Organization
At its congress in the summer of 1978, the International Ice Hockey Federation approved proposals to hold the second and third Canada Cup tournaments in 1979 and 1982. However, tensions between Canada's rival governing bodies, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and Hockey Canada, increased after the latter body accused the CAHA of reneging on promises it had made regarding Hockey Canada's control of international events involving professional players. Hockey Canada's chief negotiator for international events, Alan Eagleson, accused the CAHA of attempting to sabotage the Canada Cup and threatened to cancel the tournament if the CAHA refused to compromise with his body.
The tournament was put in further jeopardy in January 1979 when General Motors withdrew as a major sponsor; Eagleson argued GM withdrew as a result of the dispute with the CAHA. The disputes put the two bodies on the verge of severing all ties, a move that would have led to Hockey Canada refusing to release any professional or university player to any of Canada's national teams. The tournament was ultimately postponed by a year until September 1980.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and threatened boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow led organizers to consider again postponing the Canada Cup. While Eagleson initially favoured allowing the tournament to go ahead regardless of the political situation, he ultimately agreed that Hockey Canada should again postpone the Canada Cup after the Canadian Government joined the Olympic boycott. A brief effort to move the tournament to Sweden was quickly put down when Eagleson informed them that neither Hockey Canada nor the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) would participate in such an event.
Undaunted, Eagleson and IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki announced that the tournament had again been rescheduled for September 1981. This time, the tournament went ahead as scheduled.
Read more about this topic: 1981 Canada Cup
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