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Poland men's national ice hockey team

Men's national ice hockey team representing Poland


Men's national ice hockey team representing Poland

Grzegorz Klich (Davos, Switzerland; 10 January 1926) (Eindhoven, Netherlands; 26 March 1993) (Moscow, Soviet Union; 11 April 1973) The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as high as 6th internationally. They are one of eight countries never to have played below the Division I (former B Pool) level. As of 2024 the Polish national team plays at the top level of the World Championship.

Poland has competed in the Olympics thirteen times, most recently in 1992, with their best result being fourth place in 1932. They have been a regular participant of the World Championship, first appearing in 1930 and having appeared in all but one tournament since 1955. They frequently played in the top division, though were in Division I after being relegated in 2002. Poland made a return to the top division of the World Championship for 2024.

History

Poland was a regular participant of the early Winter Olympics, first competing at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where they finished ninth out of eleven teams. They would appear at ever Winter Olympics until 1956, with their best finish being fourth in 1932.

Financed by state coal money from the 1950s to the 1970s the Polish hockey team was a regular at the top level upsetting the Swedes, Finns, and Czechoslovaks from time to time. They hosted the World Championship for the only time in 1976, with the matches taking place in Katowice. At this tournament Poland defeated the Soviet Union 6–4 in their opening match, the first and only time Poland ever won against the Soviets and is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in international hockey history. While Poland finished seventh and was relegated for the following year, their victory against the USSR helped prevent them from winning gold for only the second time in 13 years.

The national team in 2006.

In the Olympics earlier that year, Poland played 5 matches in the top division, but lost all of them. In the first game, the team managed four goals on the West Germany but it was not enough as they lost 7–4. Four days later, after being destroyed by the Soviet Union, the Poles took on Czechoslovakia who dominated the whole game throughout and won 7–1, but after the drug testing, the officials found that one of the Czech players tested positive for doping and they awarded Poland with a 1–0 victory, although they didn't receive any points in the standings. With only two games left and no points in the standings, Poland had no shot at a medal, but still played the last two games against the United States and Finland, and lost 7–2 and 7–1 respectively.

Poland managed to clean up a bit over four years and played well during the 1980 Olympics and finished seventh out of twelve teams. They managed to pull off a huge upset in their first game by beating Finland 5–4, who would eventually advance to the medal round. In their next game, they played Canada and hoped to complete an even bigger upset. The Canadians didn't let this happen and beat the Poles 5–1. In the third game, Poland took on the five time gold medalists, the Soviet Union. The players knew that this would be a challenge because they had played the Soviets many times before and had lost by usually very lopsided scores, such as 8–3, 9–3, 16–1, and 20–0. The Polish team, however, had also beaten the Soviets once in the 1976 World Championship and some of the players from that game were still on the team. The team tried to keep the Soviets down, but it was too much and the USSR stormed to an 8–1 win.

With their toughest games out of the way, Poland would have one more chance to try to get to the Medal Round. They took on the Netherlands and went down early in the first period but managed to tie it about four minutes later. The Dutch team scored twice more in the period to lead 3–1. Polish hero Wieslaw Jobczyk (who scored a hat trick in the 1976 upset against USSR) scored to put Poland within one goal but the Netherlands stormed back to get two more goals before the third period to make it 5–2. The Poles ended up losing 5–3 and saw their hopes for the medal round come to an end. They had one more game against Japan, who had not won any games in the tournament and only tied once. Poland burst out in the first period and scored 3 goals before twenty minutes had ended. They scored two more goals and Japan seemed out of it. The final score was 5–1 for Poland. The team's final record was 2–3–0 and it received 4 points in the standings.

When Communist rule ended in 1989, the Polish national team began a slow decline in international play. They reached the Olympics in 1992, the most recent time they have played there, and finished eleventh out of twelve teams. During the 1990s the first two Polish-born and trained players were selected in the NHL entry draft: Mariusz Czerkawski was selected in the 1991 by the Boston Bruins, and Krzysztof Oliwa in 1993 by the New Jersey Devils; Oliwa won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000, the first and only Pole to do so.

At the 2001 World Championships in France, coached by , Poland earned promotion from Division I for the first time in ten years. Playing in the top tier at the 2002 World Championship in Sweden, Poland placed 14th and was relegated back to Division I. Hosting 2006 Winter Olympics qualification in Nowy Targ, Poland placed first in Group E but not advance beyond the next round. Four years later, hosting 2010 Winter Olympics qualification in Sanok, Poland placed second and did not advance.

