Poland men's national ice hockey team

The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as high as 6th internationally. They are one of eight countries never to have played below the Division I (former B Pool) level. As of 2024 the Polish national team plays at the top level of the World Championship.

Poland

Nickname(s)	Orły (The Eagles)
Association	Polish Ice Hockey Federation
General manager	Leszek Laszkiewicz
Head coach	Róbert Kaláber
Assistants	Marek Batkiewicz Grzegorz Klich
Captain	Krystian Dziubiński
Most games	Henryk Gruth (248)
Top scorer	Wiesław Jobczyk (88)
Most points	Marcin Kolusz (151)
Team colors
IIHF code	POL
Ranking
Current IIHF	21 1 (27 May 2024)
Highest IIHF	19 (2003)
Lowest IIHF	25 (2014)
First international
Austria 13–1 Poland (Davos, Switzerland; 10 January 1926)
Biggest win
Poland 21–1 China (Eindhoven, Netherlands; 26 March 1993)
Biggest defeat
Soviet Union 20–0 Poland (Moscow, Soviet Union; 11 April 1973)
Olympics
Appearances	13 (first in 1928)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances	60 (first in 1930)
Best result	4th (1931, 1932)
IIHF European Championships
Appearances	3 (first in 1926)
Best result	(1929)
International record (W–L–T)
516–564–91

Poland has competed in the Olympics thirteen times, most recently in 1992, with their best result being fourth place in 1932. They have been a regular participant of the World Championship, first appearing in 1930 and having appeared in all but one tournament since 1955. They frequently played in the top division, though were in Division I after being relegated in 2002. Poland made a return to the top division of the World Championship for 2024.

History

Poland at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, their first appearance at the Winter Olympics. They finished ninth.

Poland was a regular participant of the early Winter Olympics, first competing at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where they finished ninth out of eleven teams. They would appear at ever Winter Olympics until 1956, with their best finish being fourth in 1932.

Financed by state coal money from the 1950s to the 1970s the Polish hockey team was a regular at the top level upsetting the Swedes, Finns, and Czechoslovaks from time to time. They hosted the World Championship for the only time in 1976, with the matches taking place in Katowice. At this tournament Poland defeated the Soviet Union 6–4 in their opening match, the first time Poland ever won against the Soviets and what is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in international hockey history. While Poland finished seventh and was relegated for the following year, their victory against the USSR helped prevent them from winning gold for only the second time in 13 years.

The national team in 2006.

In the Olympics earlier that year, Poland played 5 matches in the top division, but lost all of them. In the first game, the team managed four goals on the West Germany but it was not enough as they lost 7–4. Four days later, after being destroyed by the Soviet Union, the Poles took on Czechoslovakia who dominated the whole game throughout and won 7–1, but after the drug testing, the officials found that one of the Czech players tested positive for doping and they awarded Poland with a 1–0 victory, although they didn't receive any points in the standings. With only two games left and no points in the standings, Poland had no shot at a medal, but still played the last two games against the United States and Finland, and lost 7–2 and 7–1 respectively.

Poland managed to clean up a bit over four years and played well during the 1980 Olympics and finished seventh out of twelve teams. They managed to pull off a huge upset in their first game by beating Finland 5–4, who would eventually advance to the medal round. In their next game, they played Canada and hoped to complete an even bigger upset. The Canadians didn't let this happen and beat the Poles 5–1. In the third game, Poland took on the five time gold medalists, the Soviet Union. The players knew that this would be a challenge because they had played the Soviets many times before and had lost by usually very lopsided scores, such as 8–3, 9–3, 16–1, and 20–0. The Polish team, however, had also beaten the Soviets once in the 1976 World Championship and some of the players from that game were still on the team. The team tried to keep the Soviets down, but it was too much and the USSR stormed to an 8–1 win.

Poland at the 2017 World Championship Division IA tournament in Ukraine. They finished fourth.

With their toughest games out of the way, Poland would have one more chance to try to get to the Medal Round. They took on the Netherlands and went down early in the first period but managed to tie it about four minutes later. The Dutch team scored twice more in the period to lead 3–1. Polish hero Wieslaw Jobczyk (who scored a hat trick in the 1976 upset against USSR) scored to put Poland within one goal but the Netherlands stormed back to get two more goals before the third period to make it 5–2. The Poles ended up losing 5–3 and saw their hopes for the medal round come to an end. They had one more game against Japan, who had not won any games in the tournament and only tied once. Poland burst out in the first period and scored 3 goals before twenty minutes had ended. They scored two more goals and Japan seemed out of it. The final score was 5–1 for Poland. The team's final record was 2–3–0 and it received 4 points in the standings.

