Canada Cup (ice hockey)

The Canada Cup in the Hockey Hall of Fame Toronto

The Canada Cup was an ice hockey tournament held from 1976 to 1991 , the successor of which is the World Cup of Hockey .

description

Although the Canada Cup was only held five times, it was still considered particularly prestigious. Since the competitions - in contrast to the annual World Cup - did not coincide with the NHL play-off games in spring , the North American national teams were usually able to bring their best professional players to bear. Especially in view of the global political tensions at that time , the encounters between hosts Canada and the former world champions from the Soviet Union always had a high prestige value. In 1976, however, the Soviets only sent a B team to the tournament, while in 1991 the Soviet ice hockey team was in the process of being rebuilt and the collapse of the Soviet Union was already being clearly felt in sport. Overall, Canada was able to win the tournament four times, the team of the USSR finished the competition victorious only once (1981) - however with a clear 8: 1 final victory over the "maple leaves". They were able to return the favor six years later when they defeated the "Sbornaja" in three finals in 1987 in best-of-three mode, with the referees' decisions being at least controversial.

idea

The idea for the Canada Cup came from Alan Eagleson , who had already organized the Summit Series .

Others

Since his debut in the Canada Cup in 1981, the exceptional Canadian player Wayne Gretzky has occupied the top spot in the points classification at the end of every tournament . Only in the first edition in 1976, Viktor Schluktow (USSR), a player other than Gretzky was crowned top scorer . The Canadian Ice Hockey Federation planned a new edition of the competition for 2005, which should take place from August 31 to September 4, 2005 in connection with the Česká Pojišťovna Cup of the Euro Hockey Tour . Due to the lockout in the National Hockey League , this tournament was canceled in early June 2005.

winner

year	winner	finalist	MVP	Top scorer
1976	Canada	Czechoslovakia	Bobby Orr	Viktor Schluktow
1981	USSR	Canada	Vladislav Tretyak	Wayne Gretzky
1984	Canada	Sweden	John Tonelli	Wayne Gretzky
1987	Canada	USSR	Wayne Gretzky	Wayne Gretzky
1991	Canada	United States	Bill Ranford	Wayne Gretzky

literature

• Stephan Müller: International Ice Hockey Encyclopaedia: 1904 - 2005 . Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany 2005, ISBN 978-3-8334-4189-9 .
• Joe Pelletier, Patrick Hounda: The World Cup of Hockey - A History of Hockey's Greatest Tournament . Warwick Publishing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2003, ISBN 1-894622-51-0 .