Triple Gold Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Triple Gold Club is a term used for an exclusive group of ice hockey players who have won Olympic gold, World Championships gold, and the Stanley Cup. The three are widely considered three of the four greatest championships in Ice Hockey (see also Canada/World Cup below).
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[edit] Members
- Tomas Jonsson (Sweden, 1994)
- Håkan Loob (Sweden, 1994)
- Mats Näslund (Sweden, 1994)
- Valeri Kamensky (Russia, 1996)
- Alexei Gusarov (Russia, 1996)
- Peter Forsberg (Sweden, 1996)
- Vyacheslav Fetisov (Russia, 1997)
- Igor Larionov (Russia, 1997)
- Alexander Mogilny (Russia, 2000)
- Vladimir Malakhov (Russia, 2000)
- Joe Sakic (Canada, 2002)
- Brendan Shanahan (Canada, 2002)
- Rob Blake (Canada, 2002)
- Scott Niedermayer (Canada, 2004)
- Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic, 2005)
- Jiri Slegr (Czech Republic, 2005)
- Nicklas Lidström (Sweden, 2006)
- Fredrik Modin (Sweden, 2006)
[edit] Timeline
[edit] 1994
The inaugural members were Tomas Jonsson, Håkan Loob, and Mats Näslund who "founded" it when they won the Olympics in Lillehammer with Sweden. They had all won the World Championships together in 1991 (Loob in 1987 as well), but separately won the Stanley Cup (Jonsson in 1982 and 1983 with the New York Islanders, Loob in 1989 with the Calgary Flames, and Näslund in 1986 with Montreal Canadiens).
[edit] 1996
The first two of players from Russia (Valeri Kamensky and Alexei Gusarov) joined along with another Swede Peter Forsberg (who was also at Lillehammer), when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. Both played for the USSR, Kamensky and Gusarov had won the 1988 Olympics as well as the 1989 and 1990 World Championships (Kamensky in 1986 as well). Forsberg had won the World Championships in 1992 (and did so again in 1998) and the Olympics in 1994 (and won that again for the second time in 2006).
[edit] 1997
Vyacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings, and both did so again in 1998 (Larionov again in 2002). The two players together with Peter Forsberg are the only ones to win enough titles to be in the Triple Gold Club twice: They both won at the Olympics in 1984 and 1988, and they both won the World Championships in 1982, 1983, 1986, and 1989 (Fetisov also won in 1978, 1981, and 1990).
[edit] 2000
Alexander Mogilny and Vladimir Malakhov won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils. Mogilny previously won the at the 1988 Olympics and the 1989 World Championships playing for the Soviets, while Malakhov won the 1990 World Championships playing for the Soviets and at the 1992 Olympics playing for the Unified Team.
[edit] 2002
Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, and Rob Blake became the first Canadians to join when Canada won at the Salt Lake Olympics. They all won the World Championships with Canada in 1994 (Blake in 1997 as well). Sakic and Blake won the Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche (Sakic in 1996 as well) and Shanahan won it in 1997 and 1998 (and later in 2002) with the Detroit Red Wings.[1]
[edit] 2004
Scott Niedermayer won the World Championships with Canada. He was also at Salt Lake, and won three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils (1995, 2000, and 2003).
[edit] 2005
Jaromir Jagr and Jiri Slegr were the first Czechs to achieve the feat when they won the World Championships. Jagr won the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, while Slegr won it with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 when he played one game in the finals due to Jiri Fischer having been suspended. The two were also teammates at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
[edit] 2006
Nicklas Lidström and Fredrik Modin won Olympic Gold in Torino. They both won the World Championships for Sweden, Lidström in 1991 and Modin in 1998. Lidström won the Stanley Cup three times with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, 1998 and 2002, while Modin won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.
[edit] Canada Cup / World Cup
The Canada Cup, later the World Cup of Hockey, is the highest regarded international hockey tournament not included in the Triple Gold Club.
Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, and Brendan Shanahan are the only three players in the Triple Gold Club who have also won the Canada Cup (Fetisov and Larionov in 1981; Shanahan in 1991).
Joe Sakic and Scott Niedermayer are the only two players in the Triple Gold Club who have also won the World Cup of Hockey (2004).
Remarkably, Fetisov (1976, 1977 and 1978), Larionov (1979 and 1980), Sakic (1988) and Niedermayer (1991) have also won a World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal. Shanahan played in the tournament in 1987 but Canada was disqualified from the tournament after brawling with the USSR in their final match. Canada was leading 4-2 at the time and was playing for the gold medal.
