The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an annual international under-18

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

tournament administered by Hockey Canada, the

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association ( cs, Český svaz ledního hokeje, ČSLH) is the governing body of ice hockey in the Czech Republic. Structure According to the statutes, seven organs operate in the Czech Ice Hockey Association. Every two year ...

, and the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation. Held since 1991, it has been contested under various titles and in various countries, including Japan, Mexico, and Canada. From 1997 through 2017, hosting duties for the event alternated between, and were later split between, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. During this period, the event was known as the Nations Cup, the U-18 Junior World Cup, and

Ivan Hlinka Ivan Hlinka (January 26, 1950 – August 16, 2004) was a Czech professional ice hockey player and coach. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in Czech ice hockey history. A big centre, his playing style was comparable to Phil ...

Memorial Tournament. From 2018 through 2023, the tournament will alternate between

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

, Czech Republic/ Piešťany, Slovakia. The event is not sanctioned by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

(IIHF), which holds its own U18 championship in April. As that event conflicts with playoffs within the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the Hlinka Gretzky Cup is one of the few opportunities for Canada to compete with its strongest U-18 national team. Canada has subsequently been the most dominant team in the tournament, having won 22 times. The tournament is a prominent pre-season showcase for

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) prospects; 17 players on Canada's winning team from 2017 were selected with first-round picks in the

2018 NHL Entry Draft The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the 56th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the second of two professional sports drafts to be held in the Dalla ...

History

The tournament started in 1991, hosted by Japan for the first three years, as well as the fifth. In its first year, it was known as the Phoenix Cup, after which the Pacific Cup moniker was adopted (with the exception of 1994, when Mexico served as the host country and the tournament was known as La Copa Mexico). In 1996, the tournament was first held in Canada. Beginning in 1997, four years after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia began alternating as hosts, and the tournament was renamed the Nations Cup. The two countries alternated until 2003, then co-hosted from 2003 through 2017. At this time, it was also renamed the U-18 Junior World Cup. In 2007, the event was renamed the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in honour of prominent Czech player

—who had died in a vehicle accident in 2004. Historically, the tournament has been dominated by Canada; over 29 years, the country has won 22 times and medalled in each year except 2003, 2007, 2016 and 2021. As the IIHF's official U18 world championships conflicts with playoffs in domestic competitions such as the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), this tournament is the only competition of the two to which Canada is able to send its best under-18 team. In January 2018, Hockey Canada announced that the 2018 edition would be co-hosted by

and

, in association with

Oilers Entertainment Group Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) is a company based out of Edmonton, Alberta, that operates Katz Group of Companies' sports and entertainment offerings. The flagship property and namesake is the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. OEG a ...

and the Czech and Slovak ice hockey federations, and that the event had been renamed the Hlinka Gretzky Cup—additionally honouring

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

hall of famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

. The tournament will alternate between Edmonton/Red Deer and

/ Piešťany annually through 2022. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, while Canada did not participate in the 2021 tournament—with Germany replacing them. It was announced that this hosting cycle would be extended through 2023. Due to the 2022 World Junior Championships being rescheduled for August in Edmonton shortly after the event, the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was played exclusively in Red Deer.

Results

Medal leaders

{, class="wikitable sortable" !Country !style="background-color: #F7F6A8;" , Gold !style="background-color: #DCE5E5;" , Silver !style="background-color: #FFDAB9;" , Bronze !Medals , - align=center , align=left, , 23 , 3 , 1 , 27 , - align=center , align=left, / , 5 , 4 , 9 , 18 , - align=center , align=left, , 1 , 9 , 3 , 13 , - align=center , align=left, , 1 , 8 , 4 , 13 , - align=center , align=left, , 1 , 4 , 8 , 13 , - align=center , align=left, , 0 , 2 , 3 , 5 , - align=center , align=left, , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , - align=center , align=left, {{Ih18, JPN , 0 , 0 , 1 , 1

References

External links

History from Hockey Canada
Ice hockey tournaments International ice hockey competitions for junior teams Ice hockey events