Great Britain is NOT a major team
in international ice hockey.
The national side has not qualified for the Olympic Games
for decades, their last appearance coming in 1948.
Since world rankings were introduced in the 1980s,
their ranking has never reached higher than 21st.
You have to go back to the 1920s and 1930s
for a time when Britain were a significant force in the game.
Canada, on the other hand,
has a long history of ice hockey success.
The Canadian team dominated the Olympic Winter Games in 1924.
Great Britain, thanks to half their team
being brought up in Canada,
won bronze.
Scotland, England, Wales, Canada -
who cares as long as they're competing for king and empire?
And then came the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Germany,
where British ice hockey enjoyed its finest hour.
Yeah, hockey! Remember that match we had on holiday?
What a game that was! Get in!
That was AIR hockey, Jan. This is ICE hockey.
Yeah - ice air hockey.
A group of 13 British athletes,
born in places like Huddersfield,
Beckenham, Bootle and Barking,
managed to turn the form book on its head.
The secret, even the biggest GB fan would admit,
lay a long way from the British Isles.
They were born in Britain,
but players like Kilpatrick, Dailley, Stinchcombe and Archer
had all been raised on maple syrup.
In fact, all but two of the British players
learned their hockey on Canadian ice.
By 1936, Canada had not lost a single match
in the history of the Olympic Winter Games.
Their record - played 17, won 16, one draw, lost none.
Goals for - 209, goals against - 8.
When GB had the misfortune
to face the might of Canada in 1928,
they were thrashed 14-0.
To solve that problem in 1936,
the British had one solution - more Canadians.
Carl Erhardt led the Canadian...
I mean, British team.
Jimmy "The Parson" Foster became the lynchpin.
A goal-tender originally from Glasgow, he made his name
in his adopted home of Winnipeg
and stood out in the Canadian leagues.
He and winger Sandy Archer,
also from Winnipeg via the East End of London,
had both kept their British passports
and they faced suspension from the Canadian Hockey Association
for their loyalty to the Great Britain squad.
But they played on regardless.
Foster kept three shutouts in seven games,
Archer scored twice.
Team Canada, fortunately,
had the opportunity to solve their differences
on the ice because,
inevitably, Canada faced off
against Great Britain in Germany.
Canada vs Great Britain - or you could say Canada vs Canada.
The dramatic match ended
with the Canadians with the British passports
beating the Canadians without.
More officially, Great Britain beat Canada 2-1.
GB went on to win against Czechoslovakia
and tie against the United States
and, with that, Great Britain snatched Olympic gold.
Canada lost the title under its own name,
but won it under Britain.
The record books state the result in black and white.
Canada...
I mean, Great Britain
were men's ice hockey gold medallists 1936.