1964 CANADA NATIONAL MEN'S TEAM

1964 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
INNSBRUCK, AUT

In 1962 the CAHA accepted a proposal put forth by St. Mike’s headmaster Father David Bauer to create a national team, a team that would organize the summer before the Olympics and have nearly a full season of play together, as a team. To that end, Bauer became the first coach, assembling players on August 21, 1963 at the University of British Columbia. The tournament format in 1964 was a round robin among the eight competing nations, and through five games all was true to form. Canada was playing well, as were the Soviets, and their meeting on the final day seemed sure to decide gold. But a 3-1 loss to Czechoslovakia hampered Canada’s chances for gold, and on the final day the Soviets eked out a 3-2 victory after scoring the only goal of the final period. Still, Canada had won the bronze medal. Or had it? As the team filed into the stadium for the medal ceremonies, it was informed the tie-break formula had been changed. The Canadians and Czechs were tied for third place, but the changed the tiebreaker to goal differential between ALL teams, placing the Czechs in bronze and Canada fourth.