The Canada men's national ice hockey team (popularly known as Team Canada; ) is the
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
team representing
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
internationally. The team is overseen by
Hockey Canada, a member of the
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries.
The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...
. 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
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...
, playing out of the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
.
The nickname "Team Canada" was first used for the 1972
Summit Series and has been frequently used to refer to both the Canadian national men's and women's teams ever since.
Canada is the leading national ice hockey team in international play, having won the 1972 Summit Series against the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, a record four
Canada Cups dating back to 1976, a record two
World Cups of Hockey, a record nine
Olympic gold medals, and a record 28
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
titles.
Canada is
one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "
Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, and the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
.
History
Hockey is Canada's national winter sport, and Canadians are extremely passionate about the game. Canada was first represented internationally at the
1910 European Championships by the
Oxford Canadians, a team of Canadians from the University of Oxford. They represented Canada again at the
1912 World Championships.
From 1920 until 1963, the senior amateur club teams representing Canada, were usually the most recent
Allan Cup champions. The last amateur club team from Canada to win a gold medal at the World Championship was the
Trail Smoke Eaters in
1961. The responsibility of choosing which team represented Canada belonged to
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...
(CAHA) secretary-manager;
George Dudley from 1947 to 1960, and
Gordon Juckes from 1960 to 1963.
Following the 1963 World Championships,
Father David Bauer founded the national team as a permanent institution. The new permanent national team first competed in
ice hockey at the 1964 Winter Olympics. His philosophy was to simply win the games against the weaker countries instead of running up the score.
[''Oliver, Greg (2017),'' p. 120] Canada, Czechoslovakia and Sweden finished with identical records of five wins and two losses. Canada thought they had won the bronze medal based on the goal differential in the three games among the tied countries. When they attended the presentation of the Olympic medals, they were disappointed to learn they had finished in fourth place based on goal differential of all seven games played. The players and CAHA president
Art Potter accused that
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries.
The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...
(IIHF) president
Bunny Ahearne, made a last-minute decision to change the rules and take away a medal from Canada.
Marshall Johnston summarized the team's feeling that, "The shepherd and his flock had been fleeced".
Before the Soviet Union began international competition in 1954, Canada dominated international hockey, winning six out of seven golds at the Olympics and 10 World Championship gold medals. Canada then went 50 years without winning the
Winter Olympic Gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
, and from 1962 to 1993, did not win any
World Championships. This was in part because Canada's best professional players were unable to attend these events as they had commitments with their
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
teams.
Canada was awarded hosting duties of the
1970 Ice Hockey World Championships with the limited use of former professionals. The IIHF later reversed the permission after
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
president
Avery Brundage objected to professionals at an amateur event. CAHA president
Earl Dawson withdrew the national team from international competitions against European hockey teams until Canada was allowed to use its best players.
While boycotting the IIHF, other international competitions were held such as the 1972 Canada–USSR
Summit Series and in 1976 the inaugural
Canada Cup invitational. Canada returned to the IIHF in 1977 after a series of negotiations between IIHF President
Günther Sabetzki and top Canadian and American professional ice hockey officials. As a result, professionals are allowed to compete at the World Championship which was scheduled later in the year to ensure more players are available from among the
NHL teams eliminated from the
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...
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 "Program of Excellence", whose purpose was to prepare a team for the
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...
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. In 1986, the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
voted to allow professional athletes to compete in Olympic Games, starting in 1988. Veteran pros with NHL experience and, in a few cases, current NHLers who were holding out in contract disputes joined the team. This program 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 won the
1994 World Championship in Italy. Since that time, they have won in 1997, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2023. Canada captured its first Olympic gold medal in 50 years at
Salt Lake City 2002. At
Vancouver 2010, Canada won the gold medal with a 3–2 win against the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in the final.
Sidney Crosby's overtime goal secured Canada the final gold medal awarded at the Games. At the
2012 World Championship in Finland and Sweden,
Ryan Murray became the first draft eligible prospect to represent Canada at the
Ice Hockey World Championship.
Canada successfully defended gold at
Sochi 2014, becoming the first men's team to do so since the Soviet Union in
1988, the first to finish the tournament undefeated since
1984 and the first to do both with a full NHL participation. Their relentless offensive pressure and stifling defence has earned the
2014 squad praise as perhaps the best, most complete Team Canada ever assembled.
Drew Doughty and
Shea Weber led the team in scoring, while
Jonathan Toews
Jonathan Bryan Toews ( born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre who last played for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), where he served as the team's captain between 2008 an ...
scored the gold medal-winning goal in the first period of a 3–0 win over Sweden in the final. The architect behind the 2010 and 2014 teams,
Steve Yzerman, immediately stepped down as general manager following the win.
Led by general manager
Jim Nill, head coach
Todd McLellan, and the late addition of captain
Sidney Crosby, Canada won the
2015 IIHF World Championship in dominating fashion over
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, their first win at the Worlds since
2007. By winning all 10 of their games in regulation,
Hockey Canada was awarded a 1 million Swiss franc bonus prize in the first year of its existence. Canada scored 66 goals in their 10 games and had the top three scorers of the tournament:
Jason Spezza,
Jordan Eberle and
Taylor Hall.
