Poland men's national ice hockey team
The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as high as 6th internationally. They are one of eight countries never to have played below the Division I level. As of 2024 the Polish national team plays at the top level of the World Championship.
Poland has competed in the Olympics thirteen times, most recently in 1992, with their best result being fourth place in 1932. They have been a regular participant of the World Championship, first appearing in 1930 and having appeared in all but one tournament since 1955. They frequently played in the top division, though were in Division I after being relegated in 2002. Poland made a return to the top division of the World Championship for 2024.
History
Poland was a regular participant of the early Winter Olympics, first competing at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where they finished ninth out of eleven teams. They would appear at ever Winter Olympics until 1956, with their best finish being fourth in 1932.Financed by state coal money from the 1950s to the 1970s the Polish hockey team was a regular at the top level upsetting the Swedes, Finns, and Czechoslovaks from time to time. They hosted the World Championship for the only time in 1976, with the matches taking place in Katowice. At this tournament Poland defeated the Soviet Union 6–4 in their opening match, the first and only time Poland ever won against the Soviets and is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in international hockey history. While Poland finished seventh and was relegated for the following year, their victory against the USSR helped prevent them from winning gold for only the second time in 13 years.
In the Olympics earlier that year, Poland played 5 matches in the top division, but lost all of them. In the first game, the team managed four goals on the West Germany but it was not enough as they lost 7–4. Four days later, after being destroyed by the Soviet Union, the Poles took on Czechoslovakia who dominated the whole game throughout and won 7–1, but after the drug testing, the officials found that one of the Czech players tested positive for doping and they awarded Poland with a 1–0 victory, although they didn't receive any points in the standings. With only two games left and no points in the standings, Poland had no shot at a medal, but still played the last two games against the United States and Finland, and lost 7–2 and 7–1 respectively.
Poland managed to clean up a bit over four years and played well during the 1980 Olympics and finished seventh out of twelve teams. They managed to pull off a huge upset in their first game by beating Finland 5–4, who would eventually advance to the medal round. In their next game, they played Canada and hoped to complete an even bigger upset. The Canadians didn't let this happen and beat the Poles 5–1. In the third game, Poland took on the five time gold medalists, the Soviet Union. The players knew that this would be a challenge because they had played the Soviets many times before and had lost by usually very lopsided scores, such as 8–3, 9–3, 16–1, and 20–0. The Polish team, however, had also beaten the Soviets once in the 1976 World Championship and some of the players from that game were still on the team. The team tried to keep the Soviets down, but it was too much and the USSR stormed to an 8–1 win.
With their toughest games out of the way, Poland would have one more chance to try to get to the Medal Round. They took on the Netherlands and went down early in the first period but managed to tie it about four minutes later. The Dutch team scored twice more in the period to lead 3–1. Polish hero Wieslaw Jobczyk scored to put Poland within one goal but the Netherlands stormed back to get two more goals before the third period to make it 5–2. The Poles ended up losing 5–3 and saw their hopes for the medal round come to an end. They had one more game against Japan, who had not won any games in the tournament and only tied once. Poland burst out in the first period and scored 3 goals before twenty minutes had ended. They scored two more goals and Japan seemed out of it. The final score was 5–1 for Poland. The team's final record was 2–3–0 and it received 4 points in the standings.
When Communist rule ended in 1989, the Polish national team began a slow decline in international play. They reached the Olympics in 1992, the most recent time they have played there, and finished eleventh out of twelve teams. During the 1990s the first two Polish-born and trained players were selected in the NHL entry draft: Mariusz Czerkawski was selected in the 1991 by the Boston Bruins, and Krzysztof Oliwa in 1993 by the New Jersey Devils; Oliwa won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000, the first and only Pole to do so.
At the 2001 World Championships in France, coached by, Poland earned promotion from Division I for the first time in ten years. Playing in the top tier at the 2002 World Championship in Sweden, Poland placed 14th and was relegated back to Division I. Hosting 2006 Winter Olympics qualification in Nowy Targ, Poland placed first in Group E but not advance beyond the next round. Four years later, hosting 2010 Winter Olympics qualification in Sanok, Poland placed second and did not advance.
Leszek Laszkiewicz was named Poland's general manager in 2019. In his first World Championship as manager, Poland placed second in 2019, missing promotion from Division I to the top tier when losing their final game in overtime to Romania. Scheduled to host Group B of the 2020 World Championship in Katowice, the tournament was postponed to 2021 then cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting the 2022 tournament in Katowice, Poland placed first in Group B and promoted to Division I A. Placing second in 2023 earned Poland promotion to the top division in 2024, their first appearance in the top division since 2002 when Laszkiewicz played. With an eighth-place finish at the 2024 World Championship, Poland was relegated back to Division I A. Placing fifth in 2025, Poland remained in Division I A.
Tournament record
Olympic Games
World Championship
- 1930 – 5th place
- 1931 – 4th place
- 1933 – 7th place
- 1935 – 10th place
- 1937 – 8th place
- 1938 – 7th place
- 1939 – 6th place
- 1947 – 6th place
- 1955 – 7th place
- 1957 – 6th place
- 1958 – 8th place
- 1959 – 11th place
- 1961 – 13th place
- 1963 – 12th place
- 1965 – 9th place
- 1966 – 8th place
- 1967 – 9th place
- 1969 – 8th place
- 1970 – 6th place
- 1971 – 8th place
- 1972 – 7th place
- 1973 – 5th place
- 1974 – 5th place
- 1975 – 5th place
- 1976 – 7th place
- 1977 – 10th place
- 1978 – 9th place
- 1979 – 8th place
- 1981 – 10th place
- 1982 – 11th place
- 1983 – 10th place
- 1985 – 9th place
- 1986 – 8th place
- 1987 – 9th place
- 1989 – 8th place
- 1990 – 14th place
- 1991 – 12th place
- 1992 – 12th place
- 1993 – 14th place
- 1994 – 15th place
- 1995 – 15th place
- 1996 – 17th place
- 1997 – 17th place
- 1998 – 23rd place
- 1999 – 23rd place
- 2000 – 20th place, hosts in Katowice and Kraków
- 2001 – 18th place
- 2002 – 14th place
- 2003 – 19th place
- 2004 – 21st place, hosts in Gdańsk.
- 2005 – 19th place
- 2006 – 21st place
- 2007 – 20th place
- 2008 – 22nd place
- 2009 – 23rd place, hosts in Toruń
- 2010 – 22nd place
- 2011 – 23rd place
- 2012 – 24th place, hosts in Krynica-Zdrój
- 2013 – 24th place
- 2014 – 23rd place
- 2015 – 19th place, hosts in Kraków
- 2016 – 19th place
- 2017 – 20th place
- 2018 – 22nd place
- 2019 – 24th place
- 2020 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2022 – 21st place
- 2023 – 18th place
- 2024 – 16th place
- 2025 – 21st place
- 2026 –
European Championships
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship.Head coach: Róbert Kaláber
| No. | Pos. | Name | Height | Weight | Birthdate | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | D | Bartosz Ciura |  convert|1.81|m|ftin|abbr=onconvert|83|kg|lb|abbr=on|sortable=onbirth date and age|1988|5|20|df=yFormer players in the NHLPlayers who have played in the NHL and the Polish national team
NHL entry draftPolish players selected in the NHL entry draft
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