When Communist rule ended in 1989, the Polish national team began a slow decline in international play. They reached the Olympics in 1992, the most recent time they have played there, and finished eleventh out of twelve teams. During the 1990s the first two Polish-born and trained players were selected in the NHL Entry Draft: Mariusz Czerkawski was selected in the 1991 by the Boston Bruins, and Krzysztof Oliwa in 1993 by the New Jersey Devils; Oliwa won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000, the first and only Pole to do so.

Poland last competed at the Elite level in 2002 World Championship, where they finished fourteenth and were relegated. They then remained in Division I until they were relegated to Division IB in 2018, the lowest they had ever played at. The White Eagles finally returned to the elite level after finishing runner-up in group A in 2023. They will play in the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Group B.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

Games	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish	Rank
1928 St. Moritz	2	0	0	1	0	1	4	5	?	Tadeusz Adamowski	First round	9th
1932 Lake Placid	6	0	0	0	0	6	3	34	Tadeusz Sachs	?	First round	4th
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	3	1	0	0	0	2	11	12	Aleksander Tupalski, Lucjan Kulej	?	First round	9th
1948 St. Moritz	8	2	0	0	0	6	29	97	Zbigniew Kasprzak	?	Round-robin	6th (7th)
1952 Oslo	8	2	0	1	0	5	21	56	Mieczysław Kasprzycki	?	Round-robin	6th
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo	5	2	0	0	0	3	15	22	Mieczysław Palus, Wladyslaw Wiro-Kiro	Józef Kurek	Consolation round	8th
1960 Squaw Valley	did not participate
1964 Innsbruck	8	6	0	0	0	2	41	15	Gary Hughes	Józef Kurek	Consolation round	9th
1968 Grenoble	did not participate
1972 Sapporo	6	1	0	0	0	5	13	39	Anatoli Yegorov, Mieczysław Chmura	Ludwik Czachowski	Final Round	6th
1976 Innsbruck	6	2	0	0	0	4	16	41	Józef Kurek	Robert Góralczyk	Final Round	6th
1980 Lake Placid	5	2	0	0	0	3	15	23	Czeslaw Borowicz	Stefan Chowaniec	First round	7th
1984 Sarajevo	6	1	0	0	0	5	20	44	Emil Nikodemowicz	Henryk Gruth	7th place game	8th
1988 Calgary	6	1	0	1	0	4	12	15	Leszek Lejczyk, Jerzy Mruk	Henryk Gruth	9th place game	10th
1992 Albertville	9	2	0	0	0	5	25	47	Leszek Lejczyk, Jerzy Mruk	Henryk Gruth	11th place match	11th
1994 Lillehammer	did not qualify
1998 Nagano
2002 Salt Lake City
2006 Turin
2010 Vancouver
2014 Sochi
2018 Pyeongchang
2022 Beijing
2026 Milan–Cortina	Future event

World Championship

• 1930 – 5th place
• 1931 – 4th place
• 1933 – 7th place
• 1935 – 10th place
• 1937 – 8th place
• 1938 – 7th place
• 1939 – 6th place
• 1947 – 6th place
• 1955 – 7th place
• 1957 – 6th place
• 1958 – 8th place
• 1959 – 11th place
• 1961 – 13th place (5th in Pool B)
• 1963 – 12th place (4th in Pool B)
• 1965 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1966 – 8th place
• 1967 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1969 – 8th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1970 – 6th place
• 1971 – 8th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1972 – 7th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1973 – 5th place
• 1974 – 5th place
• 1975 – 5th place
• 1976 – 7th place
• 1977 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1978 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1979 – 8th place
• 1981 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1982 – 11th place (3rd in Pool B)
• 1983 – 10th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1985 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1986 – 8th place
• 1987 – 9th place (1st in Pool B)
• 1989 – 8th place
• 1990 – 14th place (6th in Pool B)
• 1991 – 12th place (4th in Pool B)
• 1992 – 12th place
• 1993 – 14th place (2nd in Pool B)
• 1994 – 15th place (3rd in Pool B)
• 1995 – 15th place (3rd in Pool B)
• 1996 – 17th place (5th in Pool B)
• 1997 – 17th place (5th in Pool B)
• 1998 – 23rd place (7th in Pool B)
• 1999 – 23rd place (7th in Pool B)
• 2000 – 20th place (4th in Pool B)
• 2001 – 18th place (1st in Division I, Group A)
• 2002 – 14th place
• 2003 – 19th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
• 2004 – 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2005 – 19th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
• 2006 – 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2007 – 20th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
• 2008 – 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2009 – 23rd place (4th in Division I, Group B)
• 2010 – 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2011 – 23rd place (4th in Division I, Group B)
• 2012 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2013 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2014 – 23rd place (1st in Division I, Group B)
• 2015 – 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2016 – 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2017 – 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
• 2018 – 22nd place (6th in Division I, Group A)
• 2019 – 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2020 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2021 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2022 – 21st place (1st in Division I, Group B)
• 2023 – 18th place (2nd in Division I, Group A)
• 2024 – 16th place
• 2025 – (Division I, Group A)

