1981 Canada Cup



The 1981 Canada Cup was the second professional ice hockey world championship involving the world's top six ice hockey nations. The tournament was postponed from 1980 due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as well as the US boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The playing format was different from the previous 1976 Canada Cup. The participating teams still played a Round-robin tournament to decide the standings, but a round of semi-finals was added and the best-of-three final series was replaced with single final game.

The positive surprise of the tournament was the young Czechoslovak team, which (following disappointing results in the 1980 Winter Olympics and 1981 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments) managed to soundly beat Sweden and Finland as well as tie the USSR and Canada. The main flops were the Swedes and the Finns, who failed to win a single game despite fielding their best players from the NHL. On the other hand, the United States (featuring several promising NHL players) fared much better than in 1976, losing only to the pre-tournament favorites Soviet Union and Canada. The Czechs were joined in the semi-finals by Canada, the USSR and the United States. The two winners, USSR and Canada, met in the final where the host country suffered one of the worst defeats in its hockey history.

Canada
Forwards and Defense: Barry Beck, Raymond Bourque, Mike Bossy, Marcel Dionne, Ron Duguay, Brian Engblom, Clark Gillies, Danny Gare, Bob Gainey, Butch Goring, Wayne Gretzky, Craig Hartsburg, Guy Lafleur, Ken Linseman, Rick Middleton, Gilbert Perreault, Denis Potvin, Paul Reinhart, Larry Robinson, Bryan Trottier. Training camp only -- Bill Barber, Randy Carlyle, Mike Gartner, Steve Payne, Rob Ramage, Jim Schoenfeld, Darryl Sittler, Steve Shutt, Bobby Smith, Dave Taylor

Goaltenders: Don Edwards, Mike Liut, Billy Smith. Training camp only -- Mario Lessard

Coaches: Scotty Bowman, Al MacNeil, Red Berenson, Pierre Pagé

Czechoslovakia
Forwards and Defense: Frantisek Cernik, Milan Chalupa, Jiri Dudacek, Miroslav Dvorak, Stanislav Hajdusek, Miloslav Horava, Arnold Kadlec, Jindrich Kokrment, Jaroslav Korbela, Norbert Kral, Jiri Lala, Jan Neliba, Milan Novy, Dusan Pasek, Lubomir Penicka, Jaroslav Pouzar, Pavel Richter, Darius Rusnak, Radoslav Svoboda, Oldrich Valek

Goaltenders: Karel Lang, Jiri Kralik

Coaches: Ludek Bukac, Stanislav Nevesely

Finland
Forwards and Defense: Pekka Arbelius, Matti Hagman, Raimo Hirvonen, Juha Huikari, Kari Jalonen, Arto Javanainen, Veli-Pekka Ketola, Markku Kiimalainen, Jari Kurri, Mikko Leinonen, Tapio Levo, Kari Makkonen, Timo Nummelin, Jukka Porvari, Pekka Rautakallio, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Jorma Sevon, Risto Siltanen, Ilkka Sinisalo, Juha Tuohimaa

Goaltenders: Hannu Lassila, Markus Mattsson

Coaches: Kalevi Numminen, Kari Makinen

Sweden
Forwards and Defense: Kent-Erik Andersson, Thomas Eriksson, Jan Erixon, Thomas Gradin, Anders Håkansson, Anders Hedberg, Peter Helander, Tomas Jonsson, Anders Kallur, Lars Lindgren, Bengt Lundholm, Lars Molin, Kent Nilsson, Ulf Nilsson, Stefan Persson, Jörgen Pettersson, Börje Salming, Thomas Steen, Patrik Sundström, Mats Waltin

Goaltenders: Peter Lindmark, Pelle Lindbergh

Coaches: Anders Parmström

USA
Forwards and Defense: Bill Baker, Neal Broten, Dave Christian, Steve Christoff, Richie Dunn, Mike Eaves, Robbie Ftorek, Tom Gorence, Mark Howe, Mark Johnson, Dave Langevin, Rod Langway, Reed Larson, Rob McClanahan, Bob Miller, Warren Miller, Ken Morrow, Mike O'Connell, Dean Talafous, Tom Younghans. Training camp only -- Jack Brownschidle, Alan Hangsleben, Paul Holmgren (injured/did not play), Steve Jensen, Joe Micheletti, Joe Mullen, Bill Nyrop, Mark Pavelich, Mike Ramsey, Gordie Roberts.

Goaltenders: Tony Esposito, Steve Baker. Training camp only -- Jim Craig (injured/did not play)

Coaches: Bob Johnson, John Cunniff, Mike Smith

USSR
Forwards and Defense: Sergei Babinov, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, Nikolai Drozdetsky, Viacheslav Fetisov, Irek Gimayev, Vladimir Golikov, Sergei Kapustin, Alexei Kasatonov, Andrei Khomutov, Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Alexander Maltsev, Vasili Pervukhin, Viktor Shalimov, Sergei Shepelev, Alexander Skvortsov, Valeri Vasiliev, Viktor Zhluktov, Vladimir Zubkov

Goaltenders: Vladislav Tretiak, Vladimir Myshkin

Coaches: Viktor Tikhonov, Vladimir Yurzinov

Tournament Champion

 * USSR

Tournament MVP

 * Vladislav Tretiak, USSR

All-star team

 * Goaltender: Vladislav Tretiak, USSR
 * Defence: Arnold Kadlec, Czechoslovakia; Alexei Kasatonov, USSR
 * Forwards: Mike Bossy, Canada; Gilbert Perreault, Canada; Sergei Shepelev, USSR