Due to
National Hockey League (NHL) players' ineligibility in the
Winter Olympics and the annual
World Championships, both amateur competitions, Canada was not able to send its best players to top international tournaments. plans for such a tournament soon began. After successful negotiations with hockey officials from the Soviet Union in September 1974, Eagleson began arranging the Canada Cup tournament, which debuted in
1976. Eagleson would later plead guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of Canada Cup proceeds. Taking place in the NHL off-season, it was the first international hockey tournament in which the best players, professional and amateur alike, from the best ice hockey nations in the world could compete against one another. Six teams competed in each edition. In addition to Canada and the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia,
Finland,
Sweden and the
United States were regular competitors (with the exception of
West Germany replacing Finland in
1984). The tournaments, held every three to five years, took place in
North American venues. Of the five Canada Cup tournaments, four were won by Canada, while the Soviet Union won once, in
1981. Canada won the inaugural Canada Cup in 1976, defeating recent 1976 World Championship gold medalists Czechoslovakia in the best-of-three final. The clinching game was won by a 5–4 score with
Darryl Sittler scoring the game-winner in overtime. The final Canada Cup was held in
1991 with Canada defeating the United States in the tournament's first all-North American final, for their third straight championship and fourth overall. Five years later, the Canada Cup was replaced by the
World Cup of Hockey in
1996. ==Trophy==