This article is about Ice Hockey. For other hockey World Cups, see World Cup (hockey) for disambiguation.
The World Cup of Hockey
is an international ice hockey tournament. In 1996, the tournament replaced the previous Canada Cup
tournament. The next installment of the World Cup of Hockey will take place in 2011.
The World Cup of Hockey is not to be confused with the Ice Hockey World Championships.
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ICE HOCKEY WORLD CUP TICKETS
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History
Canada Cup
The creator of the Canada Cup tournament was
Alan Eagleson, an
NHLPA executive and player agent. He was annoyed that the
Canadian national hockey team suffered heavy defeats at international tournaments such as the
IIHF World Championships and the
Winter Olympics because they could not send their best players (most of whom were professionals playing in the
National Hockey League). Taking inspiration from
soccer's
FIFA World Cup, Eagleson proposed a new tournament that would bring together all the top hockey-playing nations. Moreover, each country could send its top players to play in the competition, be they amateur or professional. After successful negotiations with hockey officials from the
Soviet Union in September of 1974, Eagleson began arranging the
Canada Cup
tournament, which debuted in 1976.
[1]
The Canada Cup was held in 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1991, featuring competition between teams representing
Canada,
Czechoslovakia,
Finland, the
Soviet Union,
Sweden, the
United States, and (in 1984 only, taking the place of Finland)
West Germany. All the tournaments were won by Canada except the 1981 tournament, which was won by the Soviet Union. The 1987 event is often called one of the most spectacular in hockey history as
Wayne Gretzky and
Mario Lemieux combined forces to spur Team Canada to a tournament victory over the Soviets at
Copps Coliseum in
Hamilton, Ontario. Canada won that series 2 games to one and all three games ended in 6-to-5 scores, with two games ending in overtime.
[2]
World Cup of Hockey
In 1996, the Canada Cup officially changed its name to the
World Cup of Hockey
. The national team of the
United States defeated
Canada to win
that year's tournament. The other competitors were the national teams of the
Czech Republic,
Finland,
Germany,
Russia,
Slovakia, and
Sweden. Canada won the next tournament,
held in 2004, after it defeated the Czech Republic in the semifinals and Finland in the final match.
The World Cup of Hockey is not to be confused with the
Ice Hockey World Championships, an annual tournament played since 1930. In particular, the World Cup of Hockey is organized by the
National Hockey League and not the
International Ice Hockey Federation, with its games played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF. As well, the World Championships overlap with the NHL playoffs (the second round and beyond of the NHL postseason), so most of the best players are tied to their professional clubs, whereas the World Cup is always during the NHL offseason.
Trophy
thumb
In 2004, award-winning Canadian architect
Frank Gehry designed a new trophy for the tournament. It is made from a composite alloy of copper and nickel as well as solid cast urethane plastic.
Results
In 1996, the
Canada Cup became officially known as the
World Cup of Hockey. There was no tournament held in 2000. In 2004 the tournament made a return, and the next competition will be held in 2011.
| Year
| Champion
| Runner-up
| Semi-finalists
|
| 1996
|
|
| and
|
| 2004
|
|
| and
|
See also
- Summit Series
- World Professional Hockey Championships
References
- The Canada Cup of Hockey Fact and Stat Book, p. 2, H.J. Anderson, ISBN number: 1412055121, 9781412055123, Publisher: Trafford Publishing, 2005
- "Tigertown Triumphs"