I haven’t seen much of the Olympics, and I’m clearly late to this. But 3 vs. 3 overtime for a medal, a gold medal nonetheless, is downright insane.
— Gareth Wheeler (@GarethWheeler) February 19, 2026
3-on-3 overtime to decide who wins the medals is diabolical
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) February 19, 2026
3 on 3 overtime for a gold medal is wild
— David Dwork (@DavidDwork) February 19, 2026
The Big Debate: Should the NHL Extend 3v3 Overtime to 10 Minutes?
The debate was reignited after Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal at the women’s hockey tournament. This was the fifth consecutive overtime game at the Olympic Games to be determined by the three-on-three overtime format. Three men’s quarter-final matches, as well as the bronze and gold medal matches in the women’s tournament.
Let’s face it: the same people who complain about three-on-three overtime would be the same people who would complain if a gold medal were decided by a shootout. That is why the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation), and not the IOC (International Olympic Committee), changed their rules for international hockey.
In 2019, the IIHF changed the overtime rules and introduced three-on-three overtime for all matches. Five minutes in all preliminary matches, with the time increasing to 10 minutes for the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Previously, all international games consisted of three-on-three preliminary matches, while the playoff games were four-on-four overtime matches before a shootout. The idea of extending twenty minutes of uninterrupted three-on-three was to prevent the Gold Medal Games from being decided in a shootout.
Commissioner Gary Bettman says no to expanded 3-on-3 overtime
And who wants that? A skills competition to determine the gold medal, or any play-off competition, at the Olympics, World Championships or World Juniors is not ideal. That’s not hockey. Three-on-three overtime is a chess match. It’s hockey for those who know how the roller version of the game is played.
It’s easy to say that the NHL wouldn’t determine the Stanley Cup winner in three-on-three overtime. That’s true, but the NHL isn’t changing its overtime rules anytime soon. As we’ve seen, the NHL plays five-on-five, continuous sudden-death overtime to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup Playoff.
It’s fun to watch in the first overtimes and even the second overtimes, but after that the gameplay really deteriorates. Those looking for a highlight goal can go back to the women’s gold medal game between Canada and Team USA, where Megan Keller scored the gold goal, a rare sight. Usually it’s an ugly goal where the puck goes off a stick, leg, skate or other body part.
So to do that at the Olympics would be difficult given the schedule. Remember that the semi-finals and the Bronze Medal Game are played back-to-back, so it would be difficult to ask these professionals to continuously play overtime in consecutive rounds. Not to mention the Gold Medal Game played on the day of the closing ceremony.
The most dangerous player for Canada and Finland at the Olympic Games
Some NHL players will want to attend the ceremony before returning to their respective clubs to resume the season this week. Ideally, the IOC would change the schedule and have the bronze and gold medal games played on the same day, just like in women’s hockey. You see it at other IIHF tournaments: the two medal games are played on the same day.
However, ending the game early rather than prolonging it is the right decision. And for those who cover the game and even the casual fans who watch every four years and don’t watch the entire season or just parts of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, watch the World Juniors, World Championships on the women’s and men’s side, because these rules wouldn’t be foreign to you.
Since the rule change in 2019 Four gold medals have been decided in this formatincluding Team USA ending its 92-year drought at the IIHF Men’s World Championship, beating Switzerland 1-0 on Tage Thompson’s goal in three-on-three overtime.
In addition, three gold medals have been decided at the Women’s World Championships, as well as three Gold Medal Games at the World Junior Championships, including Team USA in 2025. And let’s not forget that this would have been the format if the NHLers had gone to the Olympics in 2022.
The most dangerous player for Team USA and Slovakia
And before anyone brings up the Four Nations Faceoff Gold Medal Overtime Game between Canada and the US, that tournament was an NHL tournament with no input from IIHF or IOC. That will be a similar case at the 2028 Hockey World Cup.
Three-on-three overtime is much more exciting then five-on-five overtime. Five-on-five can drag on, especially late in the overtime session, as teams try to reset for the next overtime period instead of trying to score.
With three-on-three overtime after twenty minutes, at least you know the match will end. The IIHF was right with this decision, but no matter how games end, people on social media will never be happy.
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