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Canada has, perhaps, a unique perspective on ice hockey. If we did not invent the game, we certainly contributed to its development into a global sport. We have, to mix sporting metaphors, punched well above our weight for decades. We fielded two of the original six teams in the National Hockey League and have continued to be important in the North American context of the NHL. Our men’s team has won the last two Olympic tournaments and our women have won the last four. We have hosted two editions of the Olympic Winter Games and are in the process of due diligence regarding a bid for a third occasion in 2026.

Canada led the fight against the “shamateurism” that had developed in hockey during the 1960s and 1970s, where European players who were clearly professional athletes participated in the Games, but NHL players were not allowed to do so.Even though hockey was our national sport (and was close to being our national religion), we refused to participate in the discriminatory Olympic hockey tournaments.