Big Six (ice hockey)

In men's international ice hockey, the Big Six is a group comprising the six national teams that have dominated play throughout the history of international ice hockey, especially since the 1950s. It is composed of the North American countries of Canada and the United States and four European countries: the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Sweden.[1][2] During the Cold War and for two years afterwards, the Soviet Union/CIS and Czechoslovakia held the places of Russia and the Czech Republic, respectively, within the group. The four European members are sometimes referred to as the "European Big Four" or "Big Four", especially to distinguish them from the North American teams.[3]

Not to be confused with Big 6 Hockey League.
The IIHF World Ranking depicts the prominence of the Big Six

Out of the 207 Ice Hockey World Championships medals awarded by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), only 21 have been won by teams outside the Big Six, and only six of those have been won since 1953 (four by Slovakia, two by Switzerland).[4] Of the 72 Olympic ice hockey medals awarded, only seven have not been won by a Big Six team.[5] The Big Six finished in the top eight every year since 2011, ensuring that only two out of the remaining 10 teams make it to the knockout round.[6]

History
Main article: International Ice Hockey Federation § History

Results

Olympic Games Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Main article: 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.[7] 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.[8] However, the NHL again refused to release its players starting in 2018, citing financial reasons.

Year  Canada  Czechoslovakia/
 Czech Republic		  Finland  Soviet Union/
 CIS/
 Russia		  Sweden  United States
192013--42
192415--42
192815--2-
19321----2
193624--53
194812--4DQ
1952147-32
195635-142
1960247351
1964436125
1968325146
1972-35142
1976-241-5
1980654231
1984426137
1988462137
19922371[n 1]54
1994253418
1998413256
2002176352
2006732418
2010173652
2014163524
20183461[n 2]57

IIHF Men's World Championships
Main article: Ice Hockey World Championships
Winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships with number of wins.[n 3]
Nation 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
 00
 01
 02
 03
 04
 05
 06
 07
 08
 09
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 Canada413216445611241227555511242
 Czech Republic374133111545127561337445774
 Finland721552232456732356144262451
 Russia15544551162710353112416123363
 Sweden232621373322414433261356115
 United States646361265471336756413873634537

Only the tournaments since the formation of the modern Czech Republic team are shown above.

Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey

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.[9]

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.[2] 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.

Canada Cup
Year  Canada  Czechoslovakia  Finland  Soviet Union  Sweden  United States
1976126345
198123 (tie)6153 (tie)
198415-3 (tie)23 (tie)
198713 (tie)623 (tie)5
1991163 (tie)53 (tie)2

World Cup of Hockey
Year  Canada  Czech Republic  Finland  Russia  Sweden  United States
199627 (tie)5 (tie)3 (tie)3 (tie)1
200413 (tie)2653 (tie)
2016[n 4]168437

Notes
  1. The CIS team participated at the 1992 Winter Olympics as part of the Unified Team.
  2. Russia was disqualified from being represented in the tournament due to the Russian doping scandal. However, the Russian national team was allowed to play in the tournament under the Olympic flag and the moniker Olympic Athletes from Russia.
  3. Note that medals won by the Soviet Union or CIS are credited to Russia, and those of Czechoslovakia are counted for the Czech Republic.
  4. Note that the rankings include the final ranking of two non-national teams that participated in the tournament: Team North America and Team Europe. Were these teams not to be factored in to the final ranking, Sweden would have placed 2nd, Russia 3rd, the Czech Republic 4th, the United States 5th, and Finland 6th.
gollark: Also perhaps stargates and other long-range teleporters if I fiddle with the recipes.
gollark: For example, in my very WIP pack, Botania items (especially advanced elven/gaia ones), NuclearCraft fusion reactor/dense energy storage/radiation remover systems, compact machine factories, that sort of thing, require lots of investment in one mod or something like that, so people will probably try and make and sell those.
gollark: Really? As far as I've seen people just set up their own basement farms.
gollark: Nobody's done it on SC yet, though automated commodity markets would be extremely cool.
gollark: Is hard.

References
  1. "the Big Six hockey powers -- the United States, Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland" "N.H.L. and Its Teams Send Players to Bench". New York Times. February 2002. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  2. "Figuring out the seventh and eighth teams beyond the so-called big six was the biggest hurdle to overcome in planning this event." "NHL announces World Cup of Hockey for 2016". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  3. "World Cup of Hockey set to return in 2016". NHL.com. January 24, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  4. "Past medalists". IIHF.com. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  5. "Ice hockey and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review. International Olympic Committee. 1984.
  6. "Ice hockey – Olympics". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  7. Benjamin, Daniel (27 July 1992). "Traditions Pro Vs. Amateur". Time. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  8. Schantz, Otto. "The Olympic Ideal and the Winter Games Attitudes Towards the Olympic Winter Games in Olympic Discourses—from Coubertin to Samaranch" (PDF). Comité International Pierre De Coubertin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
  9. Pelletier, Joe; Houda, Patrick (2003). The World Cup of Hockey. Toronto: Warwick Publishing. ISBN 1-894622-17-0.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.