The World Cup of Hockey began in 1996 as a successor to the Canada Cup. Team USA played preliminary round games in Philadelphia and New York before heading to the semifinals in Ottawa, Ontario. The first game of the best-of-three finals took place in Philadelphia where the U.S. fell to Canada 4-3 in overtime. The U.S. came back and won the next two games in Montreal to win the inaugural World Cup of Hockey.

Eight countries participated in the inaugural event including Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States.