them. Before the second round of games began, other participating hockey nations threatened to protest the victories by Great Britain due to the use of CAHA players, and called for an emergency meeting. Yugoslavia was to have competed, but dropped out on short notice. For the opening round, the 15 teams were drawn into three groups of four and one group of three. The top four finishers of the 1935 World Championships (Canada, Switzerland, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia) were guaranteed placement in separate groups. And despite the non-participation of the United States the previous year, the organizers recognized the relative strength of the American team, and guaranteed their placement would not be in World Champion Canada's group. The tournament itself featured very close play for the medals. It was played in three rounds beginning with four groups, where the two best teams of each group moved on to two groups of four, where again the two best moved on to a final round robin group of four, to determine the medals. The major upset occurred in the semi-finals, when Britain's Edgar Brenchley scored late in the third to defeat Canada two to one, setting up the eventual gold medal outcome. The format at these Olympics was to have head-to-head results from the semi-finals carried forward, so that the finals could be a four team round robin with only two additional games per team. The British team's shock victory over the Canadians, plus the win by the USA over Czechoslovakia, both counted in the tables for the final round. Before the final round began, Canada threatened to withdraw from Olympic hockey when it learned that the playoffs format would carry over the loss to Great Britain past the second round-robin series, since the tournament format stated that teams did not have to play one another more than once. Gilroy was unaware of the playoff format in advance of the Olympics, and took objection to the sportsmanship of Canadian officials being questioned, after a special meeting decided not to alter the format. In the final round, the British team beat Czechoslovakia, then played six scoreless periods against the USA before the game was called a tie, ensuring a silver or gold for the British. In the tournament's final game, Canada could win silver, and Britain gold, if Canada defeated the US. The Americans could still have deprived Britain of the gold with a