 | |
| Nickname | Orły (TheEagles) |
|---|---|
| Association | Polish Ice Hockey Federation |
| General manager | Leszek Laszkiewicz |
| Head coach | Róbert Kaláber |
| Assistants | Tobiasz Bigos 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 | 19 (26 May 2025)[1] |
| 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 in1928) |
| IIHF World Championships | |
| Appearances | 61 (first in1930) |
| Best result | 4th (1931,1932) |
| IIHF European Championships | |
| Appearances | 3 (first in1926) |
| Best result |  (1929) |
| International record (W–L–T) | |
| 526–567–91 | |
ThePoland national men's ice hockey team is the nationalice hockey team ofPoland, and a member of theInternational Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in theIIHF 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 theWorld Championship.
Poland has competed in theOlympics thirteen times, most recently in1992, with their best result being fourth place in1932. They have been a regular participant of the World Championship, first appearing in1930 and having appeared in all but one tournament since1955. They frequently played in the top division, though were in Division I after being relegated in2002. Poland made a return to the top division of the World Championship for2024.
Poland was a regular participant of the earlyWinter Olympics, first competing at the1928 Winter Olympics inSt. Moritz, Switzerland, where they finished ninth out of eleven teams. They would appear at ever Winter Olympics until1956, with their best finish being fourth in1932.
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 in1976, with the matches taking place inKatowice. At this tournament Poland defeated theSoviet Union 6–4 in their opening match, the first and only time Poland ever won against the Soviets and 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.[2]
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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 theWest Germany but it was not enough as they lost 7–4. Four days later, after being destroyed by theSoviet Union, the Poles took onCzechoslovakia 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 andFinland, and lost 7–2 and 7–1 respectively.
Poland managed to clean up a bit over four years and played well during the1980 Olympics and finished seventh out of twelve teams. They managed to pull off a huge upset in their first game by beatingFinland 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, theSoviet 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 theUSSR stormed to an 8–1 win.
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 theNetherlands 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 heroWieslaw Jobczyk (who scored a hat trick in the 1976 upset againstUSSR) scored to put Poland within one goal but theNetherlands 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 in1992, 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 theNHL Entry Draft:Mariusz Czerkawski was selected in the1991 by theBoston Bruins, andKrzysztof Oliwa in1993 by theNew Jersey Devils; Oliwa won theStanley Cup with the Devils in2000, the first and only Pole to do so.
Poland last competed at the Elite level in2002 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 in2023. They will play in the2024 IIHF World Championship in Group B.
| 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. | |||||||||
Roster for the2024 IIHF World Championship.[5][6]
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 (age 33) | GKS Tychy |
| 4 | D | Patryk Wajda | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | 83 kg (183 lb) | (1988-05-20)20 May 1988 (age 37) | JKH GKS Jastrzębie |
| 5 | F | Filip Komorski | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | 86 kg (190 lb) | (1991-12-27)27 December 1991 (age 33) | GKS Tychy |
| 6 | D | Arkadiusz Kostek | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | 84 kg (185 lb) | (1994-06-16)16 June 1994 (age 31) | JKH GKS Jastrzębie |
| 10 | F | Bartosz Fraszko | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | 82 kg (181 lb) | (1995-10-26)26 October 1995 (age 30) | GKS Katowice |
| 12 | D | Maciej Kruczek | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | (1988-01-26)26 January 1988 (age 37) | GKS Katowice |
| 14 | F | Dominik Paś | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | 67 kg (148 lb) | (1999-09-21)21 September 1999 (age 26) | JKH GKS Jastrzębie |
| 15 | F | Patryk Wronka | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | 77 kg (170 lb) | (1995-08-28)28 August 1995 (age 30) | Podhale Nowy Targ |
| 16 | F | Paweł Zygmunt | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | 96 kg (212 lb) | (1999-11-19)19 November 1999 (age 26) |  HC Litvínov |
| 17 | D | Kamil Górny | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | 88 kg (194 lb) | (1989-09-20)20 September 1989 (age 36) | 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 (age 38) | GKS Katowice |
