This 1994 Team USA Winter Olympics Ice Hockey Tour v Florida Panthers NHL Program is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles.
The United States hockey experienced a spike in talent in the 1980s and 1990s, with future NHL stars including Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, John LeClair, Brian Leetch, Mike Modano, Mike Richter, Jeremy Roenick, Kevin Stevens, Keith Tkachuk, and Doug Weight.
With Amateurs only, the U.S. won gold medals at the 1960 and the 1980 Olympics and more recently, silver medals at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics. The U.S. also won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, defeating Canada in the finals. The team's most recent medal at the World Championships came with a bronze in 2021.
They won the tournament in 1933 and 1960. Unlike other nations, the U.S. doesn't typically use its best NHL players in the World Championships. Instead, it provides the younger players with an opportunity to gain international experience.
Overall, the team has collected eleven Olympic medals (two of them gold), nineteen World Championship medals (two of them gold), and it reached the semi-final round of the Canada Cup/World Cup five times, twice advancing to the finals and winning gold once.
The U.S. has never reached a World Championship gold medal game, having lost in the semi-final round twelve times since the IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992; including six semi-finals appearances in ten tournaments from 2013 through 2023, and three consecutive tournaments in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The U.S. 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 Sweden.
The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, was the 18th Olympic Championship. Sweden won its first gold medal, becoming the sixth nation to ever win Olympic ice hockey gold.
The tournament, held from 12 February to 27 February, was played at the Fjellhallen in Gjøvik and the Håkons Hall in Lillehammer. There was no women's tournament at the Olympics until 1998.