The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national

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 of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which was a European power prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Czechoslovak national team first appeared at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

, two years after the creation of the state. In the 1940s, they established themselves as the best team in Europe, becoming the first team from the continent to win two World Championships (1947 and 1949). After the arrival of 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 ...

on the international hockey scene in the 1950s, the Czechoslovaks regularly fought

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and

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for silver and bronze medals, and sometimes beat the Soviets. In total, they won the gold medal six times. Due to the split of the country

into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the team was replaced in 1993 with the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

and the Slovak national teams. 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 ...

(IIHF) recognized the Czech national team as a successor of Czechoslovakia national team and kept it in the top group, while the Slovak national team was entered into the lowest level, Pool C, winning promotion in successive years to join the elite division in 1996.

Notable events

*First game: 24 April 1920,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

: 15–0 *Last game: 19 December 1992, Moscow: 7–2 *Largest victory: **3 February 1939,

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: 24–0 **21 February 1947,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

: 24–0 **25 April 1951,

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: 27–3 **4 March 1957, Moscow: 25–1 *Largest defeat: 28 January 1924,

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: 30–0 *Plane crash on 8 November 1948. Six players on the way to an exhibition tour in the UK were killed in the crash of a charter flight from Paris to London.

Notable players

* Mike Buckna * Ladislav Troják * Ján Starší * Jaroslav Drobný * Vladimír Dzurilla * Jozef Golonka *

Dominik Hašek Dominik Hašek (, ; born 29 January 1965) is a Czech former ice hockey goaltender who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), mostly for the Buffalo Sabres. Widely regarded as one of the best goaltenders in history, Hašek also p ...

* Ivan Hlinka *

Jiří Holeček Jiří Holeček (born March 18, 1944) is a Czech professional ice hockey coach and former player. Holeček played in the Czechoslovak Elite League from 1964 to 1979, and on the Czechoslovak national team for many years. After joining the mili ...

Jan Hrdina Jan Hrdina (born February 5, 1976) is a Czech Republic, Czech former professional ice hockey player. Playing career Hrdina was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft in the 5th round, 128th overall. In March 2003, the ...

* František Kaberle Sr. * Karel Koželuh * Igor Liba * Vincent Lukáč * Josef Maleček * Vladimír Martinec *

Václav Nedomanský Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czechoslovak hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is als ...

* Milan Nový * Dušan Pašek *Jan Peka * František Pospíšil * Jaroslav Pouzar * Dárius Rusnák *

Vladimír Růžička Vladimír Růžička (; born 6 June 1963, nickname "Rosie") is a Czech ice hockey coach and former professional player. Růžička was twice named the top player in the Czechoslovak Elite League, and was on the gold medal team in the Ice Hockey ...

* Marián Šťastný *

Peter Šťastný Peter Šťastný (; born 18 September 1956), also known colloquially as "Peter the Great" and "Stosh", is a Slovak-Canadian former professional ice hockey player and politician who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. Š ...

* Jan Suchý * František Tikal

Former National jerseys

Olympic record

Canada Cup record

European Championship record

World Championship record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Czechoslovakia National Ice Hockey Team Former national ice hockey teams in Europe Men's sport in Czechoslovakia Men's national ice hockey teams