European Championships

Games	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish	Rank
1910–1925	did not participate.
1926 Davos	5	3	0	2	12	7	?	?	Consolation round 6–7 place game	6th
1927 Wien	5	1	2	2	11	9	?	?	Round-robin	4th
1929 Budapest	3	2	0	1	6	3	?	?	Final
1932 Berlin	did not participate.

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship.

Head coach: Róbert Kaláber

No.	Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Birthdate	Team
3	D	Bartosz Ciura	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1992-11-20) 20 November 1992	GKS Tychy
4	D	Patryk Wajda	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	83 kg (183 lb)	(1988-05-20) 20 May 1988	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
5	F	Filip Komorski	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1991-12-27) 27 December 1991	GKS Tychy
6	D	Arkadiusz Kostek	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(1994-06-16) 16 June 1994	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
10	F	Bartosz Fraszko	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	82 kg (181 lb)	(1995-10-26) 26 October 1995	GKS Katowice
12	D	Maciej Kruczek	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1988-01-26) 26 January 1988	GKS Katowice
14	F	Dominik Paś	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)	67 kg (148 lb)	(1999-09-21) 21 September 1999	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
15	F	Patryk Wronka	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)	77 kg (170 lb)	(1995-08-28) 28 August 1995	Podhale Nowy Targ
16	F	Paweł Zygmunt	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	96 kg (212 lb)	(1999-11-19) 19 November 1999	HC Litvínov
17	D	Kamil Górny	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	88 kg (194 lb)	(1989-09-20) 20 September 1989	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
18	F	Grzegorz Pasiut – A	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	(1987-05-07) 7 May 1987	GKS Katowice
20	D	Marcin Kolusz – A	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	(1985-01-18) 18 January 1985	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
21	F	Kamil Wałęga	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(2000-07-21) 21 July 2000	HC Oceláři Třinec
28	F	Mateusz Michalski	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1992-07-29) 29 July 1992	GKS Katowice
31	G	John Murray	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	99 kg (218 lb)	(1987-07-04) 4 July 1987	GKS Katowice
33	G	Tomáš Fučík	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1994-03-17) 17 March 1994	GKS Tychy
34	F	Krzysztof Maciaś	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(2004-05-14) 14 May 2004	Prince Albert Raiders
51	D	Jakub Wanacki	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	93 kg (205 lb)	(1991-03-12) 12 March 1991	GKS Katowice
61	F	Krystian Dziubiński – C	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1988-05-28) 28 May 1988	TH Unia Oświęcim
69	D	Mateusz Bryk	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	89 kg (196 lb)	(1989-08-24) 24 August 1989	GKS Tychy
71	D	Paweł Dronia	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1989-06-30) 30 June 1989	Ravensburg Towerstars
72	G	David Zabolotny	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	75 kg (165 lb)	(1994-03-31) 31 March 1994	EHC Freiburg
80	D	Kacper Maciaś	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	(2003-04-12) 12 April 2003	GKS Katowice
88	F	Alan Łyszczarczyk	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	83 kg (183 lb)	(1998-02-17) 17 February 1998	GKS Tychy
92	F	Maciej Urbanowicz	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	(1986-07-12) 12 July 1986	JKH GKS Jastrzębie
98	F	Patryk Krężołek	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(1998-09-14) 14 September 1998	KH Zagłębie Sosnowiec

