International Ice Hockey Federation

Triple Gold Club 2015

Triple Gold Club 2015

Will we see new names to coveted list?

Published 02.05.2015 13:25 GMT+2 | Author Andrew Podnieks
Triple Gold Club 2015
Can Sidney Crosby win gold in his second IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship participation? It would make him the newest Triple Gold Club member. Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
The Stanley Cup has been awarded annually (with two exceptions) since 1893, Olympic gold in hockey since 1920 and World Championship gold since 1930.

Yet over all these decades only 25 players and one coach have managed to win all three of hockey’s highest honours, and only six are active. Called the Triple Gold Club, the most recent honouree was Patrice Bergeron in 2011. The other TGC members still playing are Jaromir Jagr, Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Eric Staal, and Jonathan Toews.

Right now, Canada is hogging the TGC spotlight for the simple fact that it has won the last two Olympics—2010 and 2014. The Swedes won in 2006 but many of those players have retired and time is running out for the few who are still active to complete their TGC requirements.

Plenty of players from across the globe have won the Stanley Cup, and Russia, Sweden, and Finland are all recent winners of the World Championship, but that elusive Olympic gold, up for grabs but once every four years, has been Canada’s domain in recent times, ensuring a greater likelihood it will produce the next TGCer.

So, as the 2014/15 hockey season winds down, who are the current candidates for TGC membership?

Let’s start with the World Championship in Prague and Ostrava. As of right now, the only TGC possibility is Sidney Crosby. Having won Olympic gold the last two Games, and the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh, he would be member number 26 with a win in the final game in Prague on May 17.

Canada boasts several other players looking only for World Championship gold, but as of now none look like they’ll be joining Crosby this year: Dan Boyle, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Simon Gagne, Ryan Getzlaf, Duncan Keith, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, and Martin St-Louis.

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In the NHL, the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, and it might well produce the next TGC member if only because there are two players on different teams eligible. Rick Nash of the New York Rangers is only a Cup win away from joining the TGC, as is Tampa Bay’s Brenden Morrow. Both have earned the two international championships but, despite great NHL careers, have yet to lift the Stanley Cup.

Mike Babcock is the only TGC coach, and that is a statement of fact that might not change for a long time. Virtually every NHL coach has been North American, and since the United States has not won World Championship gold since 1933, that means the next TGC coach will almost certainly be Canadian. But while a team needs 20 players, it needs only one coach, making the selection to all three teams alone difficult, let alone winning all three.

For now, fans can watch Crosby, Nash, and Morrow to see if any is able to join hockey’s most distinguished club.

 

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