National Collegiate Athletic Association team instead.

Team Poland was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 29 years and 10 months. Team USA was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 23 years and 1 months. Gold medalists Canada averaged 25 years and 8 months. Tournament average was 27 years and 2 months.