World Cup of Hockey
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- This article is about Ice Hockey. For other hockey World Cups, see World Cup (hockey) for disambiguation.
It was first held in 1996, when the national team of the United States defeated Canada to win the championship. The other competitors were the national teams of the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, and Sweden. In the 2004 World Cup of Hockey tournament Canada won the championship, after it defeated Finland in the final match and the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
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.
The World Cup of Hockey tournament has been critiziced for favouring the North American teams, Canada in particular. Apart from the NHL rules, the playoff games have also been played in the United States and Canada. Also, the tournament has primarily only used NHL officials instead of employing some from other hockey organizations around the world. As a result, most referees have been Canadian - even in games when Canada were playing (such as the 2004 semi-final and final).
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Semi-finalists | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCH 1996 |
United States |
Canada |
| |||||||||||
| WCH 2004 |
Canada |
Finland |
Czech Republic and United States |
See also
External links/ Sources
- [Official site of the World Cup of Hockey 2004]
- [International Hockey Statistics Database]
- [Canada Versus the Soviet Union] The heyday of the battle for world hockey supremacy (1972-1987)
- Müller, Stephan : International Ice Hockey Encyclopedia 1904-2005 / BoD GmbH Norderstedt, 2005 ISBN 3-8334-4189-5
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