Leszek Laszkiewicz was named Poland's general manager in 2019. In his first World Championship as manager, Poland placed second in 2019, missing promotion from Division I to the top tier when losing their final game in overtime to Romania. Scheduled to host Group B of the 2020 World Championship in Katowice, the tournament was postponed to 2021 then cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting the 2022 tournament in Katowice, Poland placed first in Group B and promoted to Division I A. Placing second in 2023 earned Poland promotion to the top division in 2024, their first appearance in the top division since 2002 when Laszkiewicz played. With an eighth-place finish at the 2024 World Championship, Poland was relegated back to Division I A. Placing fifth in 2025, Poland remained in Division I A.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

GamesGPWOWTOLLGFGACoachCaptainFinishRank
SUI 1928 St. Moritz20010145?Tadeusz AdamowskiFirst round9th
USA 1932 Lake Placid600006334Tadeusz Sachs?First round4th
Nazi Germany 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen3100021112Aleksander Tupalski, Lucjan Kulej?First round9th
SUI 1948 St. Moritz8200062997Zbigniew Kasprzak?Round-robin6th (7th)
NOR 1952 Oslo8201052156Mieczysław Kasprzycki?Round-robin6th
ITA 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo5200031522Mieczysław Palus, Wladyslaw Wiro-KiroJózef KurekConsolation round8th
USA 1960 Squaw ValleyDid not participate
AUT 1964 Innsbruck8600024115Gary HughesJózef KurekConsolation round9th
FRA 1968 GrenobleDid not participate
JPN 1972 Sapporo6100051339Anatoli Yegorov, Mieczysław ChmuraLudwik CzachowskiFinal Round6th
AUT 1976 Innsbruck6200041641Józef KurekRobert GóralczykFinal Round6th
USA 1980 Lake Placid5200031523Czeslaw BorowiczStefan ChowaniecFirst round7th
YUG 1984 Sarajevo6100052044Emil NikodemowiczHenryk Gruth7th place game8th
CAN 1988 Calgary6101041215Leszek Lejczyk, Jerzy MrukHenryk Gruth9th place game10th
FRA 1992 Albertville9200052547Leszek Lejczyk, Jerzy MrukHenryk Gruth11th place match11th
NOR 1994 LillehammerDid not qualify
JPN 1998 Nagano
USA 2002 Salt Lake City
ITA 2006 Turin
CAN 2010 Vancouver
RUS 2014 Sochi
KOR 2018 Pyeongchang
CHN 2022 Beijing
ITA 2026 Milan–Cortina
FRA 2030 French AlpsTo be determined

World Championship

  • 1930 – 5th place
  • 1931 – 4th place
  • 1933 – 7th place
  • 1935 – 10th place
  • 1937 – 8th place
  • 1938 – 7th place
  • 1939 – 6th place
  • 1947 – 6th place
  • 1955 – 7th place
  • 1957 – 6th place
  • 1958 – 8th place
  • 1959 – 11th place
  • 1961 – 13th place (5th in Pool B)
  • 1963 – 12th place (4th in Pool B)
  • 1965 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1966 – 8th place
  • 1967 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1969 – 8th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1970 – 6th place
  • 1971 – 8th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1972 – 7th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1973 – 5th place
  • 1974 – 5th place
  • 1975 – 5th place
  • 1976 – 7th place
  • 1977 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1978 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1979 – 8th place
  • 1981 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1982 – 11th place (3rd in Pool B)
  • 1983 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1985 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1986 – 8th place
  • 1987 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
  • 1989 – 8th place
  • 1990 – 14th place (6th in Pool B)
  • 1991 – 12th place (4th in Pool B)
  • 1992 – 12th place
  • 1993 – 14th place (2nd in Pool B)
  • 1994 – 15th place (3rd in Pool B)
  • 1995 – 15th place (3rd in Pool B)
  • 1996 – 17th place (5th in Pool B)
  • 1997 – 17th place (5th in Pool B)
  • 1998 – 23rd place (7th in Pool B)
  • 1999 – 23rd place (7th in Pool B)
  • 2000 – 20th place (4th in Pool B), hosts in Katowice and Kraków
  • 2001 – 18th place (1st in Division I, Group A)
  • 2002 – 14th place
  • 2003 – 19th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2004 – 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B), hosts in Gdańsk.
  • 2005 – 19th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2006 – 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
  • 2007 – 20th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2008 – 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2009 – 23rd place (4th in Division I, Group B), hosts in Toruń
  • 2010 – 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
  • 2011 – 23rd place (4th in Division I, Group B)
  • 2012 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B), hosts in Krynica-Zdrój
  • 2013 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
  • 2014 – 23rd place (1st in Division I, Group B)
  • 2015 – 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A), hosts in Kraków
  • 2016 – 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2017 – 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
  • 2018 – 22nd place (6th in Division I, Group A)
  • 2019 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
  • 2020 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • 2021 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • 2022 – 21st place (1st in Division I, Group B)
  • 2023 – 18th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
  • 2024 – 16th place
  • 2025 – 21st place (5th in Division I, Group A)
  • 2026 – (Division I, Group A)

