This eliminated the common NHL strategy of stalling for time while ripping a piece of loose tape off a stick, or going to the bench for another stick, or otherwise delaying the game. Players had 20 seconds to get set for the faceoff, and whether they were ready or not the puck was going to be dropped. Officials called obstruction violations closely, and the result was a stunning 5-2 Sweden victory in a game so entertaining and quick it was shocking to see the difference between the last NHL game and this first Olympics game.

In the coming two weeks, players, fans, and managers noticed how truly “better” these Olympics games were to most regular league games played in North America, and the NHL promptly made changes to its rules (immediately adopting the hurry-up faceoff) to bring the game in line to the faster international one. (Although it would take the NHL another three years to realise that going without the red-line was the right decision.)

Never before did international hockey rules receive such resounding support from virtually all North American media. The New York Times wrote after the final game: “The past ten days may have produced the best hockey tournament ever held, at least until the next Olympics.”

USA Today’s eye-opener was phrased: “The Olympic hockey tournament has been liberating, enlightening, refreshing, every other ‘ing’ you could think of. Except of boring, troubling, frightening…”

In the end, Canada did win gold, but it did so by adjusting to a new style of play, one in which the entertainment was not just visible on the scoreboard but on every second the puck moved up ice with lightning speed. The 2002 Olympics were, in many ways, the start of 21st century hockey.