Among international hockey stars, every journey is different. There are different ways to go out on top in your twilight years.

Frans Nielsen, 37, plans to retire after this season as the all-time leading Danish NHL scorer (473 points), and he's already made Denmark's first Olympic participation here in Beijing eternally memorable by scoring the 2-1 winner on a penalty shot versus Czechia in their opener.

Sometimes the highlights are even more self-evident. Hakan Loob, 33, and Mats Naslund, 34, capped off their storied international careers by winning Sweden’s first Olympic gold medal versus Canada in 1994 and – along with defenceman Tomas Jonsson – becoming the first members of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club (Stanley Cup, IIHF World Championship, Olympic titles).

Sometimes it’s more personal. Jaromir Jagr’s last game in a Czech uniform was a 3-0 bronze medal game loss to the U.S. at the 2015 Worlds. That part wasn’t optimal. But at 43, “Jags” was named tournament MVP, and the hulking right winger soaked up the love from Prague fans at the most-attended Worlds (741,400 spectators) in history.

And sometimes you have to find redemption elsewhere. Ray Bourque and Mark Recchi felt the heartache when Canada shockingly came fourth at the inaugural “NHL Olympics” in 1998. Neither ever wore the red Maple Leaf again. But in 2001, Bourque, 40, hoisted his first Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, and in 2011, Recchi, 43, did the same with the Boston Bruins. Both retired from hockey after their Game Seven victories.

However, since we’re in the thick of the 2022 Olympics, let’s focus our spotlight on five greats from different countries who went out on top IIHF-wise in different ways at their last Winter Games.

Vladimir Ruzicka, CZE (1998 Olympics, Nagano)

Vladimir Ruzicka’s NHL career never took off the way his IIHF career did. In North America, the longtime HC Litvinov centre didn’t suit up in the playoffs when the Edmonton Oilers marched to their final Stanley Cup in 1990. Ruzicka never topped the 75-point season he completed with Boston in 1992.

Yet the 190-cm, 98-kg veteran served as captain on his third Olympic team in 1998,  and “Rosie” rose to the occasion. With the Czechs trailing the U.S. 1-0 after the first period in the quarter-finals, the 34-year-old Ruzicka stood up in the dressing room and told the team to stick to the system and play better defence. Nothing groundbreaking, but it worked. He scored the equalizer at 8:21 of the second period, followed by Jaromir Jagr’s winner 58 seconds later.

That 4-1 victory paved the way for goalie Dominik Hasek’s dominance in the apocalyptic 2-1 semi-final shootout win over favoured Canada and the 1-0 shutout against Russia in the gold medal game. Ruzicka left his IIHF playing career with a reputation as solid as Prague’s Charles Bridge, and springboarded into a coaching career that featured two Worlds gold medals (2005, 2010).

Mario Lemieux, CAN (2002 Olympics, Salt Lake City)

Due to circumstances, injuries, and personal choices, there was a 17-year gap between Mario Lemieux’s lone IIHF World Championship (silver in 1985 in Prague) and his lone Olympics. Under executive director Wayne Gretzky, “Super Mario” wore the “C” for Team Canada with distinction in Salt Lake City. Even at age 36, nursing a hip injury after coming out of retirement the season before, the six-time NHL scoring champ from the Pittsburgh Penguins found ways to lead and shine.

With the Canadians stumbling in the preliminary round, Lemieux scored two big goals in a 3-3 tie with the Czechs, including a video-reviewed marker where Hasek caught the puck but fell back into his net. In the 2-1 quarter-final win over Finland, the man whose 1987 Canada Cup final winner against the Soviets was set up by Gretzky worked a beautiful give-and-go with Steve Yzerman on the legendary Detroit captain’s deciding goal.

However, Lemieux’s most iconic moment came in the gold medal game. In the ultimate thinking man’s move, he deceptively allowed Chris Pronger’s cross-ice pass to slide through his legs to Paul Kariya, who beat U.S. goalie Mike Richter for Canada’s first goal in a 5-2 victory. The Canadians earned their first Olympic gold in 50 years – and Lemieux had the perfect finale to his “quality over quantity” IIHF career.

