KREFELD, Germany – At its best, ice hockey has the ability to create camaraderie and an outlet for healthy competition between people from widely divergent backgrounds. It has the ability to transcend political boundaries and to promote teamwork between groups of individuals bonded by the crests on the front of their uniforms and not by the surnames on the back.

It’s 2010, and we’re not living on Mars or wearing silver jumpsuits (yet, anyway). We do, however, have a better sense of which coaches have delivered the most value at elite-level international hockey tournaments since 2000.