Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team

The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of Czechoslovakia, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which was a European power prior to World War I, the Czechoslovak national team first appeared at the 1920 Summer Olympics, two years after the creation of the state. In the 1940s, they established themselves as the best team in Europe, becoming the first team from the continent to win two World Championships (1947 and 1949). After the arrival of the Soviet Union on the international hockey scene in the 1950s, the Czechoslovaks regularly fought Sweden and Canada for silver and bronze medals, and sometimes beat the Soviets. In total, they won the gold medal six times.

Due to the split of the country Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the team was replaced in 1993 with the Czech and the Slovak national teams. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recognized the Czech national team as a successor of Czechoslovakia national team and kept it in the top group, while the Slovak national team was entered into the lowest level, Pool C, winning promotion in successive years to join the elite division in 1996.

Notable events

First game: 24 April 1920, Antwerp: Canada 15–0 Czechoslovakia
Last game: 19 December 1992, Moscow: Czechoslovakia 7–2 Switzerland
Largest victory:
- 3 February 1939, Basel: Czechoslovakia 24–0 Yugoslavia
- 21 February 1947, Prague: Czechoslovakia 24–0 Belgium
- 25 April 1951, East Berlin: Czechoslovakia 27–3 East Germany
- 4 March 1957, Moscow: Czechoslovakia 25–1 Japan
Largest defeat: 28 January 1924, Chamonix: Canada 30–0 Czechoslovakia
Plane crash on 8 November 1948. Six players on the way to an exhibition tour in the UK were killed in the crash of a charter flight from Paris to London.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Notable players

Former National jerseys

Olympic record

Canada Cup record

European Championship record

World Championship record

References

^ "Trosky letadla s československými hokejisty nenašli. Zabil je sebevědomý pilot – iDNES.cz". Technet.idnes.cz. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
^ "Před 60 léty zahynulo šest hokejistů z ČSR :: Letectví.cz :: Letecký informační server". Letectvi.cz. Archived from the original on 14 November 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
^ "Šedesát let od největší tragédie našeho hokeje: proč a jak zemřela šestice reprezentantů?". Hokej.cz. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.