Big Six (ice hockey)

In men's international ice hockey, the Big Six is a group comprising the six national teams that have dominated play throughout the history of international ice hockey, especially since the 1950s. It is composed of the North American countries of Canada and the United States and four European countries: the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, and Sweden.[1][2] During the Cold War and for two years afterwards, the Soviet Union/CIS and Czechoslovakia held the places of Russia and the Czech Republic, respectively, within the group. The four European members are sometimes referred to as the "European Big Four" or "Big Four", especially to distinguish them from the North American teams.[3]

The IIHF World Ranking depicts the prominence of the Big Six

Out of the 207 Ice Hockey World Championships medals awarded by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), only 21 have been won by teams outside the Big Six, and only six of those have been won since 1953 (four by Slovakia, two by Switzerland).[4] Of the 72 Olympic ice hockey medals awarded, only seven have not been won by a Big Six team.[5] The Big Six finished in the top eight every year since 2011, ensuring that only two out of the remaining 10 teams make it to the knockout round.[6]

History

Results

Olympic Games Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes. However, the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[7] In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988. The National Hockey League (NHL) was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season, and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated. Eventually, NHL players were admitted starting in 1998.[8] However, the NHL again refused to release its players starting in 2018, citing financial reasons.

Year	Canada	Czechoslovakia/  Czech Republic	Finland	Soviet Union/  CIS/  Russia	Sweden	United States
1920	1	3	-	-	4	2
1924	1	5	-	-	4	2
1928	1	5	-	-	2	-
1932	1	-	-	-	-	2
1936	2	4	-	-	5	3
1948	1	2	-	-	4	DQ
1952	1	4	7	-	3	2
1956	3	5	-	1	4	2
1960	2	4	7	3	5	1
1964	4	3	6	1	2	5
1968	3	2	5	1	4	6
1972	-	3	5	1	4	2
1976	-	2	4	1	-	5
1980	6	5	4	2	3	1
1984	4	2	6	1	3	7
1988	4	6	2	1	3	7
1992	2	3	7	1[n 1]	5	4
1994	2	5	3	4	1	8
1998	4	1	3	2	5	6
2002	1	7	6	3	5	2
2006	7	3	2	4	1	8
2010	1	7	3	6	5	2
2014	1	6	3	5	2	4
2018	3	4	6	1[n 2]	5	7

IIHF Men's World Championships

Winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships with number of wins.[n 3]

1

2-4

5-9

10-24

25+

Nation	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Canada	4	1	3	2	1	6	4	4	5	6	1	1	2	4	1	2	2	7	5	5	5	5	1	1	2	4	2
Czech Republic	3	7	4	1	3	3	1	1	1	5	4	5	1	2	7	5	6	1	3	3	7	4	4	5	7	7	4
Finland	7	2	1	5	5	2	2	3	2	4	5	6	7	3	2	3	5	6	1	4	4	2	6	2	4	5	1
Russia	1	5	5	4	4	5	5	11	6	2	7	10	3	5	3	1	1	2	4	1	6	1	2	3	3	6	3
Sweden	2	3	2	6	2	1	3	7	3	3	2	2	4	1	4	4	3	3	2	6	1	3	5	6	1	1	5
United States	6	4	6	3	6	12	6	5	4	7	13	3	6	7	5	6	4	13	8	7	3	6	3	4	5	3	7

Only the tournaments since the formation of the modern Czech Republic team are shown above.

Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey

The Canada Cup served as an ice hockey world championship that was governed by National Hockey League (NHL) rules rather than IIHF rules, and was open to professionals so that NHL players could participate. The 1976 Canada Cup was, therefore, the first time that the best players from the leading ice hockey countries were able to face each other. The tournament was held five times between 1976 and 1991. Only one team outside of the Big Six, West Germany, was ever allowed to compete in the Canada Cup; this occurred in 1984 when West Germany replaced Finland because it had finished higher in the IIHF World Championship.[9]

The World Cup of Hockey replaced the Canada Cup in 1996. It has been held three times so far (1996, 2004, and 2016), though its future is uncertain.[2] Eight teams compete at the World Cup: Germany and Slovakia participated in the first two editions, whereas Team Europe, made up of European players whose countries did not have their own team in the event and Team North America, composed of players 23 years old and younger from Canada and the United States, played in 2016.

Canada Cup

Year	Canada	Czechoslovakia	Finland	Soviet Union	Sweden	United States
1976	1	2	6	3	4	5
1981	2	3 (tie)	6	1	5	3 (tie)
1984	1	5	-	3 (tie)	2	3 (tie)
1987	1	3 (tie)	6	2	3 (tie)	5
1991	1	6	3 (tie)	5	3 (tie)	2

World Cup of Hockey

Year	Canada	Czech Republic	Finland	Russia	Sweden	United States
1996	2	7 (tie)	5 (tie)	3 (tie)	3 (tie)	1
2004	1	3 (tie)	2	6	5	3 (tie)
2016[n 4]	1	6	8	4	3	7

Notes

1. The CIS team participated at the 1992 Winter Olympics as part of the Unified Team.
2. Russia was disqualified from being represented in the tournament due to the Russian doping scandal. However, the Russian national team was allowed to play in the tournament under the Olympic flag and the moniker Olympic Athletes from Russia.
3. Note that medals won by the Soviet Union or CIS are credited to Russia, and those of Czechoslovakia are counted for the Czech Republic.
4. Note that the rankings include the final ranking of two non-national teams that participated in the tournament: Team North America and Team Europe. Were these teams not to be factored in to the final ranking, Sweden would have placed 2nd, Russia 3rd, the Czech Republic 4th, the United States 5th, and Finland 6th.

References

1. "the Big Six hockey powers -- the United States, Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland" "N.H.L. and Its Teams Send Players to Bench". New York Times. February 2002. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
2. "Figuring out the seventh and eighth teams beyond the so-called big six was the biggest hurdle to overcome in planning this event." "NHL announces World Cup of Hockey for 2016". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
3. "World Cup of Hockey set to return in 2016". NHL.com. January 24, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
4. "Past medalists". IIHF.com. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
5. "Ice hockey and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review. International Olympic Committee. 1984.
6. "Ice hockey – Olympics". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
7. Benjamin, Daniel (27 July 1992). "Traditions Pro Vs. Amateur". Time. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
8. Schantz, Otto. "The Olympic Ideal and the Winter Games Attitudes Towards the Olympic Winter Games in Olympic Discourses—from Coubertin to Samaranch" (PDF). Comité International Pierre De Coubertin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
9. Pelletier, Joe; Houda, Patrick (2003). The World Cup of Hockey. Toronto: Warwick Publishing. ISBN 1-894622-17-0.