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[[File:IIHF World Ice Hockey Ranking between 2003 and 2014.png|thumb|400px|[[IIHF World Ranking|The IIHF rankings]] show the dominance of the Big Six.]] The '''Big Six''' in men's international [[ice hockey]] are the six national teams that have been dominant in competitive play throughout the history of international hockey and especially since the 1950s. The group is composed of the North American countries of [[Canada men's national ice hockey team|Canada]] and the [[United States men's national ice hockey team|United States]], and four European countries: [[Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team|Czech Republic]], [[Finland men's national ice hockey team|Finland]], [[Russia men's national ice hockey team|Russia]] and [[Sweden men's national ice hockey team|Sweden]].<ref>"the Big Six hockey powers -- the United States, Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland" {{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/11/sports/olympics-hockey-nhl-and-its-teams-send-players-to-bench.html|title=N.H.L. and Its Teams Send Players to Bench|date=February 2002|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=February 28, 2015}}</ref><ref name=cbc>"Figuring out the seventh and eighth teams beyond the so-called big six was the biggest hurdle to overcome in planning this event." {{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-announces-world-cup-of-hockey-for-2016-1.2930670|title=NHL announces World Cup of Hockey for 2016|date=January 2015|publisher=The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=February 28, 2015}}</ref> Before the end of the Cold War, the [[Soviet Union national ice hockey team|Soviet Union]]/[[CIS National Team|CIS]] and [[Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team|Czechoslovakia]] held the places of Russia and the Czech Republic. The four European members are sometimes referred to as the "'''European Big Four'''" or "'''Big Four'''", especially to distinguish them from the North American teams.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=750156|title=World Cup of Hockey set to return in 2016|date=January 24, 2015|publisher=NHL.com|accessdate=March 6, 2015}}</ref>

Out of the 201 [[IIHF World Championships]] medals awarded, only twenty have been won by teams outside the Big Six and only five of those have been won since 1953 (four by Slovakia, one by Switzerland).<ref>{{cite news | title = Past medalists | publisher = IIHF.com | url = http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/all-medallists/men.html|accessdate=2008-05-12}}</ref> Of the 69 [[Ice hockey at the Olympic Games|Olympic ice hockey]] medals awarded, only 6 have not been won by a Big Six team.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ICH/ |title=Ice hockey – Olympics|publisher=Sports-reference.com|accessdate=2015-02-28}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|International Ice Hockey Federation#History}}

==Results==

===Olympics===
{{Main|Olympic Games}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|-
!width=10%|Year
!width=15%|{{ih|CAN}}
!width=15%|{{ih|TCH}}/ {{ih|CZE}}
!width=15%|{{ih|FIN}}
!width=15%|{{ih|URS|1955}}/ {{ih|CIS}}/ {{ih|RUS}}
!width=15%|{{ih|SWE}}
!width=15%|{{ih|USA}}
|-
|[[1920 Summer Olympics|1920]]||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||-||-||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[1924 Winter Olympics|1924]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||-||-||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[1928 Winter Olympics|1928]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||-||-||bgcolor=silver|2||-
|-
|[[1932 Winter Olympics|1932]]||bgcolor=gold|1||-||-||-||-||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[Ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics|1936]]||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||-||-||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=cc9966|3
|-
|[[1948 Winter Olympics|1948]]||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||-||-||style="background:#badaff"|4||DSQ
|-
|[[1952 Winter Olympics|1952]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||7||-||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[1956 Winter Olympics|1956]]||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||-||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[1960 Winter Olympics|1960]]||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=gold|1
|-
|[[1964 Winter Olympics|1964]]||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|5
|-
|[[1968 Winter Olympics|1968]]||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|6
|-
|[[1972 Winter Olympics|1972]]||-||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[1976 Winter Olympics|1976]]||-||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||-||style="background:#badaff"|5
|-
|[[1980 Winter Olympics|1980]]||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=gold|1
|-
|[[1984 Winter Olympics|1984]]||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7
|-
|[[1988 Winter Olympics|1988]]||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7
|-
|[[1992 Winter Olympics|1992]]||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4
|-
|[[1994 Winter Olympics|1994]]||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||8
|-
|[[1998 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament|1998]]||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6
|-
|[[2002 Winter Olympics|2002]]||bgcolor=gold|1||7||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[2006 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament|2006]]||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||8
|-
|[[2010 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament|2010]]||bgcolor=gold|1||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|[[22014 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament|2014]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4
|}

===IIHF Men's World Championships===
{{Main|Ice Hockey World Championships}}
[[File:Map of winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships.png|thumb|upright=2|Winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships with number of wins. Note that medals won by the Soviet Union or CIS are credited to Russia, and those of Czechoslovakia are counted for the Czech Republic.
{{legend|#008000|1}}
{{legend|#84b4f4|2-4}}
{{legend|#ffc400|5-9}}
{{legend|#cc0000|10-19}}
{{legend|#800080|20+}}]]

