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 2018. 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 ten times since the IIHF introduced a playoff system in 1992.