Canada men's national ice hockey team

Gold: 8 – 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1948, 1952, 2002, 2010
Silver: 4 – 1936, 1960, 1992, 1994

The Canadian national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Canada. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation, and participates in international competitions. From 1920 until 1963, Canada's international representation was by senior amateur club teams. Canada's national men's team was founded in 1963 by Father David Bauer as a part of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, playing out of the University of British Columbia.^[1] The nickname "Team Canada" was christened for the 1972 Summit Series and has been frequently used to refer to the Canadian national team ever since. Canada has been one of the leading national ice hockey teams in international play, winning the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, four of five Canada Cups dating back to 1976, 8 Winter Olympics (the most of any participating hockey nation), including the 2002 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics, four consecutive IIHF World Championships, including eighteen total, and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

The current coach is Ken Hitchcock. Canada is currently ranked 4th with 3595 points in the IIHF World Ranking.

History

From 1920 until 1963, the senior amateur club teams representing Canada, were usually the most recent Allan Cup champions. The last senior team to win a gold medal at the World Championship was the Trail Smoke Eaters in 1961.

Following the 1963 World Championships, Father David Bauer founded the national team as a permanent institution. The new permanent national team first competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Since 1964, the national team has two Olympic gold medals, and five world championship wins.

Before the emergence of the Soviet Union, Canada dominated hockey, winning six out of seven golds at the Olympics before 1956 and 13 world championship gold medals before 1961. From 1954 to 1991, Canada was able to win only four World Championships and no Winter Olympic Gold medals when the Soviet, Czechoslovak, and Swedish teams dominated. This was in part because Canada's best professional players were unable to attend these events as they had commitments with their respective National Hockey League teams.

Canada withdrew from official IIHF events in 1970 and the National Team programme was suspended after they were refused permission to use semi-professional players at the world championship. Canada returned to the IIHF in 1977 after a series of negotiations between IIHF President Dr. Sabetzki and top officials of professional ice hockey in Canada and the United States of America. Canadians and Americans were allowed to enhance their world championship teams with professional players; and the world championships were scheduled as late as possible to ensure more players would be available from among the NHL teams eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In return, a competition for the "Canada Cup" was to be played every four years on North American territory with the participation of Canada, the United States, and the four strongest European national teams, including professionals.

In 1983, Hockey Canada began the "Programme of Excellence", whose purpose was to prepare a team for the Winter Olympics every four years. This new National Team played a full season together all over the world against both national and club teams, and often attracted top NHL prospects, veteran pros with NHL experience and, in a few cases, current NHLers who were holding out in contract disputes. This programme was discontinued in 1998, when the NHL began shutting down to allow its players to compete.

After not winning a gold medal for 33 years, Canada finally won the World Championship in 1994 in Italy. Since that time, they have won in 1997, 2003, 2004, and 2007.

At the 2010 Olympics, Canada won the gold medal with a 3-2 win against the USA in the final. Sidney Crosby's overtime goal secured Canada the final gold medal of the Games.^[2]

Retired numbers

66. Mario Lemieux
99. Wayne Gretzky

List of teams representing Canada from 1920 to 1963

Coaches

List of coaches of the Canada men's national ice hockey team.

Competition achievements

Olympic Games

All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships They have won a total of 14 Olympic medals.^[3]

Summit Series

• 1972 - Won
• 1974 - Lost

Canada Cup

• 1976 - Won championship
• 1981 - Lost Final
• 1984 - Won championship
• 1987 - Won championship
• 1991 - Won championship

World Cup of Hockey

• 1996 - Lost Final
• 2004 - Won the World Cup

World Championships

All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.^[3] The 1920 Olympics were the first world championship. IIHF World Championships were not held during the Winter Olympic years of 1980, 1984 or 1988.^[3]

Spengler Cup

Spengler Cup victories for Team Canada have occurred in 1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2007. In this tournament, Canada competes against European club teams, not against national teams. Canada used to be represented by the standing national team at this event, but since its dissolution is usually made up of Canadians playing in European leagues or occasionally in the North American minor leagues.

Rosters

2011 World Championship roster

• Head coach:  Ken Hitchcock (CAN)

Skaters

Goaltenders

^{[23] [24]}

2010 Olympics roster

The following is the Canadian roster in the men's ice hockey tournament of the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[25]

See also

• Canada men's national ice sledge hockey team

Notes

References

• Podnieks, Andrew (1997). Canada's Olympic Hockey Teams: The Complete History, 1920–1998. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0-385-25688-4 
• Wallechinsky, David (2002). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics (2002 ed.). New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-185-1 

External links

• Meltzer, Bill NHL.com article on 2007 IIHF World Championship gold medal. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
• Hockey Canada home page
• CNNSI's 2002 hockey coverage
• Canada On Ice - The World Hockey Championships, 1920-2008