If Mike Comrie was surprised, he shouldn’t have been. When you buy Hilary Duff a $100,000 Mercedes for her birthday, expect to end up in People magazine. The same goes if Jose Theodore parties with Paris Hilton or Sean Avery flips off a photographer while escorting Elisha Cuthbert. In the end, it’s all just fodder […]

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Game Eight of the 1972 Summit Series, where Paul Henderson scored with 34 seconds left to give Canada a 6-5 victory and the final edge over the USSR in this most seminal of international hockey series. Joe Pelletier, the mastermind behind 1972SummitSeries.com, has assembled some special coverage to mark […]

I had the pleasure of covering the opening-day activities at the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress in Vancouver today. From IIHF.com: VANCOUVER, Canada — September 20 — As the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress kicked off in Vancouver, Canada today, perhaps the biggest news for hockey fans and member federations was the possibility of seeing the IIHF World Championship […]

At the 2004 World Championship, a senior IIHF official confessed to me that he barely knew anything about Matt Cooke prior to the tournament in Prague and Ostrava, but by the end, he was wowed by the relentless, effective physical play of this Vancouver winger en route to Canadian gold. Earlier that same spring, Cooke […]

Why did I choose September 15, 2007 as the official launch date for my new hockey site, HockeyAdventure.com? International hockey fans will quickly realize that today marks the 20th anniversary of Game Three of the 1987 Canada Cup final. That thrilling conclusion to Canada’s high-tempo clash with the Soviets culminated in a third consecutive 6-5 […]

I had the pleasure of covering Game Eight of the Canada/Russia Super Series for HockeyCanada.ca last night at GM Place. It pretty much encapsulated the entire course of the series (6-1 compared to seven wins and one tie). A colleague of mine who attended the games in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Red Deer told me that […]

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd On October 20, 1986, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced that all nations would be permitted to use professional players at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada. “There are no restrictions,” IIHF President Dr. Gunther Sabetzki said. “Canada can use Wayne Gretzky if it wants to.” […]

Originally written for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey Program By Lucas Aykroyd They say politics and sports should never mix, but in the 1980’s, the Cold War between capitalism and Communism sometimes cast a shadow over international athletic events. Two famous examples were the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the retributive […]

Originally written for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey Program By Lucas Aykroyd Nobody would deny that hockey is a team game. But success in a short, intense international tournament can sometimes hinge on a brilliant individual performance. Whether you’re talking about setting the stage for things to come or actually clinching a championship, this […]

Originally written in 2005 By Lucas Aykroyd The first time Canada played the USA at a World Junior tournament, the Montreal Canadiens were the reigning Stanley Cup champions, Dark Side of the Moon was the hot new album from Pink Floyd, Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada, and Richard Nixon was the President […]