Best finish, per team

• Canada ? 1st (1976, 1984, 1987, 1991)
• USA ? 1st (1996)
• USSR/Russia ? 1st (1981)
• Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia ? 2nd (1976)
• Sweden ? 2nd (1984)
• Finland ? 3rd (1991)
• Germany/West Germany ? 6th (1984, 1996)
• Slovakia ? 7th (1996?only tournament as Slovakia)

Historic moments

• 1976 ? Canada wins on Darryl Sittler's famous fake wind-up, which sucks the goalie way out of the net. After winding up like he's going to blast it, Sittler takes another stride, and wires it into the wide-open cage.
• 1976 ? Playing on one knee, Bobby Orr ties for the tournament lead in points, and wins MVP honours.
• 1981 ? Canada finishes first in the round robin, but the Soviets lay an 8-1 pasting on them in the gold-medal game. If you weren't alive at the time, or are too young to remember, trust me, there was mouth-hanging-open absolute shock at the time. Not just at the loss, but at the extreme score as well.
• 1981 ? Part of that Soviet pasting is ladled out by the soon-to-be famous KLM line, making its international debut: Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov. All three go on to stellar international careers, and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, NHL ones as well. Makarov even wins NHL rookie-of-the-year 1990 when he is 31.
• 1981 ? Gretzky's first international tournament as an adult. He leads it in scoring, as he would do in 1984, 1987 and 1991 as well.
• 1981 ? Gretzky teams up with linemates Gilbert Perreault and Guy Lafleur to score 32 goals in five round-robin games, the most ever.
• 1981 ? Vladislav Tretiak's last-ever Canada Cup game is that 8-1 victory.
• 1984 ? Bryan Trottier, who had played with Canada in 1981, switches to Team USA after receiving his US citizenship. Canada has no right to complain though, because taking Trottier's place in the red-and-white Maple Leaf jersey is Peter Stastny. Stastny is barred from playing for his home country, Czechoslovakia, as he had previously defected from the then-communist nation.
• 1984 ? Canada gains some measure of revenge after 1981, as Mike Bossy scores against the Soviets in OT of the semi-final game.
• 1984 ? This tournament is sometimes forgotten, left in the shadows by the drama of the slaughter of 1981, and the Gretzky-Lemieux vs. KLM showdown in 1987. Speaking of which ...
• 1987 ? Many people consider the three-game final simply the greatest hockey ever played. How do you even begin to mount an argument against that?
• 1987 ? Mario Lemieux teams up with Wayne Gretzky for the first time. Oh, boy, did we think, won't it be great to see these two team up every four years? Yeah, whatever...
• 1991 ? The fall of the Soviet Union leaves that team in disarray. Many of their veterans are not invited, or, exercising newfound freedoms, refuse to go. Even their brightest superstar, Pavel Bure, is told he can only play if he signs a document binding him to a Russian club team for three years. Bure refuses to bend to the strong-arm tactics, and the team leaves him in Moscow.
• 1991 ? Eric Lindros suits up for Canada before ever playing an NHL game. He racks up 3 goals and 2 assists, and, in the finals, engages in a memorable struggle with American star Joel Otto, one of the few guys his size.
• 1991 ? Canada wins in a two-game sweep of the USA. Canadian fans are relieved that for once, Canada didn't need a thrilling OT or last-second goal to grasp victory, but also risk sudden defeat.
• 1996 ? The tournament changes its name, and expands to an eight-team format.
• 1996 ? A rematch of the 1991 final swings the other way. In Game 3 of the Finals, Team USA scores four times in the final six minutes to win 5-2.
• 1996 ? Mike Richter stops 21 of 22 shots in the second period alone, putting on one of the greatest goaltending shows of all time. He wins tournament MVP, but cannot get service in a Canadian restaurant for several years.