There's no NHL stars at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, but still tremendous excitement at the ice hockey

Part of the appeal of an Olympic Games is seeing the very best athletes in the world compete against each other.

Unfortunately, at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, ice hockey fans looking to watch the best in their field ply their trade would have been better served watching the National Hockey League (NHL).

After all, that's where arguably the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, was in action — and scoring his 500th NHL goal no less — for the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a 5-4 overtime win against the Flyers in Philadelphia.

So, too, was the greatest goal-scorer of the 21st century, Russian legend Alexander Ovechkin, who also scored, twice, as his Washington Capitals thumped the Nashville Predators 4-1.

Even as the first game of the day's play at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing was underway – a thrilling quarter final between the USA and Slovakia — the LA Kings were being thrashed 5-2 by the Edmonton Oilers … but more on that later.

As disappointed as supporters of ice hockey will be not to see their stars at an Olympics for the first time since 2014, it's not a result of the players not wanting to come — and there was plenty of action to get excited about anyway.

Of course, for several decades, NHL professionals were not allowed at the Games, leaving Western amateurs to the mercy of Soviet «shamateurism» — the USSR won nine straight Olympic medals between 1956 and 1988, including seven gold.

The NHL first allowed its players to compete in 1998, 12 years after the IOC first allowed professionals to contest for medals but, since then, there has only been five occasions where NHL players have graced the Olympic rinks.

In 2018, the NHL made the call — due to a disagreement about who would cover the costs of insuring the