View source for Canada Cup

{{Short description|Former ice hockey tournament for men's national teams}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox sports league
|title = Canada Cup
|logo = Canada Cup in Hockey Hall of Fame.jpg
|caption = Canada Cup in the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]]
|sport = Ice hockey
|country = [[Canada]]
|founded = {{Start date|1976}}
|inaugural = [[1976 Canada Cup|1976]]
|folded = {{end date|1991}}
|replaced = [[World Cup of Hockey]]
|teams = 6
|champion = [[Canada men's national ice hockey team|Canada]] (4 titles)
|champ_season = [[1991 Canada Cup|1991]]
}}
The '''Canada Cup''' ({{langx|fr|Coupe Canada}}) was an invitational international [[ice hockey]] tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer [[Alan Eagleson]], the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that allowed the best players from participating nations to compete regardless of their status as [[professional hockey|professional]] or [[amateur sports|amateur]]. It was sanctioned by the [[International Ice Hockey Federation]], [[Hockey Canada]] and the [[National Hockey League]]. [[Canada national men's ice hockey team|Canada]] won the tournament four times, while the [[Soviet national ice hockey team|Soviet Union]] captured the championship once. It was succeeded by the [[World Cup of Hockey]] in 1996.

==History==
Due to [[National Hockey League]] (NHL) players' ineligibility in the [[Ice hockey at the Olympic Games|Winter Olympics]] and the annual [[Ice Hockey World Championships|World Championships]], both amateur competitions, Canada was not able to send its best players to top international tournaments.<ref name=canadian/> While the top players in Europe qualified as amateurs, all the best Canadian players competed in the professional NHL or [[World Hockey Association]].

Following the [[Summit Series|1972]] and [[1974 Summit Series]], in which Canadian players from the NHL and WHA competed against the top players from the [[Soviet Union]], there was interest in a world hockey championship where each country could send its best players.<ref name=canadian/> In a combined effort from [[Doug Fisher (politician)|Doug Fisher]] of [[Hockey Canada]] and [[Alan Eagleson]] of the [[NHL Players' Association]],<ref name=canadian>{{cite web|title=Canada Cup (World Cup of Hockey)|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canada-cup-world-cup-of-hockey|access-date=2009-09-20|publisher=Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> plans for such a tournament soon began.

After successful negotiations with hockey officials from the Soviet Union in September 1974, Eagleson began arranging the Canada Cup tournament, which debuted in [[1976 Canada Cup|1976]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/exclusive-if-it-wasnt-for-me-there-wouldnt-have-been-a-canada-russia-series-says-hockey-pariah-alan-eagleson|title=EXCLUSIVE: 'If it wasn't for me, there wouldn't have been a Canada-Russia series,' says hockey pariah Alan Eagleson|last=Simmons|first=Steve|newspaper=Toronto Sun|date=September 7, 2022|accessdate=June 16, 2024}}</ref> Eagleson would later plead guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of Canada Cup proceeds.

Taking place in the NHL off-season, it was the first international hockey tournament in which the best players, professional and amateur alike, from the best ice hockey nations in the world could compete against one another.<ref name=iihf>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-6.html|title=Story #6–First Canada Cup opens up the hockey world|publisher=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=2009-03-10|year=2008|author1=Szemberg, Szymon |author2=Podnieks, Andrew |author-link=#Podmon}}</ref> Six teams competed in each edition. In addition to Canada and the Soviet Union, [[Czechoslovakia national ice hockey team|Czechoslovakia]], [[Finland national men's ice hockey team|Finland]], [[Sweden national men's ice hockey team|Sweden]] and the [[United States national men's ice hockey team|United States]] were regular competitors (with the exception of [[West Germany national ice hockey team|West Germany]] replacing Finland in [[1984 Canada Cup|1984]]). The tournaments, held every three to five years, took place in [[North America]]n venues. Of the five Canada Cup tournaments, four were won by Canada, while the Soviet Union won once, in [[1981 Canada Cup|1981]].

