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Summary
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Asian Cup
Ahearne Cup
Calgary Cup
European Cup
Goodwill Games
Japan Cup
Nissan Cup
Polaris Cup
Rude Pravo Cup
Star Cup
Walter A. Brown Memorial Trophy


Asian Cup
The International Ice Hockey Federation created the Asian Cup competition in an effort to broaden the scope of international hockey and to assist Asian nations in the staging of international games. The first tournament for Asian national teams took place in 1990 and was held annually until 1996 (except for 1991, when the tournament was canceled due to the Gulf War). The tournament was dominated by the Japanese in 1992 and 1993, as they failed to lose a game. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan joined the Asian Games and were an instant hit, taking Japan's place as the dominate team. During the final tournament in January of 1996 the national teams of Kazakhstan, Japan, China, and Korea took part in a round-robin series. Kazakhstan controlled the pace going undefeated in the round-robin to win their second consecutive Asian Cup.
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Ahearne Cup
Named in honor of former IIHF President John 'Bunny' Ahearne, the Ahearne Cup was started in Sweden in 1952. It was a joint effort of the Djurgarden club of Stockholm and the newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Clubs from Great Britain, including the Harringay Racers, Nottingham Panthers and Wembley Lions won six of the first seven Ahearne Cups. Djurgarden was the first Swedish team to win the cup in the 1959-60 season and Canada's Port Arthur Bear Cats were victorious in the 1961-62 season. In its later years in the 1970s, however, the Spartak and Dynamo clubs from Moscow dominated the tournament. By this time the competition was held annually between Christmas and New Year's when the national leagues in various countries were taking their December break.
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Calgary Cup
The Calgary Cup took place in December, 1986/January 1987 during the Pre-Olympic Week tournament in Calgary one year before the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. National Teams from Canada, the United States, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union met in a round-robin series, with the two top teams playing off to decide a winner while the two bottom finishers met to determine third and fourth place. After finishing 1-2 in the round-robin, the Czechs upset the USSR 3-2 in the gold medal final. Jiri Hrdina was named the Best Forward of the tournament, while teammate Jaroslav Benak was named Best Defenceman. Evgeny Beloshiekin was named the Top Goaltender for the Soviet squad. In the bronze medal game the Canadians pounded on the U.S. 6-1.
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European Cup
The European Cup (or European Champions Cup) was created by the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1965 through the initiative of the Germany Ice Hockey Union -- particularly future IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki. The object of the tournament was to determine the best club team in Europe. The first three tournaments, however, were held without the participation of the Soviet Union, whose teams would later come to dominate the event.

In the first two years of the European Cup tournament, teams played four-game, total-goal series. Until 1978-79, the tournament was played in a two-game, total-goal format. After 1978-79, only the preliminary rounds used the total-goal format. The European Cup was last played for during the 1996-97 season and was replaced the next year by the Continental Cup.

Year

Champion

Country

1965 ZKL Brunn Czechoslovakia
1966 ZKL Brunn Czechoslovakia
1967 ZKL Brunn Czechoslovakia
1968 CSKA Moscow USSR
1969 CSKA Moscow USSR
1970 CSKA Moscow USSR
1971 CSKA Moscow USSR
1972 CSKA Moscow USSR
1973 CSKA Moscow USSR
1974 CSKA Moscow USSR
1975 Krylija Moscow USSR
1976 CSKA Moscow USSR
1977 Poli Kladno Czechoslovakia
1978 CSKA Moscow USSR
1979 CSKA Moscow USSR
1980 CSKA Moscow USSR
1981 CSKA Moscow USSR
1982 CSKA Moscow USSR
1983 CSKA Moscow USSR
1984 CSKA Moscow USSR
1985 CSKA Moscow USSR
1986 CSKA Moscow USSR
1987 CSKA Moscow USSR
1988 CSKA Moscow USSR
1989 CSKA Moscow USSR
1990 CSKA Moscow USSR
1991 Djurgarden Stockholm Sweden
1992 Djurgarden Stockholm Sweden
1993 Malmo IF Sweden

