What was the greatest tournament win by a men's team other than Canada?

[Mr Kanadensisk]

I thought it might be interesting to hear what people thought was the greatest tournament win by a men's team other than Canada.

My vote goes for the US victory at the 1996 World Cup. I know lots of Europeans aren't fans of the World Cup, but it was a very big deal in Canada. For the Americans to beat Canada's best team 3 out of 4 times in the tournament is an unbelievable achievement. That US team was stacked and in my opinion was the best non Canadian team ever.

In reaching the finals of the '91 Canada Cup, '02 and '10 Olympics and winning the '96 World Cup the Americans have quietly established themselves as the second best men's team of the past twenty years.

Click to read more...

 

[Qurpiz]

Finland went unbeaten to the Gold Medal Game in Torino, played the best hockey of all the teams, had #1 and #2 players in points before the GMG, it was all meant to be...

 

[AE]

For us swedes: WC 1987, Soviet had basically won it easily 1963-86 except for Czechoslovakia winning it a few times. The soviet team had the KLM line (+ Kasatonov and Fetisov and other great players).

 

[vippe]

Finland went unbeaten to the Gold Medal Game in Torino, played the best hockey of all the teams, had #1 and #2 players in points before the GMG, it was all meant to be...

If it werent for my own team being the winner in that tournament I would feel with you

But I know the feeling, just like when Sweden played the best hockey I had ever seen in the 2002 olympics they lose in the quarter finals against a team a SEL team would win against If not for that god awful game I'm confident that Sweden couldve won the entire tournament. But that is the life off single elimination games...


For me it would probably be either the 94 olympics or 06 olympics... the swedes played better in 94 where they went unbeaten but since the 06 was a best off I'd probably go with that one.

 

[SurMartin]

06

Forsberg -> Sundin -> Lidström -> goal
Brings tears to my eyes.





..wjc?

 

[Jussi]

1995 World Championships. Or 1998 WJC.

 

[BobRouse]

I don't believe anything comes close to the Miracle on Ice back in 1980.

 

[tony d]

What BobRouse said. It's easily the 1980 U.S. win at the Olympics.

 

[Cirris]

I don't believe anything comes close to the Miracle on Ice back in 1980.

Yeah, I hate to be a homer about it. But the way the Olympics had the "amateur" rules back then made all the Soviet block teams powerhouses and the Canadian and American teams a bunch of scrub college bound kids.

It was quite the spectacle to watch the US team beat the Russian team that destroyed them and humbled a few NHL teams just a few weeks earlier.

The equivalent of something like that today would be to take a world junior team to the Olympics and expect them to win gold.

 

[Hubby]

Boston Bruins 1970!

 

[Juzmo]

Finland went unbeaten to the Gold Medal Game in Torino, played the best hockey of all the teams, had #1 and #2 players in points before the GMG, it was all meant to be...

Well we have 95 (poor competition) and 98 (juniors) still.

 

[cfrancis]

Czechs in 98

 

[Zam Boni]

I'm only going by what I've seen myself and there is no international tournament that tops the 1987 Canada Cup.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the 1996 World Cup and the Turin Olympics.

 

[Epsilon]

Czechs in 98

Agreed. The anticipation for that tournament was extremely high, given that it was essentially the first time every major country would have their entire lineup of players available, in game shape, at a neutral venue. The Czechs were considered one of the also-rans going into it, but by defeating the USA (one of the favorites), Canada in dramatic fashion (another one of the favorites), and shutting out Russia in the finals (right after Bure's 5 goal game against Finland), they took the hockey world by storm. It was also the start of a dominating period by Czech international hockey teams.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

The Greatest Tournament victory

Team Poland beats the powerhouse Soviet Union in 1976 7 to 4 at the world championships.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Hasek winning the Olympics.

 

[Sanderson]

In reaching the finals of the '91 Canada Cup, '02 and '10 Olympics and winning the '96 World Cup the Americans have quietly established themselves as the second best men's team of the past twenty years.

Not to go offtopic, but I really have to disagree with that. They never won the Olympics, and only won one tournament during that timespan. Sweden, on ther other hand, won the Olympics twice, finished 3rd in the '91 Canada Cup, lost in overtime in the semi-finale of the 96 World Cup and won the World Championship four times as well.

The two Olympic titles alone put them ahead of the Americans.

 

[wickedwitch]

Miracle on Ice easily. It's over any Canadian victory, too.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Not to go offtopic, but I really have to disagree with that. They never won the Olympics, and only won one tournament during that timespan. Sweden, on ther other hand, won the Olympics twice, finished 3rd in the '91 Canada Cup, lost in overtime in the semi-finale of the 96 World Cup and won the World Championship four times as well.

The two Olympic titles alone put them ahead of the Americans.

Sweden has only made it to the final of one major men's tournament since 1990, so as much as I love them I can't put them ahead of the US. In my opinion the '96 Americans were much more dominant than the '06 Swedes.

 

[DamonDRW]

That US team was stacked and in my opinion was the best non Canadian team ever.

Really? You're either too young or don't (didn't) watch international hockey too often.
Any USSR team starting from 1975 to 1990 is better than that US team. Do you like this statement?

Back to the topic. For some reason I can't recall exceptional performances by team Russia in the past. At the same time I remeber few awful tournaments. For example, Russia's fiasco in 2000 at WHC in my home city St.-Peterburg. Loosing to Latvia and Switzerland. Just wow.

Concerning other teams. I did like Sweden back in 1994 winning Olympic gold, Checz Republic in 1998 and Canada in 2010 with their imressive win over Russia. US win in 1980 was pretty good.

 

[DamonDRW]

The Greatest Tournament victory

Team Poland beats the powerhouse Soviet Union in 1976 7 to 4 at the world championships.

that was "political" loss

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Agreed. The anticipation for that tournament was extremely high, given that it was essentially the first time every major country would have their entire lineup of players available, in game shape, at a neutral venue. The Czechs were considered one of the also-rans going into it, but by defeating the USA (one of the favorites), Canada in dramatic fashion (another one of the favorites), and shutting out Russia in the finals (right after Bure's 5 goal game against Finland), they took the hockey world by storm. It was also the start of a dominating period by Czech international hockey teams.

All I can say is thank god the trap era appears to be over and thank god that they had the shootout to decide games. I don't doubt that if another team had played the trap as the Czech's did back in '98 that the game would still be going today. Petr Svoboda would be a Japanese citizen by now.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Really? You're either too young or don't (didn't) watch international hockey too often.
Any USSR team starting from 1975 to 1990 is better than that US team. Do you like this statement?

I don't agree. The USSR had an almost unlimited amount of preparation time which in my opinion made them appear a lot better than they actually were. Prep time is a HUGE factor in these short tournaments where most teams are assembled only days or weeks before the tournament starts. Once the prep time advantage was gone the Russian / Soviet / Czech competitiveness was greatly reduced.

 

[Murphy9]

I know this wasn't the gold medal game but you get the picture.

 

[Jussi]

Not to go offtopic, but I really have to disagree with that. They never won the Olympics, and only won one tournament during that timespan. Sweden, on ther other hand, won the Olympics twice, finished 3rd in the '91 Canada Cup, lost in overtime in the semi-finale of the 96 World Cup and won the World Championship four times as well.

The two Olympic titles alone put them ahead of the Americans.

Finns finished 3rd at '91 Canada Cup.