Canada won the inaugural Canada Cup in 1976, defeating recent 1976 World Championship gold medalists Czechoslovakia in the best-of-three final. The clinching game was won by a 5–4 score with [[Darryl Sittler]] scoring the game-winner in overtime.<ref name=iihf/> Five years later, the Soviets won their first and only Canada Cup with an 8–1 win over Canada in the one-game final. The Canadians then re-captured the championship in the third edition of the tournament in [[1984 Canada Cup|1984]]. After Canadian [[Mike Bossy]] scored an overtime game-winner to defeat the Soviets in the semi-finals, Canada won their second Canada Cup in a victory over Sweden in the final.<ref name=canadian/>

The [[1987 Canada Cup]] was particularly noteworthy as [[Wayne Gretzky]] and [[Mario Lemieux]], widely considered two of the greatest hockey players of all-time, joined as linemates on Team Canada to capture the country's third championship. All three games in the final between Canada and the Soviets ended in 6–5 scores, with two games going to overtime. Lemieux dramatically scored the championship-winning goal on a 2-on-1 pass from Gretzky in the final minutes of the deciding game at [[Copps Coliseum]] in [[Hamilton, Ontario]].<ref
name=memproj2>{{cite press release| title = Tigertown Triumphs|publisher=The Hamilton Spectator-Memory Project (Souvenir Edition) page MP56|date=2006-06-10}}</ref>

The final Canada Cup was held in [[1991 Canada Cup|1991]] with Canada defeating the United States in the tournament's first all-North American final, for their third straight championship and fourth overall. Five years later, the Canada Cup was replaced by the [[World Cup of Hockey]] in [[1996 World Cup of Hockey|1996]].

==Trophy==
The Canada Cup trophy is shaped like half of a [[maple leaf]] and is made of solid [[nickel]] ({{convert|120|lb}} worth). It was refined by [[Vale Limited|Inco Ltd]] in [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]] Ontario, commissioned by D. Scott McCann (at the time President of [[Teledyne Canada]]). Donna Scott (Queen's University, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1985) designed the cup, citing as her inspiration [[Pink Floyd]]'s ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]'' album cover.<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Michael
 | last=McKinley
 | title=Hockey: A People's History
 | publisher=McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
 | isbn=0-7710-5769-5
 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/hockeypeopleshis0000mcki/page/246 246]
 | year=2006
 | url-access=registration
 | url=https://archive.org/details/hockeypeopleshis0000mcki/page/246
 }}</ref>

===Controversy===
The 1981 win by the Soviet Union caused controversy when Canadian officials found the trophy in the Soviets' luggage and announced that the trophy would not actually go home with the winning team. Feeling this was unsportsmanlike, Canadian fans led by George Smith of [[Winnipeg]], Manitoba raised money to produce a duplicate trophy to give to the Soviet team.<ref name="controversy">[http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/sports/canada_cup_controversy.html Canada Cup Controversy - CBC News: The National] {{dl|date=July 2022}}</ref> $32,000 was raised.<ref name="controversy"/> Three weeks later the trophy was presented to the Soviet Union's ambassador [[Vladimir Mechulayev]] in Winnipeg.<ref name="controversy"/> Most of the companies that made the trophy did the work for free and almost all of the money raised went to [[Minor ice hockey|minor hockey]] in Winnipeg and [[Winkler, Manitoba]].<ref name="controversy"/>

==Competitions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Champion
! Runner-up
! Semi-finalists
! MVP
|-
| [[1976 Canada Cup|1976]]
| {{ih|CAN}}
| {{ih|TCH}}
| None{{refn|group=Note|name=SF1976|No semi-finals were played in the 1976 tournament. Only the top two teams from the [[Round-robin tournament|round-robin stage]] qualified for the final. The Soviet Union and Sweden placed 3rd and 4th in the round-robin stage, making them the tournament's de facto semi-finalists.}}
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Bobby Orr]]
|-
| [[1981 Canada Cup|1981]]
| {{ih|URS}}
| {{ih|CAN}}
| {{ih|TCH}} and {{ih|USA}}
| {{flagicon|URS}} [[Vladislav Tretiak]]
|-
| [[1984 Canada Cup|1984]]
| {{ih|CAN}}
| {{ih|SWE}}
| {{ih|URS}} and {{ih|USA}}
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[John Tonelli]]
|-
| [[1987 Canada Cup|1987]]
| {{ih|CAN}}
| {{ih|URS}}
| {{ih|SWE}} and {{ih|TCH}}
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Wayne Gretzky]]
|-
| [[1991 Canada Cup|1991]]
| {{ih|CAN}}
| {{ih|USA}}
| {{ih|FIN}} and {{ih|SWE}}
| {{flagicon|CAN}} [[Bill Ranford]]
|}
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==All-time results table==

