Canada men's national ice hockey team in the context of "Russia men's national ice hockey team"

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, was the second Olympic Championship, also serving as the second World Championships. The competition was held from Monday, January 28, 1924, to Sunday, February 3, 1924. Canada, represented by the Toronto Granites, defended its championship from the 1920 Summer Olympics. The United States and Great Britain took the silver and bronze respectively, while other contenders included Czechoslovakia, France, and Sweden.

The Bergvall system used in the 1920 Olympics was discarded in favor of a two-level round-robin tournament. Qualifying teams were placed in pools for the opening round, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the final round. The medals were awarded based on the record in the final round. This format would remain in use until the 1992 Winter Olympics, when the final round-robin was replaced with a medal-round single-elimination tournament.

The Sweden men's national ice hockey team (Swedish: Sveriges herrlandslag i ishockey) is governed by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. It 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 Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and the United States.

The team's nickname Tre Kronor, meaning "Three Crowns", refers to the emblem on the team jersey, which is found in the lesser national coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden. The first time this emblem was used on the national team's jersey was on 12 February 1938, during the World Championships in Prague.

The United States men's national ice hockey team also known as Team USA, represents the United States in men's international ice hockey. The team is controlled by USA Hockey, the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United States. As of May 2025, the team is ranked 1st in the IIHF World Rankings.

The U.S. captured gold medals at the 1960 and 1980 Olympics, and earned silver medals more recently at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics. At the best-on-best professional level outside of the Olympics, Team USA has won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, defeating Canada in the finals. Most recently, the U.S. claimed a historic gold at the World Championships in 2025—its first IIHF Worlds title since 1933 and its third recognized world title overall when including the 1960 Olympic gold that the IIHF also recognizes as a World Championship.

The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of Czechoslovakia, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which was a European power prior to World War I, the Czechoslovak national team first appeared at the 1920 Summer Olympics, two years after the creation of the state. In the 1940s, they established themselves as the best team in Europe, becoming the first team from the continent to win two World Championships (1947 and 1949). After the arrival of the Soviet Union on the international hockey scene in the 1950s, the Czechoslovaks regularly fought Sweden and Canada for silver and bronze medals, and sometimes beat the Soviets. In total, they won the gold medal six times.

Due to the split of the country Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the team was replaced in 1993 with the Czech and the Slovak national teams. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recognized the Czech national team as a successor of Czechoslovakia national team and kept it in the top group, while the Slovak national team was entered into the lowest level, Pool C, winning promotion in successive years to join the elite division in 1996.

The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, was the 17th Olympic Championship. All the games were played at the Méribel Ice Palace in Méribel, about 45 km from host city Albertville. The competition, held from 9 to 23 February, was won by the Unified Team in its only appearance. The team was composed of some newly emerged nations from the former Soviet Union, which had dissolved just weeks before the Games began. Canada won the silver medal, its first hockey medal since 1968 and 11th Olympic ice hockey medal.

The 2023 IIHF World Championship was co-hosted by Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. The tournament was held from 12 to 28 May 2023, organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Canada won its record-breaking 28th title by beating Germany 5–2 in the final. The silver was Germany's first medal since 1953. Latvia claimed its first IIHF medal after defeating the USA 4–3 in overtime and finishing third.

In men's international ice hockey, the Big Six is a group comprising the six national teams that have dominated play throughout the history of international ice hockey, especially since the 1950s. It has traditionally been composed of the North American countries of Canada and the United States and four European countries: Czechia, Finland, Russia, and Sweden. During the Cold War and for two years afterwards, the Soviet Union/CIS and Czechoslovakia held the places of Russia and Czechia, respectively, within the group. The four European members are sometimes referred to as the "European Big Four" or "Big Four", especially to distinguish them from the North American teams.

As of 2025, out of the 264 Ice Hockey World Championships medals awarded by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), 234 have been won by the Big Six teams. Since 1954, only ten medals have been won by teams outside the Big Six (four by Slovakia, four by Switzerland, and one each by Germany and Latvia). Of the 75 Olympic ice hockey medals awarded, 67 have been won by a Big Six team.

The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of the Czech Republic. Since 2021, the team has been officially known in English as Czechia. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in history and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. It is governed by the Czech Ice Hockey Association. The Czech Republic has 85,000 male players officially enrolled in organized hockey (0.8% of its population).

The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, nicknamed Leijonat / Lejonen ("The Lions" in Finnish and Swedish), is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Finland 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 Canada, the United States, Czechia, Russia, and Sweden.

Finland won the world championship in 2022, their fourth title after 1995, 2011 and 2019. A duo of silver medals (1988, 2006) remained the country's best Olympic result until 2022 when the Finns achieved a breakthrough by winning their first Olympic gold after defeating Russia. At the Canada/World Cup, their best achievement is also a silver medal which they won in 2004.