The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of the Czech Republic. Since 2021, the team has been officially known in English as Czechia. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in history and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. It is governed by the Czech Ice Hockey Association. The Czech Republic has 85,000 male players officially enrolled in organized hockey.
The Russian men's national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Russia, overseen by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of 2021, they were rated third in the IIHF World Ranking. The team has competed internationally from 1992 until it was provisionally suspended in 2022, and is recognized by the IIHF as the successor to the Soviet Union team and CIS team. Russia has been one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six," the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The European nations of the Big Six participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, which Russia won nine times since 2005. Since September 2021, the head coach is Alexei Zhamnov, who took over from Valeri Bragin.
The German men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Germany and is controlled by the German Ice Hockey Federation. It first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after World War II, a separate East Germany national ice hockey team existed until 1990. By 1991, the West and East German teams and players were merged into the United German team. The team's head coach is Harold Kreis.
The Soviet national ice hockey team was the national men's ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. From 1954, the team won at least one medal each year at either the Ice Hockey World Championships or the Olympic hockey tournament.
The Belarusian men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team that represented Belarus. The team is controlled by the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association. Belarus was ranked 14th in the world by the IIHF as of the 2021 World Ranking.
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.
The France men's national ice hockey team has participated in the IIHF European Championships, the IIHF World Hockey Championships and the Olympic Games. As of 2016, it is ranked 14th in the world in the IIHF World Rankings. The team is overseen by the Fédération Française de Hockey sur Glace. Notable recent wins include upsets against Russia at the 2013 IIHF World Championship, Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Championship, and a triumphant 5–1 over Finland as the tournament host of 2017 IIHF World Championship.
The International Ice Hockey Federation is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 82 member countries.
The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years. The ranking is used to determine seedings and qualification requirements for future IIHF tournaments. The current leader in rankings is Canada in both men's and women's play.
The Kyrgyzstan national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Kyrgyzstan. They are controlled by the Ice Hockey Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic and has been an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As of 2022, Kyrgyzstan is ranked 49th in the IIHF World Ranking.
The IIHF European Junior Championships were an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation and held from 1968 to 1998, with an unofficial tournament being held in 1967. The tournament was played as a U19 tournament from 1968 to 1976. In 1977, the IIHF created the IIHF World Junior Championships, and the U19 championships became U18. The tournament was dominated by the Russians, Czechs, Swedes and Finns, winning all but two of the medals in the 31 years it was held.
The Russia men's national under-18 ice hockey team is the men's national under-18 ice hockey team of Russia. The team is controlled by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The team represents Russia at the IIHF World U18 Championships.
Olga Petrovna Sosina is a Russian ice hockey forward and captain of the Russian national ice hockey team, currently serving as alternate captain of Agidel Ufa in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). She won bronze medals at the World Championships in 2013 and 2016. Sosina has played in the women's ice hockey tournament at three Olympic Games, first in 2010.
Alexandra Aleksandrovna "Sasha" Vafina is a Russian ice hockey forward and member of the Russian national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with Dinamo-Neva Saint Petersburg.
The 2016 IIHF World Championship final was played at the VTB Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia, on 22 May 2016 between Finland and Canada. Canada defeated Finland 2–0 to win the championship. Finland and Canada entered the tournament as the fourth and first place seeds, respectively.
The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. The host cities of the World Championships were Tampere and Helsinki, of which Tampere's brand-new Nokia Arena served as the main venue of the games.
The 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 47th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, held between December 26, 2022, and January 5, 2023. It was won by Canada, in overtime of the gold-medal game. Czechia won the silver, their first medal since 2005.
The men's tournament in ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics took place in Beijing, China between 9 and 20 February 2022. Twelve countries qualified for the tournament; eight of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, one, China, automatically qualified as hosts, while the three others took part in a qualification tournament.
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