Belarus men's national ice hockey team
The Belarusian men's national ice hockey team (Belarusian: Зборная Беларусі па хакеі з шайбай; Russian: Сборная Беларуси по хоккею с шайбой) is the national ice hockey team that represented Belarus. The team is controlled by the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association. Belarus was ranked 14th in the world by the IIHF as of the 2021 World Ranking.
| Nickname(s) | Bisons (Зубры / Zubry) |
|---|---|
| Association | Belarusian Ice Hockey Association |
| Head coach | Craig Woodcroft |
| Assistants | Dmitri Karpikov Mikhail Kravets Vladimir Vorobiev |
| Captain | Yegor Sharangovich |
| Most games | Oleg Romanov (193) |
| Top scorer | Oleg Antonenko (52) |
| Most points | Alexei Kalyuzhny (125) |
| Team colors | |
| IIHF code | BLR |
| Ranking | |
| Current IIHF | 14 (28 May 2023) |
| Highest IIHF | 8 (2009) |
| Lowest IIHF | 15 (2014) |
| First international | |
| Ukraine 4–1 Belarus (Minsk, Belarus; 7 November 1992) | |
| Biggest win | |
| Belarus 21–1 Lithuania (Riga, Latvia; 30 August 1996) | |
| Biggest defeat | |
| Finland 11–2 Belarus (Mikkeli, Finland; 7 April 1997) Canada 11–2 Belarus (Lloydminster, Canada; 19 March 1998) Canada 9–0 Belarus (Prague, Czech Republic; 14 May 2015) | |
| IIHF World Championships | |
| Appearances | 27 (first in 1994) |
| Best result | 6th (2006) |
| Olympics | |
| Appearances | 3 (first in 1998) |
| International record (W–L–T) | |
| 249–237–25 | |
The team achieved their best result at the Winter Olympics in the quarter-finals of the 2002 Winter Olympics where they beat Sweden and ultimately finished fourth. At the 2005 and 2006 World Championships their coach was Glen Hanlon, who brought their best-ever result in the IIHF World Championship – 6th place in 2006. He was succeeded by Curt Fraser, who led the team in 2007 and 2008. Hanlon returned to coach the team for the 2009 World Championships in Switzerland.
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation banned all Belarusian national and club teams from its events indefinitely, and Hockey Canada banned Belarus's "participation in events held in Canada that do not fall under the IIHF’s jurisdiction." In April 2022, the Federation banned Belarus from participating in the 2023 IIHF World Championship. Despite the ban, the team participated in the 2023 Channel One Cup, alongside Russia and Kazakhstan.