Canada Cup (ice hockey)

The Canada Cup was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that allowed the best players from participating nations to compete regardless of their status as professional or amateur. It was sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada and the National Hockey League. Canada won the tournament four times, while the Soviet Union captured the championship once. It was succeeded by the World Cup of Hockey in 1996.

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 field their best players in top international tournaments. While the top players in Europe qualified as amateurs, all the best Canadian players competed in the professional NHL or World Hockey Association.

Following the 1972 and 1974 Summit Series, in which Canadian players from the NHL and World Hockey Association (WHA) competed against the top players from the Soviet Union, there was interest in a world hockey championship where each country could send its best players. In a combined effort from Doug Fisher of Hockey Canada and Alan Eagleson of the NHL Players' Association, plans for such a tournament soon began.

...
Wikipedia