European Championships

GamesGPWTLGFGACoachCaptainFinishRank
1910–1925did not participate.
SUI 1926 Davos5302127??Consolation round 6–7 place game6th
AUT 1927 Wien5122119??Round-robin4th
HUN 1929 Budapest320163??Final
GER 1932 Berlindid not participate.

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship.

Head coach: Róbert Kaláber

No.Pos.NameHeightWeightBirthdateTeam
3DBartosz Ciura1.86 m90 kgPOL GKS Tychy
4DPatryk Wajda1.81 m83 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
5FFilip Komorski1.80 m86 kgPOL GKS Tychy
6DArkadiusz Kostek1.84 m84 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
10FBartosz Fraszko1.81 m82 kgPOL GKS Katowice
12DMaciej Kruczek1.87 m90 kgPOL GKS Katowice
14FDominik Paś1.77 m67 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
15FPatryk Wronka1.71 m77 kgPOL Podhale Nowy Targ
16FPaweł Zygmunt1.90 m96 kgCZE HC Litvínov
17DKamil Górny1.82 m88 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
18FGrzegorz Pasiut – A1.85 m92 kgPOL GKS Katowice
20DMarcin Kolusz – A1.86 m87 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
21FKamil Wałęga1.83 m80 kgCZE HC Oceláři Třinec
28FMateusz Michalski1.86 m90 kgPOL GKS Katowice
31GJohn Murray1.85 m99 kgPOL GKS Katowice
33GTomáš Fučík1.89 m90 kgPOL GKS Tychy
34FKrzysztof Maciaś1.82 m86 kgCAN Prince Albert Raiders
51DJakub Wanacki1.93 m93 kgPOL GKS Katowice
61FKrystian Dziubiński – C1.81 m86 kgPOL TH Unia Oświęcim
69DMateusz Bryk1.82 m89 kgPOL GKS Tychy
71DPaweł Dronia1.81 m90 kgGER Ravensburg Towerstars
72GDavid Zabolotny1.80 m75 kgGER EHC Freiburg
80DKacper Maciaś1.87 m92 kgPOL GKS Katowice
88FAlan Łyszczarczyk1.83 m83 kgPOL GKS Tychy
92FMaciej Urbanowicz1.81 m87 kgPOL JKH GKS Jastrzębie
98FPatryk Krężołek1.85 m80 kgPOL KH Zagłębie Sosnowiec

Former players in the NHL

Players who have played in the NHL and the Polish national team

YearNamePositionTeam
1993–2006Mariusz CzerkawskiRWBoston Bruins
Edmonton Oilers
New York Islanders
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
1996–2006Krzysztof OliwaLWNew Jersey Devils
Columbus Blue Jackets
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers
Boston Bruins
Calgary Flames
2015–2016Mike DantonCNew Jersey Devils
St. Louis Blues

