John Vanbiesbrouck - International Play

International Play

Vanbiesbrouck made his international debut in 1982 representing the United States at the World Junior Championship. In five games he posted a 1–3–0 record with a 5.70 GAA, as the Americans finished in sixth place. The next year he again participated in the World Junior Championship. He appeared in five games and lowered his GAA to 3.64, helping the American team improve to fifth place.

In 1985 he played for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships. Vanbiesbrouck posted a 6–3–0 record, defeating three of three top ranked teams in the world (Canada, Czech Republic and Sweden). He later noted that those three victories gave him the confidence to be successful at the NHL level. The Americans were the second seed following the preliminary round. However they failed to win a single game in the championship round and finished the tournament in fourth place. Individually Vanbiesbrouck was named to the Second All-Star team. Two years later he played in his second World Championship. He was unable to duplicate his prior success posting a 2–5–0 record, as Team USA finished in seventh place one position away from being relegated to Division I. During 1987 Vanbiesbrouck also participated in the Canada Cup, registering a 2–2–0 record with a 2.25 GAA. He registered the lowest GAA in the tournament, but the United States finished in fifth place. He played in two more World Championships in 1989 and 1991 going 1–2–1 and 3–4–2 respectively, as the US improved to sixth place in 1989 and finished just short of winning a medal in 1991 placing fourth. Vanbiesbrouck was named to the Canada Cup team in 1991, but spent the tournament as Mike Richter's back-up. He played only one game in the tournament defeating Finland 4–3. The United States finished the Canada Cup in second place losing the best of three championship to Canada 2–0. He was named to the 1996 World Cup of Hockey team but missed the Americans' victory due to a small cartilage tear in his right shoulder that required off-season surgery to repair.

Prior to the 1998 Winter Olympics an announcement was made that NHL would shut down for two and a half weeks to allow its players to participate in the international tournament for the first time. Vanbiesbrouck was named to the United States team, but spent the majority of the tournament on the bench, playing in one game for only one minute. As a team the Americans finished in a "disappointing" sixth place.