World Cup of Hockey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about Ice Hockey. For other hockey World Cups, see World Cup (hockey) for disambiguation.
Following the exciting 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, interest in a world professional ice hockey championship increased substantially. The Canada Cup would bring together the top hockey-playing countries in the world.
It was held in 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1991. It featured competition between teams representing Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, the Soviet Union, Sweden, the United States, and (in 1984 only, taking the place of Finland) West Germany. All the tournaments were won by Canada except the 1981 tournament, which was won by the Soviet Union. The 1987 event is often called one of the most spectacular in hockey history as #99 Wayne Gretzky and #66 Mario Lemieux combined forces to capture the Canada Cup at Copps Coliseum as Team Canada defeated the Soviets. Canada won that series 2 games to one and all three games ended in 6-to-5 scores. [1] The 1987 and 1991 finals were both held in Hamilton, Ontario. [1]
In 1996, The Canada Cup officially changed its name to the World Cup of Hockey. The national team of the United States defeated Canada to win the championship. The other competitors were the national teams of the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, and Sweden. In the 2004 World Cup of Hockey tournament Canada won the championship, after it defeated Finland in the final match and the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
The World Cup of Hockey is not to be confused with the Ice Hockey World Championships, an annual tournament played since 1930. In particular, the World Cup of Hockey is organized by the National Hockey League and not the International Ice Hockey Federation, with its games played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF. The IIHF does sanction the competition, and it counts towards the world rankings (which determine who automatically qualifies for the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Winter Olympics). The trophy for this tournament was designed by Frank Gehry, a world renowned architect.
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 |  Canada |
 Czechoslovakia |
 USSR |
| 1981 | USSR |
Canada |
Czechoslovakia |
| 1984 | Canada |
 Sweden |
USSR |
| 1987 | Canada |
USSR |
Sweden |
| 1991 | Canada |
 United States |
 Finland |
In 1996, the Canada Cup became officially known as the World Cup of Hockey.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | United States |
Canada |
 Russia and Sweden |
| 2004 | Canada |
Finland |
 Czech Republic and United States |
[edit] Trivia
- Alan Eagleson came up with the ideal for the Canada Cup in 1966 after watching the FIFA World Cup final on TV. He said to himself, "if they can do a World Cup for soccer then why not a World Cup for hockey as well?"[citation needed]
- The 1981 win by the USSR caused controversy when Canadian officials announced that the trophy would not actually go home with the winning team. A group of Canadian fans, feeling this was unsportsmanlike, raised money to produce a duplicate trophy to give to the Soviet team.
- Every player from the USSR's 1984 Canada Cup team was a left-handed shooter.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links/ Sources
- Official site of the World Cup of Hockey 2004
- Canada Versus the Soviet Union The heyday of the battle for world hockey supremacy (1972-1987)
- Müller, Stephan : International Ice Hockey Encyclopedia 1904-2005 / BoD GmbH Norderstedt, 2005 ISBN 3-8334-4189-5
 |
This ice hockey article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
