Big Six (ice hockey)

{{Main|International Ice Hockey Federation#History}}

{{Main|Ice hockey at the Olympic Games}}

The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976117-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902183140/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976117-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 2, 2009|title=Traditions Pro Vs. Amateur|author=Benjamin, Daniel|magazine=Time|accessdate=18 March 2009|date=27 July 1992}} In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988. The National Hockey League (NHL) was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season, and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated. Eventually, NHL players were admitted starting in 1998.{{cite web|last=Schantz |first=Otto |title=The Olympic Ideal and the Winter Games Attitudes Towards the Olympic Winter Games in Olympic Discourses—from Coubertin to Samaranch |publisher=Comité International Pierre De Coubertin |url=http://www.coubertin.ch/pdf/schantz.pdf |access-date=13 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505052232/http://www.coubertin.ch/pdf/schantz.pdf |archive-date=5 May 2013}} However, the NHL again refused to release its players in 2018, citing financial reasons. On September 3, 2021, NHL announced that its players would return to the Olympics and participate in the 2022 tournament.{{Cite web|date=2021-09-03|title=NHL players will participate in 2022 Beijing Olympics|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-players-will-participate-in-2022-beijing-olympics/c-326072268|access-date=2021-09-11|website=nhl.com|language=en-US}} Later, in December 2021, the NHL and NHL Players' Association withdrew from the 2022 Winter Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic surge.{{Cite web|date=2021-12-21|title=NHL Players Won’t Participate in 2022 Olympics Amid COVID-19 Surge|url=https://www.si.com/nhl/2021/12/21/nhl-players-wont-participate-winter-olympics-covid-19-surge-nhlpa|access-date=2022-02-19|website=si.com|language=en-US}} The league will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics after an agreement was reached in 2024.

{{Main|Ice Hockey World Championships}}

[[File:Map of winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships.svg|thumb|upright=2|Winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships with the number of titles by country.{{refn|group=n|Note that medals won by the Soviet Union or CIS are credited to Russia, the official successor state of the USSR, and those of Czechoslovakia are counted for the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia's successor state per the IIHF.}}{{col begin}}

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{{legend|#84b4f4|2–4}}

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{{legend|#cc0000|10–24}}

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• Only the tournaments since the formation of the modern Czech Republic team are shown above.
• The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite web |last1=Steiss |first1=Adam |title=2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship cancelled |url=https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2020/wm/news/18344/2020-iihf-ice-hockey-world-championship-cancelled |website=iihf.com |publisher=IIHF |access-date=21 March 2020}}

The Canada Cup served as an ice hockey world championship that was governed by National Hockey League (NHL) rules rather than IIHF rules, and was open to professionals so that NHL players could participate. The 1976 Canada Cup was, therefore, the first time that the best players from the leading ice hockey countries were able to face each other. The tournament was held five times between 1976 and 1991. Only one team outside of the Big Six, West Germany, was ever allowed to compete in the Canada Cup; this occurred in 1984 when West Germany replaced Finland because it had finished higher in the IIHF World Championship.{{cite book |last1=Pelletier |first1=Joe |last2=Houda |first2=Patrick |year=2003 |title=The World Cup of Hockey |publisher=Warwick Publishing |location=Toronto |isbn=1-894622-17-0}}

The World Cup of Hockey replaced the Canada Cup in 1996. It has been held three times so far (1996, 2004, and 2016), though its future is uncertain. Eight teams compete at the World Cup: Germany and Slovakia participated in the first two editions, whereas Team Europe, made up of European players whose countries did not have their own team in the event and Team North America, composed of players 23 years old and younger from Canada and the United States, played in 2016.

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Category:National members of the International Ice Hockey Federation

Category:National ice hockey teams