Triple Gold Club The Triple Gold Club is a term used to describe ice hockey players and coaches who have won an Olympic Games gold medal , a World Championship gold medal , and the Stanley Cup , the championship trophy of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . The International Ice Hockey Federation ( IIHF ) considers them to be " the three most important championships available to the sport " . Tomas Jonsson , Mats Näslund and Håkan Loob became the first members on 27 February 1994 when Sweden won the gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics . The term first entered popular use following the 2002 Winter Olympics , which saw the addition of the first Canadian members . On 8 May 2007 , the IIHF announced it would formalize the club and recognize the players who had won the three championships . The ceremony was to take place in Canada during the 2008 World Championship but it was later changed to occur during the inaugural Victoria Cup , in September 2008 . Ultimately , the induction ceremony was held , with all 22 members at the time present , at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver , on 22 February 2010 . There are twenty - four player members of the Triple Gold Club — nine Swedes , seven Canadians , six Russians , and two Czechs . Six of the players are defencemen and the remaining players are forwards ; no goaltender s have won all three championships . Measuring from the time of their first victory of one of the three championships , Swedes Niklas Kronwall , Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Zetterberg needed the least amount of time to join the club , winning the Olympics and World Championships in 2006 and the Stanley Cup in 2008 ( as members of the Detroit Red Wings ) . In contrast , it took Russian Viacheslav Fetisov 19 years from his first victory to become a member . Fetisov , his countryman Igor Larionov , and Swede Peter Forsberg are the only players to have won each of the three championships more than once . Eight members of the Triple Gold Club have won the Stanley Cup as part of the Detroit Red Wings , more than any other NHL team . Mike Babcock became the first coach to win all three components of the Triple Gold Club on 28 February 2010 when he led Canada to a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics . He won the World Championship in 2004 and coached the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup win in 2008 . In 2015 , Sidney Crosby became the first Triple Gold Club member to captain all three of his winning teams . Components . The IIHF considers the three components of the club to be " the three most important championships available to the sport " . The club has been described as a " a modern fraternity " because before 1977 , NHL players — considered professional — were not allowed to play in the world championships and until 1998 for the Olympics , which were intended for amateur players . Additionally , few Europeans played in the NHL before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 . Olympic gold medal . Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920 . The men ' s tournament was first held at the 1920 Summer Olympics and integrated in the Winter Olympic program starting with the 1924 Winter Olympics . The Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes , so the players of the NHL and other professional leagues were not allowed to play . Canada dominated the first three decades , winning six of seven gold medals . The Soviet Union first participated in 1956 and overtook Canada as the dominant international team , winning seven of the nine tournaments in which they participated . The only two tournaments that the Soviets failed to win , in 1960 and 1980 , were hosted and won by the United States . Arguably the most famous single game in the sport ' s history took place in the 1980 medal round , when the American team upset the Soviet Union in the " Miracle on Ice " and went on to win the gold medal . Other nations to win gold include Great Britain in 1936 , Sweden in 1994 and 2006 , and the Czech Republic in 1998 . Many of Canada ' s top players were NHL professionals , so the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association ( CAHA ) pushed for the ability to use professional and amateur players . After several debates about the definition of what made a player professional , the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) voted to allow all athletes to compete in Olympic Games held after 1988 . The NHL was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season , and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated . However , an agreement was reached and NHL players were allowed to compete starting in 1998 . World Championship gold medal . The Ice Hockey World Championship is an annual tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation ( IIHF ) . It is the highest profile annual international tournament . The tournament held at the 1920 Summer Olympics is recognized as the first Ice Hockey World Championship . Between 1920 and 1968 , the Olympic hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year . The first World Championship that was held as an individual event was in 1930 in which twelve nations participated . The modern format for the World Championship features 16 teams in the championship group , 12 teams in Division I and 12 teams in Division II . If there are more than 40 teams , the rest compete in Division III . The teams in the championship play a preliminary and qualifying round , then the top eight teams play in the playoff medal round and the winning team is crowned World Champion . Canada was the tournament ' s first dominant team , winning the tournament 12 times between 1930 and 1952 . The Soviet Union first participated in 1954 and soon became rivals with Canada . From 1963 until the nation ' s breakup in 1991 , the Soviet Union was the dominant team , winning 20 championships . During that period , only three other nations won medals : Canada , Czechoslovakia and Sweden . Russia first participated in 1992 and the Czech Republic and Slovakia started competing in 1993 . In the 2000s , the competition became more open as the " big six " teams – Canada , the Czech Republic , Finland , Russia , Sweden and the United States – as well as Slovakia became more evenly matched . Stanley Cup . The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League ( NHL ) playoffs champion . The Stanley Cup is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America and is surrounded by numerous legends and traditions , the oldest of which is the celebratory drinking of champagne out of the cup by the winning team . Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America , a new Stanley Cup is not made each year ; Cup winners keep it until a new champion is crowned . It is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players , coaches , management and club staff engraved on its chalice . The original bowl was made of silver and has a dimension of 18 . 5 centimeters ( 7 . 28 inches ) in height and 29 centimeters ( 11 . 42 inches ) in diameter . The current Stanley Cup , topped with a copy of the original bowl , is made of silver and nickel alloy . Today , it has a height of 89 . 54 centimeters ( 35 . 25 inches ) and weighs 15 . 5 kilograms ( 34 . 5 lb ) . Originally inscribed the " Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup " , the trophy was donated in 1892 , by then Governor General of Canada Lord Stanley of Preston , as an award for Canada ' s top - ranking amateur ice hockey club . In 1915 , the two professional ice hockey organizations , the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association ( PCHA ) , reached a gentlemen ' s agreement in which their respective champions would face each other for the Stanley Cup . After a series of league mergers and folds , it became the " de facto " championship trophy of the NHL in 1926 . The Cup later became the " de jure " NHL championship prize in 1947 . Members . Text in bold indicates the specific championship that made that player a member of the club .