1994

TPS Turku Finland
1995 Jokerit Helsinki Finland
1996 Jokerit Helsinki Finland
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Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games hockey tournament took place only once, in July-August of 1990 in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state. The top six national teams from Europe, USSR, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia played together with a Canadian and U.S. team. The eight teams were divided into two groups, with the winner declared after a series of playoff games. The bronze medal game was between Sweden and Canada. Sweden's young superstar Mats Sundin controlled the action and led his team to a convincing 6-1 victory over the Canadians. In the gold medal game the USSR and the USA faced off in a hard fought battle, this despite the Soviets losing star forward Sergei Federov who defected before the tournament began. However, Valeri Kamensky took control and led the Soviets to a 4-3 victory, winning the only Goodwill gold medal. Despite finishing in fifth place, Tomas Jelinek of Czechoslovakia was the leading scorer of the tournament.
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Japan Cup
Created by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation, the Japan Cup was played in 1989 and 1990. Both tournaments were held in Tokyo in May. Three national teams (two from Europe and the hosts from Japan) played a double round-robin format to determine a winner. In 1989, the Soviet and Czechoslovakian national teams were declared co-winners. Both teams had earned the same number of points and the organizing committee declined to count goal differential. In 1990, the Soviets dominated winning all four games to win gold. Japan failed to win a game in both 1989 and 1990.

Year

Final Standings

GP

W

L

T

GF

GA

PTS

1988-89

USSR

4

2

2

0

25

12

6

Czechoslovakia

4

2

2

0

18

9

6

Japan

4

0

4

0

11

33

0

1989-90

USSR

4

4

0

0

39

7

8

Sweden

4

2

2

0

19

14

4

Japan

4

0

4

0

7

44

0

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Nissan Cup
The Nissan Cup was created by the Swiss Ice Hockey Union in 1988 and was completed with a three-way tie between Sweden, Switzerland and Finland. Sweden won the gold medal based on their goals-for/goals-against ratio. The tournament is held in Switzerland in November or February and generally sees four top European National teams meet in a round-robin series. The second year saw the same result as year one, although Germany had replace Sweden. This time the Finns had the better goal differential and stood atop the pack. The tournament continued for another five years never being won in consecutive years. The USSR, Switzerland, Germany and Finland all won gold medals, while Sweden wrapped up the Nissan Cup's history with the 1995 championship.

Year

Champion

GP

W

L

T

GF

GA

PTS

1988-89

Sweden

2

1

1

0

5

3

2

1989-90

Finland

2

1

1

0

9

6

2

1990-91

USSR

2

2

0

0

17

0

4

1991-92

Switzerland

2

2

0

0

6

3

4

1992-93

Germany

3

3

0

0

12

6

6

1993-94

Finland

3

3

0

0

18

6

6

1994-95

Sweden

3

2

0

1

11

5

5

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Polaris Cup
The Soviet club Torpedo Gorky was a big winner in the annual Polaris Cup tournament, held annually in Sweden between Christmas and New Year's. Torpedo was victorious in 1968, 1972 and 1974. Other champions from the USSR included the Central Army Sports Club in 1971, Khimik Voskresensk in 1973 and Riga Dynamo in 1976. The tournament also included teams from Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Finland.
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Rude Pravo Cup
The Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Union created the Rude Pravo Cup in 1977. The first three tournaments (1977, 1978, and 1979) were played in September and involved the top national teams of Europe. The inaugural tournament of 1977 also included the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association, who failed to win a game against the powerful Soviet and Czech squads. In 1981-82 and 1982-83, the format of the Rude Pravo Cup was changed. The four best European teams -- the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Finland -- met throughout the season in a double round-robin (home-and-home) series. The Rude Pravo Cup was won by the Soviets in all five of its existing seasons, while the Czechoslovakians were consistently the runner-ups.
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Star Cup
Club teams from the Soviet Union dominated the Star Cup tournament, which was founded by the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and was played annually between Christmas and New Year's. The list of participants usually included three top Swedish clubs, along with one each from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. The Khimik team from the small city of Voskresensk, south of Moscow, won four Star Cup titles between 1967 and 1974, while Wings of the Soviet, Spartak and the Traktor club from Chelyabinsk came out on top in 1973, 1975 and 1976, respectively.
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Walter A. Brown Memorial Trophy
The national team of the Soviet Union won three of the four Walter A. Brown Memorial Tournaments, held at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs from 1964-67. William Thayer Tutt, who had been instrumental in bringing the first Soviet hockey team to the United States in 1958, organized the Brown Memorial to honor the memory of Walter A Brown, a former president of the International Ice Hockey Federation and later owner of the Boston Bruins. More than 20 teams, including Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, Canada, the United States and the Soviet Union participated in the memorial tournaments.
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