200 Dollars - Elizabeth II Hockey, a National Passion

Issued the same year the Soviet Union collapsed and its national hockey program fractured, scattering players already established in the NHL and opening the floodgates for many more. Canada's relationship with the game had long been complicated by the amateur eligibility rules that kept NHL professionals out of Olympic competition — a restriction only fully lifted in 1998. This coin appeared while that debate was still live.

Part of the RCM's $200 gold series launched in 1990 to celebrate Canadian national themes, each issue limited to 50,000 pieces.