| 20 | D | Marcin Kolusz –A | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | 87 kg (192 lb) | (1985-01-18)18 January 1985 (age 40) | JKH GKS Jastrzębie |
| 21 | F | Kamil Wałęga | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | 80 kg (180 lb) | (2000-07-21)21 July 2000 (age 25) | HC Oceláři Třinec |
| 28 | F | Mateusz Michalski | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | (1992-07-29)29 July 1992 (age 33) | GKS Katowice |
| 31 | G | John Murray | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | 99 kg (218 lb) | (1987-07-04)4 July 1987 (age 38) | GKS Katowice |
| 33 | G | Tomáš Fučík | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | (1994-03-17)17 March 1994 (age 31) | GKS Tychy |
| 34 | F | Krzysztof Maciaś | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | 86 kg (190 lb) | (2004-05-14)14 May 2004 (age 21) |  Prince Albert Raiders |
| 51 | D | Jakub Wanacki | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | 93 kg (205 lb) | (1991-03-12)12 March 1991 (age 34) | GKS Katowice |
| 61 | F | Krystian Dziubiński –C | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | 86 kg (190 lb) | (1988-05-28)28 May 1988 (age 37) | TH Unia Oświęcim |
| 69 | D | Mateusz Bryk | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | 89 kg (196 lb) | (1989-08-24)24 August 1989 (age 36) | GKS Tychy |
| 71 | D | Paweł Dronia | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | (1989-06-30)30 June 1989 (age 36) | Ravensburg Towerstars |
| 72 | G | David Zabolotny | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | 75 kg (165 lb) | (1994-03-31)31 March 1994 (age 31) | EHC Freiburg |
| 80 | D | Kacper Maciaś | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | 92 kg (203 lb) | (2003-04-12)12 April 2003 (age 22) | GKS Katowice |
| 88 | F | Alan Łyszczarczyk | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | 83 kg (183 lb) | (1998-02-17)17 February 1998 (age 27) | GKS Tychy |
| 92 | F | Maciej Urbanowicz | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | 87 kg (192 lb) | (1986-07-12)12 July 1986 (age 39) | JKH GKS Jastrzębie |
| 98 | F | Patryk Krężołek | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | 80 kg (180 lb) | (1998-09-14)14 September 1998 (age 27) | KH Zagłębie Sosnowiec |
Players who have played in theNHL and the Polish national team
Polish players selected in theNHL Entry Draft
| Year | Name | Overall | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Peter Sidorkiewicz | 91st overall | Washington Capitals | Born in Poland, representedCanada internationally |
| 1991 | Mariusz Czerkawski | 106th overall | Boston Bruins | |
| 1993 | Krzysztof Oliwa | 65th overall | New Jersey Devils | |
| 1995 | David Lemanowicz | 218th overall | Florida Panthers | Born in Canada, of Polish descent |
| 1993 | Patryk Pysz | 102nd overall | Chicago Blackhawks | |
| 1998 | Tomek Valtonen | 56th overall | Detroit Red Wings | Born in Poland, representedFinland internationally |
| 2000 | Krys Kolanos | 19th overall | Phoenix Coyotes | Born in Canada, of Polish descent |
| 2000 | Stefan Liv | 102nd overall | Detroit Red Wings | Born in Poland, representedSweden internationally |
| 2000 | Mike Danton | 135th overall | New Jersey Devils | Naturalized during career |
| 2003 | Marcin Kolusz | 157th overall | Minnesota Wild | |
| 2004 | Wojtek Wolski | 21st overall | Colorado Avalanche | Born in Poland, representedCanada internationally |
| 2004 | Evan McGrath | 128th overall | Detroit Red Wings | Born in Canada, of Polish descent |
| 2004 | Jan Steber | 252nd overall | Toronto Maple Leafs | Naturalized during career |
| 2006 | Nick Sucharski | 136th overall | Columbus Blue Jackets | Born in Canada, of Polish descent |
| 2009 | Michael Cichy | 199th overall | Montreal Canadiens | Born in USA, of Polish descent |
| 2022 | Maksymilian Szuber | 163rd overall | Arizona Coyotes | Born in Poland, representsGermany internationally |
Updated as of 8 November 2025.[7] Defunct national teams are listed initalics.
| 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 | 39 | 11 | 2 | 26 | 114 | 133 | -19 |
| Hungary | 69 | 37 | 6 | 26 | 214 | 151 | +63 |
 Italy | 62 | 35 | 4 | 23 | 204 | 153 | +51 |
 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 | 24 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 130 | 48 | +82 |
 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 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 64 | 82 | -18 |
 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 | 46 | 20 | 2 | 24 | 122 | 138 | -16 |
 United States | 36 | 6 | 2 | 28 | 43 | 191 | −148 |
 Yugoslavia | 21 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 139 | 53 | +86 |
| Total | 1 184 | 526 | 91 | 567 | 4 044 | 4 222 | -168 |
| National teams |
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| Polska Hokej Liga | |||||
| Polish 1. Liga |
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| Currently Inactive | |||||
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