Former Players In NHL

Players who have played in the NHL and the Polish national team

Year	Name	Position	Team
1993–2006	Mariusz Czerkawski	RW	Boston Bruins Edmonton Oilers New York Islanders Montreal Canadiens Toronto Maple Leafs
1996–2006	Krzysztof Oliwa	LW	New Jersey Devils Columbus Blue Jackets Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers Boston Bruins Calgary Flames
2015–2016	Mike Danton	C	New Jersey Devils St. Louis Blues

NHL Entry Draft

Polish players selected in the NHL Entry Draft

Year	Name	Overall	Team
1981	Peter Sidorkiewicz	91st overall	Washington Capitals
1991	Mariusz Czerkawski	106th overall	Boston Bruins
1993	Krzysztof Oliwa	65th overall	New Jersey Devils
1995	David Lemanowicz	218th overall	Florida Panthers
1993	Patryk Pysz	102nd overall	Chicago Blackhawks
1998	Tomek Valtonen	56th overall	Detroit Red Wings
2000	Krys Kolanos	19th overall	Phoenix Coyotes
2000	Stefan Liv	102nd overall	Detroit Red Wings
2000	Mike Danton	135th overall	New Jersey Devils
2003	Marcin Kolusz	157th overall	Minnesota Wild
2004	Wojtek Wolski	21st overall	Colorado Avalanche
2004	Evan McGrath	128th overall	Detroit Red Wings
2004	Jan Steber	252nd overall	Toronto Maple Leafs
2006	Nick Sucharski	136th overall	Columbus Blue Jackets
2009	Michael Cichy	199th overall	Montreal Canadiens
2022	Maksymilian Szuber	163rd overall	Arizona Coyotes

Notable National team players

• Henryk Gruth – Most games played for national team (292)
• Andrzej Zabawa – Most goals scored (99)
• Leszek Laszkiewicz – 216 games played, 150 total points

Other Polish-born NHL players

• Nick Harbaruk – Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues
• Frank Jerwa – Boston Bruins, St. Louis Eagles
• Joe Jerwa – New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, New York Americans
• Edward Leier – Chicago Blackhawks
• John Miszuk – Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota North Stars

Head-to-head records

Updated as of 9 November 2024. Defunct national teams are listed in italics.

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Australia	1	1	0	0	5	3	+2
Austria	60	26	3	31	183	181	+2
Belarus	17	4	0	13	38	77	+39
Belgium	5	4	1	0	29	6	+23
Bulgaria	2	2	0	0	27	2	+25
Canada	25	0	1	24	22	175	-153
China	6	6	0	0	79	11	+68
Croatia	5	5	0	0	33	4	+29
Czech Republic	1	0	1	0	2	2	0
Czechoslovakia	44	2	2	40	58	336	-278
Denmark	32	18	3	11	134	102	+32
East Germany	71	35	13	23	302	234	+68
Estonia	20	18	1	1	99	36	+63
Finland	52	5	8	39	107	264	−157
France	54	21	6	27	146	154	-8
Germany	54	16	7	31	161	192	-31
Great Britain	38	10	2	26	113	133	-20
Hungary	68	36	6	26	211	150	+61
Italy	58	32	4	22	190	145	+45
Japan	42	34	2	6	214	98	+116
Kazakhstan	22	2	1	19	43	84	-41
Latvia	21	5	0	16	50	72	-22
Lithuania	22	18	0	4	126	47	+79
Netherlands	40	35	2	3	209	85	+124
Norway	77	39	7	31	316	243	+73
Romania	62	50	5	7	390	106	+284
Serbia	1	1	0	0	10	2	+8
Serbia and Montenegro	1	1	0	0	13	2	+11
Slovakia	9	0	1	8	12	51	−39
Slovenia	28	9	0	19	59	78	-19
South Korea	15	10	0	5	59	32	+27
Soviet Union	33	1	0	32	43	321	-278
Spain	2	2	0	0	9	1	+8
Sweden	37	5	4	28	62	232	−170
Switzerland	46	20	6	20	159	165	-6
Ukraine	43	18	2	23	115	132	-17
United States	36	6	2	28	43	191	−148
Yugoslavia	21	19	1	1	139	53	+86
Total	1 171	516	91	564	4 010	4 202	-182

External links

• Official website
• IIHF profile
• National Teams of Ice Hockey