Jamaica joined the IIHF on 18 May 2012, In order to compete at the
Winter Olympics, they must have full inclusion from the IIHF, which requires the nation to have at least one ice rink and a development program. Recently they have held tryouts in
Canada to form a national team that can compete in the future Winter Olympics, roughly two dozen players were part of the tryouts. Due to the tryouts being held in Canada, some accused the team of attempting to "
poach" from Canadian talent. Former
NHL player,
Graeme Townshend is leading the tryouts in order to construct a national team.
Canadian players of Jamaican-origin There are notable players of
Jamaican-origin have played in Canada, the Subban brothers,
P. K.,
Malcolm and
Jordan, all of whom were selected in the
NHL entry draft in their respective years
2007,
2012 and
2013, with P. K. played for 13 seasons in the NHL with the
Montreal Canadiens, the
Nashville Predators and the
New Jersey Devils, and Malcolm currently playing for the
Rochester Americans in the
AHL, an affiliate of the
Buffalo Sabres. P. K. represented
Canada in international competitions, and won the gold medal at the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi,
Russia.
Anthony and
Chris Stewart and
Josh Ho-Sang who also played in the NHL, with Ho-Sang playing for the
Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL. Graeme Townshend became the first Jamaican-born player to play in the NHL, and played for two seasons with the early 1990s
Boston Bruins, the
New York Islanders and for one season with the
Ottawa Senators. Townshend was born in
Kingston. Jermaine Loewen played for five seasons in the Canadian major junior hockey league, the
Western Hockey League (WHL), with the
Kamloops Blazers, was selected in the seventh round (199th overall) by the
Dallas Stars in the
2018 draft, and became the first Jamaican-born player to be selected in the draft. Loewen was born in
Mandeville. On 29 October 2021,
Isaak Phillips made his NHL debut, becoming the first Jamaica national team player to debut in the National Hockey League.
National team On 6 September 2019, Jamaica played its first international game against other national team at the Amerigol LATAM Cup in
Coral Springs, Florida,
United States. They defeated
Colombia 5–0 and later defeated
Argentina 8–4. Jamaica went on to win the Amerigol LATAM Cup after a 3–2 win in a shootout over the defending champion Colombia. ==Tournament record==