From time to time, TheIHLC.com will feature detailed recaps and boxscores of some of the most legendary games in international hockey history, considered to be “IHLC Classics.” Today, in honour of Czech Independence Day, we feature Czechia’s first World Championship title as an independent nation, twenty five years after stunning Canada with two goals in the final minute of play.

🇨🇿 Czechia 4-2 Canada 🇨🇦
World Championship Gold Medal Game
Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna 🇦🇹
Sunday, 05 May 1996

Patera, Procházka…and then the puck was shaking viciously in the net. Whoever saw it will not forget. The last minute of the final period of the 1996 World Cup has an indelible golden tinge for Czech hockey. The group from the heart of Europe then became world champions in Vienna after an eleven-year wait.
Continue reading →