"Best-on-best" is an ice hockey term describing a competition that involves most of the elite level of players as possible. Usually it refers to an international men's tournament that allows professional players.
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Best-on-best play is a relatively recent phenomenon in international ice hockey. Until the 1980s professionals were excluded from the Olympic tournament, and until 1970s NHL players did not take part in the world championships.
The first best-on-best competition of the modern era was the 1972 Summit Series, although this only involved two nations, Canada and the Soviet Union. While the Canadian side included only NHL players and not those of the rival World Hockey Association (WHA), commentators do not believe this was a major handicap for Canada. Players from the WHA competed in the subsequent 1974 Summit Series against the Soviet team, but this is rarely considered an example of best-on-best play, as no NHL players were allowed to take part.
After the success of the Summit Series, the NHL and its players' association were interested in being involved in more international play, but were excluded from the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee's rules, and from the International Ice Hockey Federation's world championships because of scheduling conflicts. In response they created the Canada Cup as an alternative. The IIHF responded by moving the world championships to later in the year so that NHL players not in the Stanley Cup playoffs could take part and endorsing the Canada Cup.[1]
The Canada Cup was a six-team tournament held every three to five years from 1976 to 1991 in Canada and the United States that always featured the most elite level of talent available, both from the NHL and from the European elite leagues. In its five runnings, the tournament was won by Canada four times and by the Soviet Union once. The IIHF describes the initial 1976 tournament as "the first truly international tournament featuring 'best on best' from the best countries in the world"[1]. However, many of the Soviets star players, such as Valeri Kharlamov, did not play in the series, as a result they sent a much younger, "experimental" team to Canada[2]. In the 1991 Canada Cup, due to severe political turmoil at home, the Soviets did not have many of its top stars. Many players declined to play for the team, and were purposely left off the roster (such as Pavel Bure, Vladimir Konstantinov, etc.) for fears of defection[3].
In 1996 the Canada Cup was replaced by the World Cup of Hockey, in which some games were played outside of North America. The World Cup was promoted by the NHL and NHLPA specifically as a "best-on-best" tournament: NHL Vice President Bill Daly said that the 2004 world cup would "provide the international hockey community with a rare best-on-best tournament format featuring the world's foremost hockey stars from the NHL". NHLPA Senior Director Ted Saskin said that NHLPA members were looking forward "to the opportunity of playing for their country in this best-on-best tournament." Only two world cups have been contested, in 1996 (won by the United States) and 2004 (won by Canada). The next installment of the World Cup of Hockey will take place in 2011.[4]
Although professional hockey players were first eligible to compete in the Winter Olympics at the 1988 Calgary Games, the NHL did not stop its season to allow its players to participate until the 1998 Nagano Games. The league once again stopped play during the 2002 season for the Salt Lake games and in 2006 for the Turin games. These three tournaments are considered to have been best-on-best, and were won by the Czech Republic (1998), Canada (2002), and Sweden (2006). Once Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Olympics, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to participate again, but no commitment has been made beyond that date.
The IIHF's annual World Ice Hockey Championships have allowed NHL players since the 1970s. However, since the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled at the same time, sometimes, some of the countries top players are not able to take part. The timing of the various best-on-best tournaments, and their impact upon the NHL and European leagues, continues to be a subject of debate. Several different proposals for the Olympics, World Cup, and World Championships were proposed at the World Hockey Summit in Toronto in 2010.[5]
| Year | Competition Name | Winner / Gold Medalist: | Runner-Up / Silver Medalist: | Score | MVP('s) of the tournament |
| 1976 | Canada Cup | Canada | Czechoslovakia | 6:0, 5:4 a.e.t. | Bobby Orr |
| 1981 | Canada Cup | Soviet Union | Canada | 8:1 | Vladislav Tretiak |
| 1984 | Canada Cup | Canada | Sweden | 5:2, 6:5 | John Tonelli |
| 1987 | Canada Cup | Canada | Soviet Union | 6:5 a.e.t., 5:6 a.e.t., 6:5 | Wayne Gretzky |
| 1991 | Canada Cup | Canada | United States | 4:1, 4:2 | Wayne Gretzky |
| 1996 | World Cup of Hockey | United States | Canada | 3:4 a.e.t., 5:2, 5:2 | Mike Richter |
| 1998 | Olympics | Czech Republic | Russia | 1:0 | Dominik Hašek, Pavel Bure |
| 2002 | Olympics | Canada | United States | 5:2 | Nikolai Khabibulin, Joe Sakic |
| 2004 | World Cup of Hockey | Canada | Finland | 3:2 | Vincent Lecavalier |
| 2005 | World Championships | Czech Republic | Canada | 3:0 | Joe Thornton |
| 2006 | Olympics | Sweden | Finland | 3:2 | Antero Niittymäki, Teemu Selänne |
| 2008 | World Championships | Russia | Canada | 5:4 | Dany Heatley |
| 2010 | Olympics | Canada | United States | 3:2 a.e.t. | Ryan Miller, Jonathan Toews |
Team Records:[6]
Individual Records:[7]