Czech Republic Men's National Ice Hockey Team
The Czech men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of the Czech Republic. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world, currently ranked third by the IIHF, behind Russia and Finland. It is controlled by the Czech Ice Hockey Association. The Czech Republic has 72,075 players officially enrolled in organized hockey (0.7% of its population). Czech Republic is a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of six the strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
The Czechs won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and won three straight gold medals at the world championships from 1999 to 2001. In the next three years, the team did not get a medal at the world championships — not even home at the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships held in Prague and Ostrava, thus keeping the "world championship home ice curse" alive. But the following year, the Czechs won gold at the 2005 tournament, the only world championship where, due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, all NHL players were available to participate.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Czechs won a bronze medal, defeating Russia 3–0 (roster) in the bronze medal game. At the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, the Czechs won silver, falling to Sweden in the final. Czech Republic won the 2010 World Championships in Germany.
Read more about Czech Republic Men's National Ice Hockey Team: Olympic Record, World Cup (before Canada Cup) Record, World Championship Record
Famous quotes containing the words czech, republic, men, national, ice and/or team:
“I’m neither Czech nor Slovak ... I’m still trying to figure out who I am. I think I’m Jewish. But first I want to be human.”
—Natasha Dudinska (b. c. 1967)
“Who is this Renaissance? Where did he come from? Who gave him permission to cram the Republic with his execrable daubs?”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“For the marriage bed ordained by fate for men and women is stronger than an oath and guarded by Justice.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“This is the first national administration we’ve ever seen where the housewife couldn’t afford to buy groceries and the farmer couldn’t afford to grow them.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Once a word is spoken, a team of four horse cannot retake it.”
—Chinese proverb.