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.

Venues
Team Western Republic has twenty main venues. The WestAir Centre in Calgary is the largest hockey arena in the country.