Canada men's national ice hockey team

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 (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. 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 (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".

In 1967, the Canada men's national team was divided into western and eastern branches. Jack Bownass coached the eastern team, which played in the Quebec Senior Hockey League with Derek Holmes as its captain, to prepare for the 1968 Winter Olympics.

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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, 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.

World Championships

All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.

Canada Cup / World Cup of Hockey

NHL 4 Nations Face-Off

• 2025 – Winners

Summit Series

• 1972 – 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 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. 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

Main article: List of Canadian national ice hockey team rosters

Current roster

Roster for the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

Head coach: Dean Evason

Select team roster

Roster for the 2025 Spengler Cup.

Head coach: Michel Therrien

Roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

Head coach: Jon Cooper

Coaches

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

;Olympics

1. Gordon Sigurjonsson, 1920
2. Frank Rankin, 1924
3. Conn Smythe, 1928
4. Jack Hughes, 1932
5. Al Pudas, 1936
6. Sgt. Frank Boucher, 1948
7. Louis Holmes, 1952
8. Bobby Bauer, 1956, 1960
9. Father David Bauer, 1964
10. Jackie McLeod, 1968
11. Clare Drake, 1980
12. Dave King, 1984, 1988, 1992
13. Tom Renney, 1994
14. Marc Crawford, 1998
15. Pat Quinn, 2002, 2006
16. Mike Babcock, 2010, 2014
17. Willie Desjardins, 2018
18. Claude Julien, 2022
19. Jon Cooper, 2026 ;Summit Series, Canada Cup, World Cup, 4 Nations Face-off
20. Harry Sinden, 1972 Summit Series
21. Bill Harris, 1974 Summit Series
22. Scotty Bowman, 1976, 1981 Canada Cups
23. Glen Sather, 1984 Canada Cup, 1996 World Cup
24. Mike Keenan, 1987, 1991 Canada Cups
25. Pat Quinn, 2004 World Cup
26. Mike Babcock, 2016 World Cup
27. Jon Cooper, 2025 4 Nations Face-Off ;World Championships
28. Les Allen, 1930
29. Blake Wilson, 1931
30. Harold Ballard, 1933
31. Johnny Walker, 1934
32. Scotty Oliver, 1935
33. John Achtzener, 1937
34. Max Silverman, 1938, 1949
35. Elmer Piper, 1939
36. Jimmy Graham, 1950
37. Dick Gray, 1951
38. Greg Currie, 1954
39. Grant Warwick, 1955
40. Sid Smith, 1958
41. Ike Hildebrand, 1959
42. Bobby Kromm, 1961, 1963
43. Lloyd Roubell, 1962
44. Gord Simpson, 1965
45. Jackie McLeod, 1966, 1967, 1969
46. Johnny Wilson, 1977
47. Harry Howell, 1978
48. Marshall Johnston, 1979
49. Don Cherry, 1981
50. Red Berenson, 1982
51. Dave King, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
52. Doug Carpenter, 1985
53. Pat Quinn, 1986
54. Mike Keenan, 1993
55. George Kingston, 1994
56. Tom Renney, 1995, 1996, 2000
57. Andy Murray, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2007
58. Mike Johnston, 1999
59. Wayne Fleming, 2001, 2002
60. Mike Babcock, 2004
61. Marc Habscheid, 2005, 2006
62. Ken Hitchcock, 2008, 2011
63. Lindy Ruff, 2009, 2013
64. Craig MacTavish, 2010
65. Brent Sutter, 2012
66. Dave Tippett, 2014
67. Todd McLellan, 2015
68. Bill Peters, 2016, 2018
69. Jon Cooper, 2017
70. Alain Vigneault, 2019
71. Gerard Gallant, 2021
72. Claude Julien, 2022
73. André Tourigny, 2023, 2024
74. Dean Evason, 2025

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 - 2014 Winter Olympics.png|2014 Olympic jerseys File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2016.png|IIHF jerseys 2008-2014, 2016 File:Canada national hockey team jerseys 2015.png|Centennial IIHF jerseys 2015 File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 IHWC.png|IIHF jerseys 2016-2018 File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 (WOG).png|2018 Olympic jerseys File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 IHWC.png|IIHF alternate jerseys 2018–present File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png|2022 Olympic jerseys File:Canada national ice hockey team jerseys 2023 IHWC.png|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

References

Bibliography

• Meltzer, Bill NHL.com article on 2007 IIHF World Championship gold medal. Retrieved 2008-03-25.

References

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