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:center"
|-
!width="120"|Nation
!width="40"|Number of appearances
!width="40"|Games
!width="40"|Wins
!width="40"|Losses
!width="40"|Ties
!width="40"|GF
!width="40"|GA
!width="260"|Best result
|-
|align=left| {{ih|CAN}} ||5||39||28||5||6||181||105||'''Winners:''' 1976, 1984, 1987, 1991
|-
|align=left| {{ih|URS}} ||5||32||18||10||4||135||85||'''Winners:''' 1981
|-
|align=left| {{ih|USA}} ||5||30||13||14||3||97||106||''Runners-up:'' 1991
|-
|align=left| {{ih|SWE}} ||5||30||12||17||1||92||106||''Runners-up:'' 1984
|-
|align=left| {{ih|TCH}} ||5||29||8||16||5||81||96||''Runners-up:'' 1976
|-
|align=left| {{ih|FIN}} ||4||21||3||16||2||44||116||Semi-final: 1991
|-
|align=left| {{ih|FRG}} ||1||5||0||4||1||13||29|| Sixth place: 1984
|}

==See also==
* [[National Hockey League]]
* [[International Ice Hockey Federation]]
* [[Ice Hockey World Championships]]
* [[Summit Series|1972 Summit Series]]
* [[1974 Summit Series]]
* [[World Cup of Hockey]]
* [[Ice hockey at the Olympic Games]]
* [[Super Series '76-77]]
* [[Super Series]]
* [[CHL Canada/Russia Series]]
* [[2007 Super Series]]
* [[NHL Challenge]]
* [[Rendez-vous '87]]
* [[Victoria Cup (ice hockey)|Victoria Cup]]
* [[List of KHL vs NHL games]]
* [[List of international ice hockey competitions featuring NHL players]]
* [[List of international games played by NHL teams]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation |last = Anderson |first =H.J |year =2005 |title =The Canada Cup of Hockey Fact and Stat Book |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=q_0Omxa5n-cC&q=Canada%20Cup&pg=PP1 |publisher=Trafford |isbn= 1-4120-5512-1 }}
* {{citation |last = Willes |first = Ed|year =2008 |title =Gretzky to Lemieux: The Story of the 1987 Canada Cup
 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=HtXCWC26jHcC&q=Mario%20Lemieux&pg=PP1 |publisher=Emblem ed |isbn=	9780771088490 }}

==External links==
* [https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/rainbowcountry/canadarussia.html Canada Versus the Soviet Union: The Heyday of the Battle for World Hockey Supremacy (1972-1987)].

{{WorldCupofHockey}}
{{Canada Cup World Cup of Hockey Finals venues}}
[[Category:1976 establishments in Canada]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in Canada]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1976]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1991]]
[[Category:1981 controversies]]
[[Category:Canada Cup| ]]
[[Category:Ice hockey tournaments in Canada]]
[[Category:International ice hockey competitions hosted by Canada]]
[[Category:Defunct ice hockey competitions in Canada]]
[[Category:Canada–Czech Republic sports relations]]
[[Category:Canada–Czechoslovakia relations]]
[[Category:Canada–Finland sports relations]]
[[Category:Canada–Russia sports relations]]
[[Category:Canada–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Canada–Sweden sports relations]]
[[Category:Canada–United States sports relations]]
[[Category:Czech Republic–Finland sports relations]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Finland relations]]
[[Category:Czech Republic–Russia sports relations]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Czech Republic–Sweden sports relations]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–Sweden relations]]
[[Category:Czech Republic–United States sports relations]]
[[Category:Czechoslovakia–United States relations]]
[[Category:Finland–Russia sports relations]]
[[Category:Finland–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Finland–Sweden sports relations]]
[[Category:Finland–United States sports relations]]
[[Category:Russia–Sweden sports relations]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–Sweden relations]]
[[Category:Sweden–United Kingdom sports relations]]