Joseph Eric Thornton is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre, who last played for Florida Panthers. He has previously played for the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected first overall by the Bruins in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft and went on to play seven seasons with the club, three as its captain. During the 2005–06 season, he was traded to the Sharks. Splitting the campaign between the two teams, he received the Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's leading point-scorer and most valuable player, respectively, becoming the only player in NHL history to win either award in a season played for multiple teams. Thornton would go on to another 14 seasons with the Sharks, including four seasons as team captain and a run to the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals.
Owen Liam Nolan is a Northern Irish-born, Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. During his 18-year NHL career, he played for the Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, as well as playing a season with the ZSC Lions of National League A. Born in Belfast, he was raised in Thorold, Ontario and played for Canada internationally. A five-time NHL All-Star, Nolan is widely known as a power forward.
Mark Einar Johnson is an American ice hockey coach for the University of Wisconsin–Madison women's ice hockey team. He is a former National Hockey League (NHL) player who appeared in 669 NHL regular season games between 1980 and 1990. He also played for the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team.
Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Vladimir Yevgenyevich Krutov, nicknamed "The Tank", was a Soviet ice hockey forward. Together with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, he was part of the famed KLM Line. He is considered one of the best hockey wingers of the 1980s.
Neal LaMoy Broten is an American former professional ice hockey player. A member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, Broten was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000 having appeared in 1,099 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season games from 1981 to 1997 with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings. He is the older brother of Aaron and Paul Broten.
Tommy Albelin is a Swedish former ice hockey defenceman who is currently an assistant coach for Switzerland's national team. He also was world champion in 1987 and competed in the men's tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Bengt-Åke Gustafsson is a Swedish ice hockey coach and former ice hockey player. Gustafsson is a former head coach of the Sweden men's national ice hockey team, a post he held from February 2005 to May 2010.
Noah Clarke is an American former professional ice hockey left winger. He played 21 games in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils between 2003 and 2008. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2003 to 2013, was spent in the minor leagues and then in Europe.
Hnat A. Domenichelli is a Canadian-Swiss former professional ice hockey player of Ukrainian descent. He was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in the fourth round, 83rd overall, of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He played 267 National Hockey League (NHL) games for the Whalers, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and Minnesota Wild between 1996 and 2003 before moving to Switzerland where he has played for the remainder of his career in the National League A. He played for Switzerland at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Vyacheslav Arkadevich "Slava" Bykov is a former Russian ice hockey player and a former head coach of the Russian national hockey team. A small, technically gifted center, he was a regular fixture on the Soviet national ice hockey team in the 1980s; after the fall of the Soviet Union, he played for the Russian team in the 1990s. He was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft in the 9th round at number 169 overall. He opted, however, to never play in the National Hockey League. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2014.
Reto von Arx is a Swiss former ice hockey player. He played in the Swiss Nationalliga A from 1995 to 2015. He also played 19 games in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2000–01 season. Internationally he played for the Swiss national team at multiple tournaments, including several World Championships and the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is currently the head coach of EHC Chur.
Ralph Krueger is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former chairman of Southampton Football Club. Since April 2019, he has held a Swiss passport.
Philippe Bozon is a former French professional ice hockey player who played for the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League (NHL) between the 1991–92 and 1994-95 seasons. He is the first of only seven French-born and trained players to appear in the NHL, the other six being Cristobal Huet, Stéphane Da Costa, Antoine Roussel, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Yohann Auvitu, and Alexandre Texier. He is currently the head coach for Boxers de Bordeaux of the Ligue Magnus. His international playing career was recognized with induction into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2008.
Julien Vauclair is a Swiss former professional ice hockey defenseman who spent most of his career with HC Lugano in the National League (NL). He made his professional debut in 1996 with HC Ajoie in Switzerland's second tier, Swiss League (SL). He spent three seasons within the Ottawa Senators organization of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Senators selected him 74th overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.
Roman Wick is a Swiss former professional ice hockey player. Wick played for EHC Kloten and ZSC Lions in the National League (NL) and for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Senators who signed him to a one-year contract in 2010.
René Fasel is a Swiss-Russian retired ice hockey administrator. He served as president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) from 1994 to 2021. He started his ice hockey career as a player for HC Fribourg-Gottéron, in 1960, and became a referee in 1972. He became president of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in 1985, then was elected president of the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1994. He also became an International Olympic Committee member and was elected to its executive board. Fasel was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2021.
The ice hockey (hockey) competitions of the 2018 Winter Olympics were played at two venues within the Gangneung Coastal Cluster in Gangneung, South Korea. The Gangneung Hockey Centre, which seats 10,000, and the Kwandong Hockey Centre, which seats 6,000, were both originally scheduled to be completed in 2016 but appear to have been completed in early 2017. Both venues contain Olympic-sized rinks.
Ice hockey in Switzerland is one of the most popular team sports in the country rivaling football in terms of attendances and TV ratings.
Joren van Pottelberghe is a Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender for EHC Biel of the National League (NL). He previously played for HC Davos.
Switzerland 