The 2004 World Cup of Hockey was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the second installment of the National Hockey League (NHL)-sanctioned competition eight years after the inaugural 1996 World Cup of Hockey. It was held from August 30 to September 14, 2004, and took place in various venues in North America and Europe. Canada won the championship, defeating Finland in the final, held in Toronto.

The tournament directly preceded the NHL lockout, as the NHL announced the suspension of the 2004–05 season two days after the tournament final was played.

Time is Eastern Daylight-Saving Time (UTC-4).

Time is Eastern Daylight-Saving Time (UTC-4).

Time is Eastern Daylight-Saving Time (UTC-4).

Time is Eastern Daylight-Saving Time (UTC-4).

Time is Eastern Daylight-Saving Time (UTC-4).

The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the previous Canada Cup, which ran from 1976 to 1991. The tournament has occurred twice, with the United States winning in 1996 and Canada winning in 2004.

Unlike its International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)-sanctioned counterpart, the annual World Ice Hockey Championships and Winter Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey is organized by the National Hockey League (NHL). As such, the games are played under NHL rules and not those of the IIHF. The World Cup of Hockey also occurs outside of the hockey season, allowing for all the best players in the world to be available, unlike the World Championships, which overlaps with the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The World Cup of Hockey was preceded by the Canada Cup, which began in 1976 in a combined effort from Douglas Fisher of Hockey Canada and Alan Eagleson of the NHL Players' Association. Taking inspiration from soccer's FIFA World Cup, Eagleson proposed a new tournament that would bring together all the top hockey-playing nations. After successful negotiations with hockey officials from the Soviet Union in September 1974, Eagleson began arranging the Canada Cup tournament, which debuted in 1976. It was the first international ice hockey tournament that allowed hockey nations to field their top players, as the Winter Olympics was a strictly amateur competition and the annual World Championships clashed with the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vincent Lecavalier (born April 21, 1980) is a Canadian professional hockey center and captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Lecavalier played two years of junior hockey for the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his tenure, he quickly established himself as one of the NHL's top prospects. In his first season with the Océanic, he won the Michel Bergeron Trophy as the QMJHL's top rookie forward, and the RDS Cup as the top rookie overall.

Lecavalier was drafted first overall by Tampa Bay in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, during which new Lightning owner Art Williams proclaimed that Lecavalier would be "the Michael Jordan of hockey".

On March 1, 2000, following his sophomore season, he was named captain, becoming the youngest captain in NHL history at 19 years and 314 days (since surpassed by Sidney Crosby). Previously, Steve Yzerman had held that honour, having been named captain of the Detroit Red Wings at 21 years, 5 months.

Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu (born February 16, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who plays for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He is the brother of Jarkko Ruutu, a former NHL player currently playing for Jokerit, and retired player Mikko Ruutu.

Ruutu started out playing for HIFK in the Finnish SM-liiga in the 1999–00 season, and moved to Jokerit for the next two seasons. In 2002 he returned to HIFK for one more season. He was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, as their first-round pick, #9 overall. He crossed the Atlantic in 2003, playing a full 82 games with the Blackhawks in the 2003–04 NHL season.

He did not play during the NHL lockout, as he was recovering from injuries, but provided commentary on Finnish television during the ice hockey world championships, along with fellow NHL player Ville Nieminen. Ruutu returned to the NHL after the lockout, but his 2005–06 NHL season was cut short, first by a back injury that kept him out of the game for most of the fall, and in January an ankle injury requiring surgery ended his season.