The Canada men's national ice hockey team (popularly known as Team Canada; Équipe Canada) is the ice hockey team representing Canada internationally. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. From 1920 until 1963, Canada's international representation was by senior amateur club teams. Canada's national men's team was founded in 1963 by Father David Bauer as a part of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, playing out of the University of British Columbia.
The nickname "Team Canada" was first used for the 1972 Summit Series and has been frequently used to refer to both the Canadian national men's and women's teams ever since.
Canada is the leading national ice hockey team in international play, having won the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, a record four Canada Cups dating back to 1976, a record two World Cups of Hockey, a record nine Olympic gold medals, and a record 28 World Championship titles.
Canada is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
Hockey is Canada's national winter sport, and Canadians are extremely passionate about the game. Canada was first represented internationally at the 1910 European Championships by the Oxford Canadians, a team of Canadians from the University of Oxford. They represented Canada again at the 1912 World Championships.
From 1920 until 1963, the senior amateur club teams representing Canada, were usually the most recent Allan Cup champions. The last amateur club team from Canada to win a gold medal at the World Championship was the Trail Smoke Eaters in 1961. The responsibility of choosing which team represented Canada belonged to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) secretary-manager; George Dudley from 1947 to 1960, and Gordon Juckes from 1960 to 1963.