🇺🇸 🇫🇮 IHLC Classics: The Impossible Dream Comes True

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, to celebrate Independence Day in the United States, we feature the finale of the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Team USA’s post-Miracle victory to clinch Olympic Gold on home ice.

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🇺🇸 United States 4-2 Finland 🇫🇮
Olympic Medal Round
Olympic Fieldhouse, Lake Placid 🇺🇸
Sunday, 24 February 1980

It was a Sunday morning 30 years ago today.

You didn’t have to be a hockey fan to want to tune your television set to ABC at 11 a.m. You didn’t even have to be a sports fan, for that matter. If you were an American who wanted to see something magical and inspiring, you made an appointment with your TV that morning because you knew that the greatest of all underdogs had a chance to do something remarkable in the tiny village of Lake Placid, NY.
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Hockey Hall Of Fame Announces 2017 Class


The Hockey Hall Of Fame today announced the newest members that will join as the Class of 2017 on 13 November, with Teemu Selänne, Paul Kariya, Mark Recchi, Dave Andreychuk and Danielle Goyette entering the Hall, bringing their professional and international accolades (along with their International Hockey Lineal Championship reigns) to Toronto.
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🇸🇪 🇫🇮 IHLC Classics: Lidström’s Golden Goal

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, to celebrate National Day (Sveriges nationaldag) in Sweden, we focus on Sweden’s second and most recent Olympic Gold Medal, won from rivals Finland at the 2006 Turin Games.

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🇸🇪 Sweden 3-2 Finland 🇫🇮
Olympic Gold Medal Game
Palasport Olimpico, Turin 🇮🇹
Sunday, 26 February 2006

The hockey world changed most dramatically and recently in the 1990s. First, the Soviet Union crumbled, after which Czechoslovakia split in two, and then NHLers started to compete at the Olympics. The result produced an astounding parity among the top teams. Consider that the “Canadian era” lasted from 1920 to 1961 and the “Soviet era” from 1962 to 1990.

That is, these countries dominated those periods of time in a way that is unimaginable today.
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Major Announcements Made At 2017 IIHF Congress


The IIHF Annual Congress today was held on the off day at the 2017 World Championships in Cologne, Germany, with a number of major announcements voted on to impact the future of international hockey in the coming years.
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IHLC Results – 🇨🇦 Canada 5-2 Finland 🇫🇮 – 16 May 2017


🇨🇦 Canada 5-2 Finland 🇫🇮
World Championship Preliminary Round
AccorHotels Arena, Paris 🇫🇷
Tuesday, 16 May 2017

Canada finishes in first, Finland fourth. Canada will play Germany, the Finns will play the U.S. in the quarter-finals.

Mitch Marner, a natural passer of great skill but often reluctant shooter, scored two goals in the first period and assisted on another to lead Canada to an impressive win over Finland in the final round-robin game in Paris.
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IHLC Results – 🇫🇮 Finland 3-2 Switzerland 🇨🇭 (OT) – 14 May 2017


🇫🇮 Finland 3-2 Switzerland 🇨🇭 (OT)
World Championship Preliminary Round
AccorHotels Arena, Paris 🇫🇷
Sunday, 14 May 2017

Valtteri Filppula scored on a bad-angle deke at 2:24 of overtime to complete Finland’s comeback from 2-0 down.
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IHLC Preview – 2017 World Championship


The grand finale of the international hockey calendar is set to begin on 05 May in both Cologne and Paris, with the top 16 hockey nations on earth meeting to compete at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
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🇷🇺 🇨🇭 Russia Wins Euro Hockey Tour, Switzerland Wins Euro Hockey Challenge


With the conclusion of both the Euro Hockey Tour and Euro Hockey Challenge, as the season ends to ring in the start of the 2017 World Championships in Paris and Cologne, the winners of both the four-nation Euro Hockey Tour and 12-nation Euro Hockey Challenge have been crowned for the 2016-17 season.
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🇯🇵 🇨🇿 Japan Promoted, Czechia Relegated At Women’s Worlds


After falling to Switzerland in a best-of-three relegation series, Czechia has been demoted to Division I Group A in 2018, while Japan, victors of 2017 Group IA in Graz, Austria, will be promoted for the 2019 Women’s World Championships, with no tournament being held in 2018 due to the PyeongChang Olympics.
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IHLC Results – 🇺🇸 United States 5-3 Finland 🇫🇮 – 03 Apr 2017


🇺🇸 United States 5-3 Finland 🇫🇮
Women’s World Championship Preliminary Round
USA Hockey Arena, Plymouth 🇺🇸
Monday, 03 April 2017

Hilary Knight scored two power-play goals; the Finns rallied from a 3-1 deficit; Hannah Brandt broke a 3-3 tie with a goal midway through the third period.
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IHLC Preview – 2017 Women’s World Championship


A cloud of uncertainty and tension hangs over Plymouth, Michigan this week, with the biggest story leading up to the 2017 Women’s World Championships being told off the ice, as to whether Team USA will end up attending, or continue their boycott against USA Hockey over unequal treatment.
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2017 Euro Hockey Challenge Schedule Confirmed

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After two seasons of a consistent format, the Euro Hockey Challenge has undergone yet another change for the 2017 iteration, leading up to the IIHF World Championships the following month in Cologne and Paris.
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IIHF Hall Of Fame Announces 2017 Inductees

iihfhall2017
The IIHF has announced the Hall Of Fame Class of 2017, to be inducted at May’s World Championships in Cologne, Germany. All five players set to be inducted into the players category bring a swath of major international accomplishments (including many International Hockey Lineal Championships) to the Hall, as the IIHF is set to honour Joe Sakic, Saku Koivu, Teemu Selänne, Angela Ruggiero and Uwe Krupp.
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NHL Outdoor Classics Feature Top IHLC Winners

2017outdoorclassics
Many of the top players in the game took their talents outside this past weekend, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings highlighting the inaugural Centennial Classic on 01 January, followed a day later with the St. Louis Blues hosting the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 Winter Classic.
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