Ice hockey has become one of the most popular worldwide sports
due to its speed and frequent physical contact. The game is an Olympic sport, and there are over a million
registered players who compete in leagues on a regular basis across the world. It is, without a doubt,
Canada's
most popular sport.
In 1908, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) was established in
Europe. Great Britain, Bohemia, Switzerland, France, and
Belgium were the five founding members.
In 1910, the first European tournament was contested in Avants,
Switzerland, with Great Britain emerging victorious. Since then, the federation has expanded its membership by accepting applicants from all over the world.
In 1920, Canada
won the first Olympic Games and the first IIHF world championship
at the same time. Canada
dominated the international competition until the Soviet squad emerged
in the early 1960s, having also won the first Olympic Winter Games in
1924.
Until the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the Soviets were the most powerful team in
world hockey.
