Founded in 1963 by Father David Bauer, Canada’s National Men’s Team was a full-time program from 1963-68 and 1983-2000, giving Canada a constant presence at major international events. Today, the team gathers for a select number of tournaments every season.

Since 1977, Canada’s entry at the IIHF World Championship has been comprised of NHLers whose teams failed to qualify for postseason play, or were first-round casualties. Twenty-four times Canada has been crowned world champions, the last one coming in 2007.

1. All Olympic Ice Hockey Tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.
2. In Olympics years 1980, 1984, 1988, no IIHF World Championships were staged.

Canada was the class of the Olympics in the tournament’s early years, claiming six of the first seven gold medals between 1920 and 1952. The Games opened its doors to NHLers in 1998, and Canada ended a 50-year gold medal drought with its 2002 triumph.

From Paul Henderson’s goal in the dying seconds of the 1972 Summit Series to the championship game victory in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Canada has often been on top of the best-on-best tournaments that have dotted the history of international hockey.

The final step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, the National Junior Team has been a force at the IIHF World Junior Championship since the first year of the POE in 1982, winning 15 gold medals, including the current five-year run from 2005 to 2009.

The second step in Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence, the National Men’s Under-18 Team gives promising young players their first taste of international hockey – in a summer tournament in Europe, and at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in April.