NHL entry draft

Polish players selected in the NHL entry draft

YearNameOverallTeamNote
1981Peter Sidorkiewicz91st overallWashington CapitalsBorn in Poland, represented Canada internationally
1991Mariusz Czerkawski106th overallBoston Bruins
1993Krzysztof Oliwa65th overallNew Jersey Devils
1995David Lemanowicz218th overallFlorida PanthersBorn in Canada, of Polish descent
1993Patryk Pysz102nd overallChicago Blackhawks
1998Tomek Valtonen56th overallDetroit Red WingsBorn in Poland, represented Finland internationally
2000Krys Kolanos19th overallPhoenix CoyotesBorn in Canada, of Polish descent
2000Stefan Liv102nd overallDetroit Red WingsBorn in Poland, represented Sweden internationally
2000Mike Danton135th overallNew Jersey DevilsNaturalized during career
2003Marcin Kolusz157th overallMinnesota Wild
2004Wojtek Wolski21st overallColorado AvalancheBorn in Poland, represented Canada internationally
2004Evan McGrath128th overallDetroit Red WingsBorn in Canada, of Polish descent
2004Jan Steber252nd overallToronto Maple LeafsNaturalized during career
2006Nick Sucharski136th overallColumbus Blue JacketsBorn in Canada, of Polish descent
2009Michael Cichy199th overallMontreal CanadiensBorn in USA, of Polish descent
2022Maksymilian Szuber163rd overallArizona CoyotesBorn in Poland, represents Germany internationally

Notable national team players

  • Henryk Gruth: Poland's captain from 1982 to 1994. Played at the Winter Olympics in 1980, 1984], 1988 and 1992, and at 17 Ice Hockey World Championships. Holds the record for the most games (248) and the most points (109).
  • Leszek Laszkiewicz: Poland's captain from 2008 to 2011. Played 216 games for the national team, scored 89 goals and 150 points.
  • Andrzej Zabawa: Most goals scored (99)

Other Polish-born NHL players

  • Nick Harbaruk – Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues
  • Frank Jerwa – Boston Bruins, St. Louis Eagles
  • Joe Jerwa – New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, New York Americans
  • Edward Leier – Chicago Blackhawks
  • John Miszuk – Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars

Head-to-head records

Updated as of 8 November 2025. Defunct national teams are listed in italics.

OpponentPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAGDTotal1 184526915674 0444 222-168
110053+2
6026331183181+2
1740133877+39
5410296+23
2200272+25
25012422175-153
66007911+68
5500334+29
1010220
**44224058336-278
3218311134102+32
**71351323302234+68
2018119936+63
525839107264−157
5421627146154-8
5416731161192-31
3911226114133-19
6937626214151+63
6235423204153+51
42342621498+116
2221194384-41
2150165072-22
24200413048+82
40352320985+124
7739731316243+73
625057390106+284
1100102+8
**1100132+11
90181251−39
30100206482-18
1510055932+27
**33103243321-278
220091+8
37542862232−170
4620620159165-6
4620224122138-16
36622843191−148
**21191113953+86

References

References

  1. IIHF. (2008). "Poland scores biggest shocker in World Championship history". IIHF.com.
  2. (25 May 2025). "Leszek Laszkiewicz".
  3. Merk, Martin. (23 April 2015). "Laszkiewicz's farewell: After 18 Worlds, Polish forward retires at home". [[International Ice Hockey Federation]].
  4. "Qualifications pour les Jeux Olympiques 2006".
  5. (9 November 2008). "Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament Group D, Men".
  6. Podnieks, Andrew. (25 May 2025). "IIHF honours its Contributors".
  7. "Championnats du monde 2019".
  8. Steiss, Adam. (17 March 2020). "IIHF cancels Division I tournaments". [[International Ice Hockey Federation]].
  9. "Championnats du monde 2022".
  10. "Championnats du monde 2023".
  11. "Championnats du monde 2024".
  12. "Championnats du monde 2025".
  13. "Championnats du monde 2000".
  14. "Championnats du monde 2004".
  15. (17 April 2009). "IIHF World Championship Div I Group B: Round Robin".
  16. (21 April 2012). "Korea–out of this league".
  17. (25 April 2015). "IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Div I Group A: Final Ranking".
  18. (17 March 2019). "IIHF cancels Division I tournaments". iihf.com.
  19. "IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations". International Ice Hockey Federation.
  20. (7 May 2024). "Polacy przegrali z Danią. Trener wybrał kadrę na MŚ elity".
  21. (10 May 2024). "Team roster: Poland". iihf.com.
  22. "Gruth Henryk".
  23. Leleń, Mateusz. (3 January 2025). "Leszek Laszkiewicz włączony do Galerii Sławy IIHF". [[Telewizja Polska]].
  24. (2016-08-07). "Poland - National Teams of Ice Hockey".
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