The Czech men's national ice hockey team is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world, currently ranked fifth by the IIHF. It is controlled by the Czech Ice Hockey Association. The Czechs won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and won three straight gold medals at the world championships from 1999 to 2001. In the next 3 years the team did not get a medal at the world championships - not even home at the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships held in Prague and Ostrava in the Czech Republic, thus keeping the "world championship home ice curse" alive. But the following year the Czechs won gold at the the 2005 tournament, the only world championship where, due to the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, all NHL players were available to participate. At the 2006 Winter Oly