Western Republic Ice Hockey Team

Team Western Republic, officially known as the Western Republic Ice Hockey Team, is the national hockey team of the Western Republic.
It is broadcast by the Western Broadcasting Corporation.
== History ==
The Western Republic is known as "the birthplace of ice hockey", because the sport was pioneered in the country, even when it was a British colony. The first recorded hockey games in the country were in 1825, as British explorer John Franklin wrote "The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport" on Great Bear Lake during one of his Arctic expeditions.
Shortly after the first organized hockey game was played in Montreal in 1875, the Ice Hockey Federation of the Western Confederation (renamed to the Ice Hockey Federation of the Western Republic in 1902 after the Western Confederation became a republic) was founded. The Federation organized an annual game, consisting of two teams the best players from both the country, representing their respective regions. The two teams were Team Northwest, with players from the northern regions of the country, and Team Southwest, with players from the southern regions of the country. A new 5,000-seater arena in New Westminster, British Columbia was constructed in the early 1880s called Pacific Ice Gardens, which would host the game until 1911, when the 10,000 seater Denman Arena was opened in downtown Vancouver. The Denman Arena hosted the annual game until the final Northwest-Southwest game was played in 1919.
In 1919, it was becoming apparent that the Western Republic needed a national team, after the announcement of ice hockey becoming a sport at the 1920 Olympic Games. Thus, in 1919, the Western Republic Ice Hockey Team was founded. The Northwest-Southwest game was cancelled, as there was no point in hosting it, as players could now represent the country rather than their respective regions.
The first game of Team Western Republic was played against Team Canada in the Arena Gardens in Toronto in 1920. Team Western Republic lost 1-2. In 1950, Team Western Republic played Team Canada again in the Stampede Corral in Calgary, as "a rematch from thirty years ago". Team Western Republic won 1-0. The game was played in front of a crowd of roughly 7,424 people, a record home crowd in the Western Republic. This record crowd would not be broken until just five years later in 1955, when Team Western Republic defeated the Soviet Union 5-3 in the Winnipeg Arena, in front of a crowd of 13,985 people.
Team Western Republic won their first gold medal in the 1920 Olympics against the United States. The Western Republic was the first nation to ever win a gold medal in the Olympics in ice hockey.
Team Western Republic has participated in many events, such as the Olympics, the IIHF World Championships, MIHF tournaments, and several other events.
=== 2017 Summit Series ===
In 2017, Team Western Republic had a Summit Series against Russia. This Summit Series was to determine who was the best hockey country in the world. Russia was winning the series 3 to 1 in game four and only needed one game to win the series, while the Western Republic needed three games to win the series. Team Western Republic came back and led the series into game seven, which would be played in Calgary.
Team Western Republic was captained by Jarome Iginla in the Summit Series, which would be his last ever international tournament before retiring. 
==== The Most Exciting Game in the West ====
This game was known as "The Most Exciting Game In The West", because of how intense it was and how loud the fans were. Game seven of the Summit Series was played in front of a sold out crowd of 29,378. This game set the record for highest attendance at a Western Republic Hockey Team game, the previous record being 23,712, which was at the Boeing Arena in Seattle for game five of the same summit series. In game seven of the Summit Series, played on Saturday, November 18, 2017, Russia was winning 2-0 in the first period. Then in the second period, Team Western Republic came back and tied the game 2-2. Early in the third period, Russia scored and put themselves ahead 3-2. They held on to this lead, up until less than a minute in the third period, where the Western Republic scored to tie the game, and bring it to overtime. In the second overtime, Alan Parker of the Western Republic scored to win the game 4-3, as well as the series. The entire WestAir Centre roared with cheering.
Alan Parker, who was a rookie at the time, proved himself to be an established player and a team leader during the series. As a result, he was named captain of the team after Iginla retired.