Canada and United States seldom have their best players available for the IIHF World Championships, due to the conflicting time-frame of the NHL. Typically the only players available are College hockey players, NHL players whose teams have failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and players who play in other leagues such as the AHL and SHL. The World Championships are not widely broadcast on television in North America, and have a generally weak following there. Despite this, the Canadian and American teams that compete in the World Championships are still normally easily able to defeat European teams outside of the Big Six, with a few possible exceptions, such as Slovakia.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|-
! Nation
![[1993 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships|93]] 
![[1994 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships|94]] 
![[1995 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships|95]] 
![[1996 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships|96]] 
![[1997 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships|97]] 
![[1998 IIHF World Championship|98]] 
![[1999 IIHF World Championship|99]] 
![[2000 IIHF World Championship|00]] 
![[2001 IIHF World Championship|01]] 
![[2002 IIHF World Championship|02]] 
![[2003 IIHF World Championship|03]] 
![[2004 IIHF World Championship|04]] 
![[2005 IIHF World Championship|05]] 
![[2006 IIHF World Championship|06]] 
![[2007 IIHF World Championship|07]] 
![[2008 IIHF World Championship|08]] 
![[2009 IIHF World Championship|09]] 
![[2010 IIHF World Championship|10]] 
![[2011 IIHF World Championship|11]] 
![[2012 IIHF World Championship|12]] 
![[2013 IIHF World Championship|13]] 
![[2014 IIHF World Championship|14]] 
![[2015 IIHF World Championship|15]] 
|-
|align=left|{{ih|CAN}}||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=silver|2||7||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=gold|1
|-
|align=left|{{ih|CZE}}||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||7||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|4
|-
|align=left|{{ih|FIN}}||7||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6
|-
|align=left|{{ih|RUS}}||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|5||11||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=silver|2||7||10||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2
|-
|align=left|{{ih|SWE}}||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|4||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|5
|-
|align=left|{{ih|USA}}||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|6||12||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4||7||13||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|6||7||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|4||13||8||7||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3
|}
Only the tournaments since the formation of the modern Czech Republic team are shown above.

===World Cup===
The [[Canada Cup]] served as an ice hockey world championship that was governed by NHL rules rather than [[Olympic_Games#Rules|IIHF rules]], and was contested in the NHL off-season so that [[Olympic_Games#NHL_participation|NHL players could participate]]. The 1976 Canada Cup was, therefore, the first time that the best players from every country were able to meet on the ice. The tournament was held five times between 1976 and 1991. Only one team outside of the Big Six, [[Germany men's national ice hockey team|West Germany]], was ever allowed to compete in the Canada Cup; this occurred in 1984.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pelletier |first=Joe |last2=Houda |first2=Patrick |year=2003 |title=The World Cup of Hockey |publisher=Warwick Publishing |location=Toronto |isbn=1-894622-17-0}}</ref>

The [[World Cup of Hockey]] replaced the Canada Cup after the fall of the Soviet Union. It has been held twice so far, in 1996 and 2004, with current plans for the cup to start up again in 2016 and be held every four years.<ref name=cbc/> Eight teams compete at the World Cup: Germany and Slovakia played the first two editions, whereas a Team Europe and an under-23 Team North America will play in 2016.

==== Canada Cup ====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|-
!width=10%|Year
!width=15%|{{ih|CAN}}
!width=15%|{{ih|TCH}}
!width=15%|{{ih|FIN}}
!width=15%|{{ih|URS|1955}}
!width=15%|{{ih|SWE}}
!width=15%|{{ih|USA}}
|-
|[[1976 Canada Cup|1976]]||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3||style="background:#badaff"|4||style="background:#badaff"|5
|-
|[[1981 Canada Cup|1981]]||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)
|-
|[[1984 Canada Cup|1984]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|5||-||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)
|-
|[[1987 Canada Cup|1987]]||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=silver|2||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||style="background:#badaff"|5
|-
|[[1991 Canada Cup|1991]]||bgcolor=gold|1||style="background:#badaff"|6||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||style="background:#badaff"|5||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||bgcolor=silver|2
|}

====World Cup of Hockey====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|-
!width=10%|Year
!width=15%|{{ih|CAN}}
!width=15%| {{ih|CZE}}
!width=15%|{{ih|FIN}}
!width=15%| {{ih|RUS}}
!width=15%|{{ih|SWE}}
!width=15%|{{ih|USA}}
|-
|[[1996 World Cup of Hockey|1996]]||bgcolor=silver|2||7(tie)||style="background:#badaff"|5(tie)||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||bgcolor=cc9966|3(tie)||bgcolor=gold|1
|-
|[[2004 World Cup of Hockey|2004]]||bgcolor=gold|1||bgcolor=cc9966|3||bgcolor=silver|2||style="background:#badaff"|6||style="background:#badaff"|5||style="background:#badaff"|4
|}

==Women's Hockey==
The Big Six are much less pronounced in women's hockey. Though only two medals in the history of the [[Olympic Games|women's Olympic tournament]] and [[IIHF World Women's Championships]] have been won by a team outside of the Big Six, no teams other than the [[United States women's national ice hockey team|United States]] and [[Canada women's national ice hockey team|Canada]] have won the gold medal. In this sense, international women's hockey is dominated more by a "Big Two" than a "Big Six".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/all-medallists/olympics/women.html|title=Women's Olympic Results|date=January 2014|publisher=IIHF|accessdate=February 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/all-medallists/women.html|title=Women's World Championships Results|date=January 2014|publisher=IIHF|accessdate=February 28, 2015}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n|colwidth=}}

{{Wikipedia}}
[[Category:International Ice Hockey Federation]]

Big Six - Revision history

Admin: 1 revision