Pavol Demitra, SVK (2010 Olympics, Vancouver)

When Finland tallied four third-period goals for a comeback 5-3 win over Slovakia in the 2010 Olympic bronze medal game, it was a disappointing ending team-wise for Pavol Demitra. But the Slovak assistant captain couldn’t be faulted for the passion and skill he brought to what was his nation’s best-ever Olympic finish in Vancouver.

As a member of the Vancouver Canucks that season, Demitra had struggled to find his groove at GM Place (renamed Canada Hockey Place for the Games). But in his third and final Olympics, the 35-year-old veteran of more than 800 NHL games put on a show. Famously, he beat Russian netminder Ilya Bryzgalov with a cheeky flip shot to seal a 2-1 shootout upset win in the group stage.

Demitra stepped up again with a goal and an assist as Slovakia dethroned the defending Olympic champion Swedes with a 4-3 quarter-final win. If netminder Roberto Luongo hadn’t denied Demitra with a desperation glove save in the dying moments of Canada’s 3-2 semi-final win, who knows what could have happened?

What we do know is that Demitra finished as the tournament’s leading scorer (10 points) and joined Canada’s Jonathan Toews and the U.S.’s Zach Parise as an all-star forward. Tragically, the 2000 Lady Byng Trophy winner passed away in 2011 in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, but his Olympic legacy will always shine on.

Teemu Selanne, FIN (2014 Olympics, Sochi)

In a sense, Teemu Selanne was facing a mid-life crisis in 2013-14. It was the final NHL season for the Finnish Flash, and at 43, the all-time leading Finnish scorer in league history disagreed with how Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau was managing his ice time. But that messy business faded into the background when Selanne captained Finland to a brave bronze medal in Sochi.

On a dynamic line with 21-year-old centre Mikael Granlund and 31-year-old winger Jarkko Immonen, the swift-skating Selanne scored the game-winning goal and added an assist as Finland upset host Russia 3-1 in the quarter-finals. Showing resilience after a 2-1 semi-final defeat against Sweden, Selanne led the way with two goals in a 5-0 bronze-medal trouncing of the Americans.

It was a dazzling swan song for the man who shares the record for most Olympic men’s hockey participations (six) with fellow Finn Raimo Helminen. Named MVP, Selanne finished seventh in Sochi scoring (4+2=6) but first in the hearts of fans worldwide.

Christian Ehrhoff, GER (2018 Olympics, PyeongChang)

Ilya Kovalchuk – Russia’s GM at the Beijing Winter Games – certainly finished his Olympic career on top, as the OAR team captured the 2018 gold medal while the veteran sniper was named MVP. Yet in another sense, even though Germany lost the heartstopping final 4-3 in overtime, assistant captain Christian Ehrhoff found even greater fulfillment in his silver medal.

This was an utterly unexpected and happy outcome for the Germans based on expectations heading into PyeongChang. And it was something Ehrhoff, a four-time Olympian, needed after some significant ups and downs during the 2010s.

Ehrhoff was named Best Defenceman in Germany’s home-ice fourth-place finish at the 2010 Worlds, but he never got up to speed in the 2011 Stanley Cup finals due to an injured shoulder and his Canucks lost Game Seven at home to Boston. He also couldn’t live up to the expectations that came with the 10-year, $40-million deal he signed with the Buffalo Sabres that off-season, and bounced around the NHL before bringing his offensive gifts home to the Kolner Haie for his last two pro seasons.

At the 2018 Games, Ehrhoff was an absolute minutes monster at age 35. He went from logging a team-leading 24:45 in the 4-3 semi-final upset over Canada to a game-high 26:15 in the gold medal game. Someday the Germans will win Olympic gold, but until then, this run stands as the high point in their IIHF history, and Ehrhoff made his exit as a core contributor.