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today in olympic history feb 06

Today in Olympic History: February 6

Canadians and Czechs go scoreless, Thomson nets four and Cadieux scores quick

Jason La Rose
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February 6, 2026
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1948 – CANADA 0, CZECHOSLOVAKIA 0

With the world still finding its way out of World War II, the Olympic Winter Games returned from a 12-year- hiatus in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Canada had not participated in the 1947 IIHF World Championship due to a disagreement with the Ligue internationale de hockey sur glace (LIHG), the precursor to the International Ice Hockey Federation, over the definition of “amateur” and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association had initially withdrawn from the 1948 Olympics.

In the end, the RCAF Flyers, a team of active and former members of the Royal Canadian Air Force based in Ottawa, were selected to represent Canada in a tournament played outdoors in the Swiss Alps.

“The further we went without a loss, the worse it got,” Canadian forward Wally Halder said upon his return from Europe. “The playing conditions didn’t help and some of the games were staged on ice that couldn’t possibly have been worse.”

By the time the game against Czechoslovakia came around, the Canadians and Czechs had identical 5-0 records, with the European side ahead in the standings based on its superior goal differential (+55 to +49).

Despite combining for 123 goals in their first 10 games—Canada had 54, Czechoslovakia had 69—the two teams played one of only four goalless games in men’s Olympic hockey history.

Murray Dowey earned the shutout for the Canadians, one of the record-setting five he recorded in St. Moritz. The Toronto native fashioned the longest and third-longest shutouts streaks in Olympic history—225:25 across four games from Jan. 30-Feb. 3 and 195:30 across four games from Feb. 5-8 (which included the Czech game).

Other Games

1932 – Canada scored the game’s first four goals as part of a 4-1 win over Germany, improving to 2-0 in Lake Placid.

1936 – Bill Thomson scored four goals—three in the first period, including the fastest two ever by a Canadian to start a game (2:00)—to spark Canada to an 8-1 win over Poland in the tournament opener in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

1968 – Roger Bourbonnais scored twice and Ray Cadieux made history with a goal just nine seconds into the second period—the fastest to start a period in Canadian Olympic history—to help Canada open its schedule in Grenoble with a 6-1 win over West Germany.

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

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