Technically, the United States are the defending champs of the World Cup of Hockey. Way back in 1996, I was lucky enough to attend the first World Cup of Hockey.
Way back then, the Philadelphia Flyers had this fancy new building called the CoreStates Center. The place seemed cavernous inside compared to the old Spectrum. The first games in this new building weren’t Flyers hockey, but saw the likes of then-current Flyers stars Eric Lindros and John LeClair going head to head in the 1996 World Cup.
After a hard-fought and memorable tournament, Team USA eked out a win over Canada.