National Hockey League Players' Association

The World Cup of Hockey was first introduced to the world in 1996 as the only ‘best on best’ hockey tournament of its kind. A joint effort by the NHLPA and the NHL, the World Cup has become a premiere event on the international hockey calendar. Using North American sized rinks, the tournament is made up of teams from around the globe and features only the best players in the world, many of whom are NHLPA members.

NHL players participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, following the successful participation of NHL players at the ’98 Olympics in Nagano, Japan and the ’02 Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA. In all, 150 NHLers took part in the ice hockey competition in Turin, representing 11 of the 12 competing countries (Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States). In a thrilling gold medal game, Sweden beat Finland to take home the gold.