International Rivalries

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the two most prominent international rivalries in ice hockey were between Canada and the USSR and the United States and the USSR. The watershed moments in those rivalries from the North American perspective were the 1972 Summit Series, in which Canadian NHL stars defeated the Soviet national team in an eight-game series 4-3-1, and the 1980 "Miracle on Ice", where American amateur college players defeated the heavily favoured Soviet squad on the way to winning the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, launching a surge of nationwide patriotism and newfound popularity for the game.

The USSR won all but two Olympic ice hockey golds from 1956 to 1988 - the United States also captured gold in 1960 - and won a final time as the Unified Team at the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Of course, since the USSR had professional players, their elite national team was the best the country had to offer, while the best Americans and Canadians were NHL professionals and thus barred from Olympic competition.

Since the end of the Cold War, rivalries are regional, are more amicable, and have fewer political implications, but they are no less passionate. North Americans favour the United States-Canada rivalry, with notable events including the United States men beating Canada in the finals of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the US women winning the gold over the Canadians at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and the Canadian men and women sweeping the golds at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, beating the Americans in the finals in both events, as well as at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Other prominent international rivalries include Russia vs. the Czech Republic and Finland vs. Sweden.