Tyler Seguin also led the championship with nine goals. The win secured Canada's return to number one on the IIHF world rankings for the first time since 2010.
At the
2021 IIHF World Championship, following a cancelled
2020 tournament due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Canada returned to the competition with a roster weaker than most years, featuring rare inclusions of draft prospects and other non-NHL prospects. The team lost three games in regulation to start the tournament, the first Canadian team in Worlds history to do so, and needed 10 points over the final four round robin games to make the playoff round. Winning the tiebreaker over Kazakhstan, Canada qualified for the playoff round as the lowest seed and managed wins over Russia and the United States before playing Finland for a rematch of the
2019 final in the
gold medal game.
Nick Paul's goal won the game for Canada in overtime, despite the Finns having either led or been tied the entire game, capping off a most unlikely Canadian IIHF men's gold.
List of teams representing Canada from 1920 to 1963
Competition achievements
Olympic Games
All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.
[Hockey Canada-IIHF World Men's championship]
/ref>
World Championships
All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.[ World Championships were not held from 1940 to 1946 during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and during the Winter Olympic years of 1980, 1984 or 1988.[ The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the ]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Canada Cup / World Cup of Hockey
*1976
Events January
* January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
– Champions
* 1981 – ''Runners-up''
* 1984 – Champions
*1987
Events January
* January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
* January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
* January 3 – Afghan leader ...
– Champions
* 1991 – Champions
* 1996 – ''Runners-up''
*2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
– Champions
* 2016 – Champions
NHL 4 Nations Face-Off
*2025
So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
– Winners
Summit Series
*1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
– Winners
* 1974 – ''Runners-up''
On the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, the IIHF Milestone Award was given to the Canadian and Russian teams for the event which had a "decisive influence on the development of the game". Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
wrote that Canada was expected to win the series easily, but when they came from behind to win in the eighth and final game, it marked "the beginning of the modern hockey era".
Spengler Cup
In the Spengler Cup, Team Canada competes against European club teams, such as HC Davos who host the tournament every year in Eisstadion Davos. Canada used to be represented by the standing national team at this event, but is now usually made up of Canadians playing in European leagues or the American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...
. In 2019, Team Canada won its 16th Spengler Cup, passing the host team HC Davos for the most titles. HC Davos is now tied for most wins after winning in 2023.
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2025 IIHF World Championship.
Head coach: Dean Evason
Select team roster
Roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off
Head coach: Jon Cooper
Roster for the 2024 Spengler Cup.
Head coach: Gerard Gallant
Coaches
List of coaches of the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
;Olympics
;Summit Series, Canada Cup, World Cup, 4 Nations Face-off
;World Championships
Uniform evolution
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1988 (WOG).png, 1984, 1988 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1992 (WOG).png, 1992 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1994 (WOG).png, 1994 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1998 Winter Olympics.png, 1998 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1998 IIHF IHWC.png, 1998 IIHF jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 1999-2001.png, 1999–2001 IIHF jerseys
File:Canada national hockey team jerseys.png, 2008–2014, 2016 IIHF jerseys
File:Canada national hockey team jerseys - 2014 Winter Olympics.png, 2014 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2016.png, IIHF jerseys 2014, 2016
File:Canada national hockey team jerseys 2015.png, Centennial IIHF jerseys 2015
File:Canadian national team jerseys 2016 (WCH).png, 2016 WCH jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2017.png, 2017–present (with modifications) IIHF jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 (WOG).png, 2018 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 IHWC.png, IIHF jerseys 2018
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2021 IHWC.png, IIHF jerseys 2021
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png, 2022 Olympic jerseys
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 IHWC.png, IIHF jerseys 2022–present
File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2023 IHWC.png, Alternate IIHF jerseys 2023–present
Notable jerseys
File:1928 Canada Olympic Hockey Team.jpg, 1928 Olympic jerseys
File:Canadian Ice Hockey Team, 1936 Winter Olympics.jpg, 1936 Olympic jerseys
File:1967 World Ice Hockey Championships USSR-CAN.jpg, 1964–1969 Olympic and IIHF jerseys
File:Ice Hockey Match, Lake Placid 1980.jpg, 1980 Olympic jerseys
File:Todd Bertuzzi Olympics 2006.jpg, 2002–2006 Olympic alternate jerseys
File:EricBrewerCanada.jpg, 2007 IIHF jerseys
File:JordanEberle.JPG, 2010 IIHF alternate jerseys
See also
* List of Canadian national ice hockey team rosters
* List of Olympic men's ice hockey players for Canada
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* Meltzer, Bil
NHL.com article on 2007 IIHF World Championship gold medal
Retrieved 2008-03-25.
External links
*
IIHF profile
National Teams of Ice Hockey
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* January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
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* January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
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* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
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{{S-end
National ice hockey teams in the Americas
National sports teams of Canada
Men's national ice hockey teams