==== Summit Series Game Summary ====
Game	Home Team 	Score 	Away Team 	Venue 	City
1 	Western Republic	1-2 (OT) 	Russia 	Staples Center 	Los Angeles
2 	Western Republic	3-0 	Russia 	WBC Arena 	San Francisco
3 	Russia 	4-2 	Western Republic	Bolshoy Ice Dome	Sochi
4 	Russia 	2-0 	Western Republic	Ice Palace 	Saint Petersburg
5 	Western Republic	5-1 	Russia 	Boeing Arena 	Seattle
6 	Russia 	1-3 	Western Republic	CSKA Arena 	Moscow
7 	Western Republic	4-3 (2OT)	Russia 	WestAir Centre 	Calgary
== Lineup ==
Number	Position	Name 	City of Birth 	Team
3 	Defence 	Izaiah Betts 	Renton, CS 	Seattle Aviators
4 	Foreward	Taylor Hall 	Calgary, AB 	Arizona Coyotes
6 	Defence 	Shea Weber 	Sicamous, OK 	Montreal Canadians
7 	Foreward	Brady Tkachuk 	Scottsdale, AZ 	Ottawa Senators
8 	Defence 	Cale Makar 	Calgary, AB 	Colorado Avalanche
14 	Foreward	Jamie Benn (A) 	Victoria, BC 	Dallas Stars
15 	Foreward	Ryan Getzlaf (A) 	Regina, SK 	Anaheim Ducks
18 	Foreward	Matthew Tkachuk 	Scottsdale, AZ 	Calgary Flames
19 	Foreward	Jonathan Toews (A) 	Winnipeg, MB 	Chicago Blackhawks
21 	Defence 	Brayden Point 	Calgary, AB 	Tampa Bay Lightning
22 	Defence 	Cody Eakin 	Winnipeg, MB 	Vegas Golden Knights
29 	Foreward	William Nylander 	Calgary, AB 	Toronto Maple Leafs
31 	Goalie 	Carey Price 	Vancouver, BC 	Montreal Canadiens
34 	Foreward	Auston Matthews 	San Ramon, CA 	Toronto Maple Leafs
38 	Foreward	Alan Parker (C) 	Calgary, AB 	Seattle Aviators
44 	Defence 	Morgan Reilly 	West Vancouver, BC	Toronto Maple Leafs
45 	Defence 	Josh Morrissey 	Calgary, AB 	Winnipeg Jets
61 	Defence 	Mark Stone 	Winnipeg, MB 	Vegas Golden Knights
70 	Goalie 	Braden Holtby 	Lloydminister, SK 	Washington Capitals
77 	Foreward	T.J. Oshie 	Mount Vernon, CS 	Washington Capitals
79 	Goalie 	Carter Hart 	Sherwood Park, AB 	Philadelphia Flyers
92 	Foreward	Ryan Johansen 	Vancouver, BC 	Nashville Predators
93 	Foreward	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	Burnaby, BC 	Edmonton Oilers
=== Timeline of Captains ===
Years 	Position	Player 	City of Birth 	Final Career Points
1919-1926 	Defence 	Clem Loughlin	Carroll, MB 	72
1927-1940 	Defence 	Eddie Shore 	Fort Qu'Appelle, BR	304
1941-1949 	Foreward	Doug Bentley 	Delisle, SK 	543
1950-1971 	Foreward	Gordie Howe 	Floral, SK 	1,850
1972-1975 	Foreward	Johnny Bucyk 	Edmonton, AB 	1,369
1976-1984 	Foreward	Bobby Clarke 	Flin Flon, AB 	1,210
1985-1996 	Foreward	Mark Messier 	St. Albert, AB 	1,887
1997-2006 	Foreward	Steve Yzerman	Cranbrook, OK 	1,755
2007-2017 	Foreward	Jarome Iginla	Edmonton, AB 	1,300
2018-Present	Foreward	Alan Parker 	Calgary, AB 	Active
== Venues ==
Team Western Republic has twenty main venues. The WestAir Centre in Calgary is the largest hockey arena in the country.
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Category:Western Republic
Category:Ice Hockey
Category:Mapperdonian Ice Hockey Federation
Category:Sports in the Western Republic
Category:Ice Hockey Team
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