The Canada men's national ice hockey team (popularly known as Team Canada; French: Équipe Canada) is the ice hockey team representing Canada internationally. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. From 1920 until 1963, Canada's international representation was by senior amateur club teams. Canada's national men's team was founded in 1963 by David Bauer as a part of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, playing out of the University of British Columbia.
The nickname "Team Canada" was first used for the 1972 Summit Series and has been frequently used to refer to both the Canadian national men's and women's teams ever since.
Canada is the most successful national ice hockey team in international play, having won the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, a record four Canada Cups dating back to 1976, a record two World Cups of Hockey, a record nine Olympic gold medals, and a record 28 World Championship titles.
Canada is 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 Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
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History
Hockey is Canada's national winter sport, and Canadians are extremely passionate about the game. Canada was first represented internationally at the 1910 European Championships by the Oxford Canadians, a team of Canadians from the University of Oxford. They represented Canada again at the 1912 World Championships.
From 1920 until 1963, the senior amateur club teams representing Canada, were usually the most recent Allan Cup champions. The last amateur club team from Canada to win a gold medal at the World Championship was the Trail Smoke Eaters in 1961. The responsibility of choosing which team represented Canada belonged to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) secretary-manager; George Dudley from 1947 to 1960, and Gordon Juckes from 1960 to 1963.
Following the 1963 World Championships, Father David Bauer founded the national team as a permanent institution. The new permanent national team first competed in ice hockey at the 1964 Winter Olympics. His philosophy was to simply win the games against the weaker countries instead of running up the score. Canada, Czechoslovakia and Sweden finished with identical records of five wins and two losses. Canada thought they had won the bronze medal based on the goal differential in the three games among the tied countries. When they attended the presentation of the Olympic medals, they were disappointed to learn they had finished in fourth place based on goal differential of all seven games played. The players and CAHA president Art Potter accused that International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) president Bunny Ahearne, made a last-minute decision to change the rules and take away a medal from Canada. Marshall Johnston summarized the team's feeling that, "The shepherd and his flock had been fleeced".
In 1967, the Canada men's national team was divided into western and eastern branches. Jack Bownass coached the eastern team, which played in the Quebec Senior Hockey League with Derek Holmes as its captain, to prepare for the 1968 Winter Olympics.
Before the Soviet Union began international competition in 1954, Canada dominated international hockey, winning six out of seven golds at the Olympics and 10 World Championship gold medals. Canada then went 50 years without winning the Winter Olympic gold medal, and from 1962 to 1993, did not win any World Championships. This was in part because Canada's best professional players were unable to attend these events as they had commitments with their National Hockey League teams.
Competition achievements
Olympic Games
All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships.
World Championships
All Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1920 and 1968 also counted as World Championships. World Championships were not held from 1940 to 1946 during World War II and during the Winter Olympic years of 1980, 1984 or 1988. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NHL 4 Nations Face-Off
2025 – Winners
Summit Series
1972 – Winners
1974 – Runners-up
On the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, the IIHF Milestone Award was given to the Canadian and Russian teams for the event which had a "decisive influence on the development of the game". Reuters wrote that Canada was expected to win the series easily, but when they came from behind to win in the eighth and final game, it marked "the beginning of the modern hockey era".
Spengler Cup
In the Spengler Cup, Team Canada competes against European club teams, such as HC Davos who host the tournament every year in Eisstadion Davos. Canada used to be represented by the standing national team at this event, but is now usually made up of Canadians playing in European leagues or the American Hockey League. In 2019, Team Canada won its 16th Spengler Cup, passing the host team HC Davos for the most titles. HC Davos is now tied for most wins after winning in 2023.
Medals won in senior-team competitions
As of February 22, 2026
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
Head Coach: Misha Donskov
2026 Olympics roster
The first six players of Canada's roster were announced on June 16, 2025. The remainder of the team was named on December 31, 2025. On February 3, 2026, Anthony Cirelli was ruled out due to injury, with Sam Bennett named as his replacement. On February 5, Brayden Point was also ruled out and replaced by Seth Jarvis. On February 8, 2026, Canada named Sidney Crosby as team captain, with Connor McDavid and Cale Makar serving as alternate captains. Following an injury to Crosby in Canada's quarterfinal game against Czechia, McDavid served as captain for their semifinal game against Finland and the gold medal game against the United States, with Nathan MacKinnon serving as an additional alternate captain for both games.
Head coach: Jon Cooper
Coaches
List of coaches of the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
Olympics
Summit Series, Canada Cup, World Cup, 4 Nations Face-off
World Championships