1968 CANADA NATIONAL MEN'S TEAM

1968 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
GRENOBLE, FRA

Coach Jackie MacLeod decided to have two national teams for most of the season after convening in August 1967, so that he could appraise as many players as possible. Doing so, however, prevented the team from gaining that key cohesion. Nevertheless, the talent pool was strong enough that the gold medal came down, once again, to a Canada-Soviet Union showdown on the final day of the tournament. Unfortunately, it was no contest. Canada’s best university students were no match for the seasoned Soviets and lost, 5-0, to finish third behind the Soviets and Sweden. For the CAHA, one thing was clear – the Olympic hockey tournament was not a level playing field. The CAHA, and hockey fans right across the country, were growing weary of the imbalance, and less than two years later Canada withdrew from international hockey until it was permitted use professional players (non-NHLers). As a result, it was 12 years before the motherland of the game next appeared at the Olympics.