At this year’s U20 World Junior Championship, Switzerland finished in fourth place, and their leading scorer, Phliipp Kurashev, ranked seventh in the whole tournament. The game is growing though, and it’s clear that countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Slovakia are steadily climbing up the international ice hockey charts. There have been 24 winter Olympic games that have had men’s ice hockey, and these five nations have won 65 out of 72 total medals awarded, or 90%. Now, hockey is mostly dominated by the Big Six: Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic. Hockey is globally known as “Canada’s game”, and while that might still be true today, there are several countries that have closed the gap in the past decade or so.
Find our most recent breakdown using opening day rosters from the 2021-22 season here!
