hockey, ice: International, Amateur, and Women's Play

The NHL long regarded itself as the world's elite, but the overwhelming superiority of the Soviet Union in international amateur play in the 1960s led to a dramatic 1972 summit series between Team Canada (Canadian NHL players) and the Soviet national team. With their reputation on the line, the NHL stars narrowly won the series 4–3–1. Two years later the Soviets crushed a WHA All-Star team. In 1976–91 six of the world's major hockey powers competed in the periodic Canada Cup, a tournament the NHL and its player association organized. The Canadians won four times (1976, 1984, 1987, 1991) and the Soviets once (1981). The first World Cup, an eight-team expansion introduced in 1996, was won by the United States. The Kontinental Hockey League (founded 2008) is the primary Eurasian professional league. Largely based in Russia, it also has clubs in Belarus, China, Croatia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Slovakia. The International Ice Hockey Federation (founded 1908) is the governing body for Olympic competition (begun in 1920) and world tournaments held annually since 1930 (but no longer contested in Olympic years). From the early 1960s through 1990 the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia dominated both. Although Canada has an elaborate system of amateur hockey leagues, the country did not excel in international amateur hockey from 1950s to 1980s, mainly because the best Canadian players quickly turned professional. The distinction between amateur and professional, however, now has largely disappeared in international competition. In 1998 professionals played in the Olympics for the first time. Hockey at U.S. colleges has also been gaining in popularity; the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships, held since 1948, are now widely followed. Women's ice hockey dates to at least the early 20th cent., but was not formally organized, on an amateur basis in Canada, until the 1920s. The first official women's world championship was held in 1990, and Olympic competition began in 1998. Since 1995 several professional or semiprofessional women's leagues have been formed in Eurasia and North America.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• International, Amateur, and Women's Play
• The National Hockey League
• Rules and Equipment
• Bibliography

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