This Day in Hockey History – February 16, 1936 – Great Britain’s Gold in Germany

The Olympic Games that began with Nazi salutes to Chancellor Adolf Hitler on February 6, ended with the first gold medal in ice hockey to go to a team that was not Canada. On February 16, 1936, the tournament ended with Great Britain winning gold, Canada settling for silver, and the United States taking bronze. Hitler attended the final hockey game as the final event of the Games and then led the closing ceremony.

In 1936, Germany hosted both Olympic Games – the Winter Games were held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen (near the Austrian border) and then the Summer Games were held at Berlin. Despite threats of boycotts, the Winter Games attracted 28 nations, 15 of which participated in the ice hockey tournament. It would determine the fifth Olympic, tenth World, and 21st European champion.

These Winter Games were rife with controversies. The Nazi ill treatment of Jews and others almost resulted in mass boycotts of the events. Surprisingly, the German hockey team featured Rudi Ball, one of only two Jewish athletes allowed to represent Germany in either 1936 Olympics. Ball was promised safe passage for his family and thus captained the team.

At the opening ceremony on February 6, Hitler wanted everyone to salute him during the parade of nations, and the Americans refused. As Stan Fischler later put it, “And the Führer responded by being furious. So we had a furious Führer.” That same day, the U.S.A was scheduled to play Germany in the first round of the ice hockey tournament. Hitler went over and berated the Americans in German. Apparently, the only one who could translate for the team was the American goalie, Francis Baker. He bravely stood up to Hitler and replied, “The United States will always defeat Germany.” Amidst a snowstorm at Lake Riessersee, the Americans defeated the Germans 1-0.

The biggest hockey controversy of these Olympics involved the team put together to represent Great Britain. As it had on previous occasions, the team was composed primarily of Canadians. One was born there, and nine grew up there. The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) lodged a complaint about two in particular, goalie Jimmy Foster and right winger Alex Archer. According to the CAHA, these two should be ineligible because they were professionals who had played in Canada and transferred to British teams without their consent. The night before the opener, the IIHF ruled that these two were indeed ineligible. With the British threatening to withdraw completely, the Canadians dropped their protest in the “spirit of Olympic sportsmanship.”

The Canadians came to regret that decision and remained bitter about the six Canadians playing for Great Britain. As the Canadian press remarked when the Games ended, “Eligibility of Foster and Archer of the English team and the complicated playoff system aroused more acrimony than any Olympic games have seen.” The format involved three round-robin rounds with the final four teams playing in the medal round. Apparently, Team Canada was not aware of a set of crucial points – that the results of the semi-finals would count towards the finals and thus none of the final four teams would have a re-match with any of the other final four that they had already defeated.

Thus, on February 11, almost a week before the tournament ended, Canada essentially lost the gold medal by losing to Great Britain 2-1 in the second round. Adding salt to the wound, the winning goal was scored, with merely 12 seconds remaining in the game, by Edgar Brenchley, who had grown up playing hockey in Ontario and had just joined a British team at the beginning of that season. With the victory, Great Britain was automatically awarded two points, and Canada would not have the chance to recoup the loss in the next round. Hugh Farquharson of Team Canada commented, “No one realized, and the officials at least should have, that to lose that first game meant probable loss of the title. It would have made a big difference if that were known when we went into our game with England.”

Similarly, that same day, the U.S. won a 2-0 victory over Czechoslovakia. When the two teams made it into the finals, the Americans automatically received the extra points instead of playing the Czechs again. In the final round, Great Britain and Canada both soundly defeated Czechoslovakia 5-0 and 7-0, respectively. That left the Czechs with zero points and out of medal contention.

On February 15, Great Britain and the United States faced each other for the only time. When the scoreboard remained scoreless at the end of regulation, the teams played through three overtime sessions without a single goal. According to one London newspaper, “With both sides concentrating on defence the Great Britain-United States match lacked thrills. Britain owed a lot to her goalkeeper, Foster, who made some magnificent saves.” Yes, that was the same goaltender the Canadians had raised such a fuss over. The teams had to settle for a tie, but the Brits were granted the victory because they had more points going into the game.

That meant that for the February 16th game, in order to win silver, Team U.S.A. would need to shutout Team Canada or win by more than 5-1. Unfortunately for them, the chance at a shutout ended just three minutes into the first period when “Dave Neville, brainy wingman of Montreal” scored “as a result of a fine individual effort.”

For the remainder of the game, according to an Ottawa recap, the Canadians (riddled with injuries) “played defensively after scoring a goal. It was as though the Olympic crown itself was at stake, rather than merely second place.” The London press found that the “match also was dull and uninteresting” because the also-injured Americans “played like a tired team.” With just that one goal, the Canadians (2-1-0) took silver and the Americans (1-1-1) bronze. The Ottawa Citizen summarized, “The Olympic hockey series, born of trouble, closed amicably enough, and today’s tussle, while hard fought, was clean and marked by good feeling on the part of the contestants.”

Great Britain’s five points and record of 2-0-1 gave them the first gold medal in ice hockey won by a team other than Canada (who had won the first four). They also had the first team to win all three championships (Olympics, World, and European).

With that, the Winter Olympic Games ended. After signing autographs between periods at the final game, Hitler led the closing ceremony. As the first Games to feature an Olympic flame, it was extinguished and the Olympic flag lowered during a fanfare of trumpets. About 120,000 attendees then enjoyed a fireworks display.

After the two 1936 Games in Germany, World War II put a halt to the upcoming Olympics. The next Winter Olympics would not be held until 12 years later in 1948.

Additional Sources:

• Andrew Podnieks, Where Countries Come to Play (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2013), kindle version.
• “Winter Olympic Games End,” London Guardian, 17 Feb. 1936, p. 4.
• “England Wins Olympic Hockey Title,” Ottawa Citizen, 17 Feb. 1936, p. 14.
• https://www.olympic.org/garmisch-partenkirchen-1936