WC: 2024 World Championship general discussion

[Reindl87]

Mm yes you are the only one? Ostrava sells out Polish games that would otherwise be some of the tougher sells and in general, the atmosphere there was great, I don't get what the issue is. While focussing everything in one city just puts a tremendous strain on its infrastructure, that's why it's generally not done.

Prag has 100 Thousand hotel beds, so this would not be a problem at all I think. Polish fans travel everywhere, I am 100 percent sure they would sell out games in Prag, too.

 

[Old Man Jags]

Amazing full arenas! It seems that after many let down years the tournament spirit and atmosphere is back again.

When Finland hosted this tournament (two years in a row!), it was just business. They did not care about the fans. It was just ridiculous ticked prices, empty arenas with corporate guests and crappy atmosphere. Only purpose of the tournament was to make money and keep real hockey fans away from the arenas.

When it's Finlands turn to host this tournament again, please give it to Czechia instead.

It looks like this tournament will break the record for attendance, which will give Prague / Ostrava 3 of the top 4 in attendance historically. Assuming the tournament does break the attendance record (it is well on course), the top ten will be:

1. Prague / Ostava 2024
2. Prague / Ostrava 2015
3. Minsk 2014
4. Prague / Ostrava 2004
5. Germany (3 cities) 2010
6. Helsinki / Tampere 1997
7. Quebec / Halifax 2008
8. Helsinki / Stockholm 2012
9. Helsinki / Turku / Tampere 2003
10. Stockholm / Helsinki 2013

 

[Swipes]

It looks like this tournament will break the record for attendance, which will give Prague / Ostrava 3 of the top 4 in attendance historically. Assuming the tournament does break the attendance record (it is well on course), the top ten will be:

1. Prague / Ostava 2024
2. Prague / Ostrava 2015
3. Minsk 2014
4. Prague / Ostrava 2004
5. Germany (3 cities) 2010
6. Helsinki / Tampere 1997
7. Quebec / Halifax 2008
8. Helsinki / Stockholm 2012
9. Helsinki / Turku / Tampere 2003
10. Stockholm / Helsinki 2013

Wow, it will even break the 2015 record. I was there for the tournament in 2015 (saw the QF vs Finland) and the atmosphere was electric. In contrast, going to Copenhagen in 2018 for a SF game involving Canada it was not as exciting (despite the Swiss beating Canada!)

 

[vorky]

It looks like this tournament will break the record for attendance, which will give Prague / Ostrava 3 of the top 4 in attendance historically. Assuming the tournament does break the attendance record (it is well on course), the top ten will be:

1. Prague / Ostava 2024
2. Prague / Ostrava 2015
3. Minsk 2014
4. Prague / Ostrava 2004
5. Germany (3 cities) 2010
6. Helsinki / Tampere 1997
7. Quebec / Halifax 2008
8. Helsinki / Stockholm 2012
9. Helsinki / Turku / Tampere 2003
10. Stockholm / Helsinki 2013

Hoping the IIHF will soon apply a rule that the IIHF Worlds can be held only on arenas over 10 000 seast with one arena obligatory over 15 000 seats. After a decade the minimal limit can be moved to 20 000 seats.

Btw, if the tournament would held in SP as planned, its capacity would be #1 with one arena for 12500 fans & second for cca 23500 fans.

 

[Czechboy]

It looks like this tournament will break the record for attendance, which will give Prague / Ostrava 3 of the top 4 in attendance historically. Assuming the tournament does break the attendance record (it is well on course), the top ten will be:

1. Prague / Ostava 2024
2. Prague / Ostrava 2015
3. Minsk 2014
4. Prague / Ostrava 2004
5. Germany (3 cities) 2010
6. Helsinki / Tampere 1997
7. Quebec / Halifax 2008
8. Helsinki / Stockholm 2012
9. Helsinki / Turku / Tampere 2003
10. Stockholm / Helsinki 2013

Curious if you have the numbers
.. also curious if you have the numbers for the U20s? Would be fun to compare.

 

[Elvs]

Hoping the IIHF will soon apply a rule that the IIHF Worlds can be held only on arenas over 10 000 seast with one arena obligatory over 15 000 seats. After a decade the minimal limit can be moved to 20 000 seats.

Not possible.

List of European ice hockey arenas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[gritdash60]

Right now i would say Sweden is easily the biggest favorite to win. Canada and USA trailing and then it's a crapshoot. Finland doesn't have a good team and i would put us in the same tier with Czech, Slovakia and Switzerland.

And no, i dont put much weight on the first 3 games of any team, since we have seen it time and time again that they really dont matter.

 

[EK47]

Not possible.

List of European ice hockey arenas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It’s fairly obvious what his aim is.

 

[awegrzyn]

Polish team was aiming for a medal and would probably get it, but they showed up with a goalie who plays below 81% Can't make playoffs like that.

 

[Czechboy]

Right now i would say Sweden is easily the biggest favorite to win. Canada and USA trailing and then it's a crapshoot. Finland doesn't have a good team and i would put us in the same tier with Czech, Slovakia and Switzerland.

And no, i dont put much weight on the first 3 games of any team, since we have seen it time and time again that they really dont matter.

Swiss may be on a higher level. Some really good forwards but they also have Josi and Josi is phenomenal.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Swiss/Canada/Finland all start playing each other.

 

[ORRFForever]

Right now i would say Sweden is easily the biggest favorite to win.

 

[NyQuil]

Swiss may be on a higher level. Some really good forwards but they also have Josi and Josi is phenomenal.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Swiss/Canada/Finland all start playing each other.

The Swiss always play Canada tough.

 

[Mirinho]

I just calculated that in first 3 days of the WC, over 200,000 spectators visited the tournament that's not bad, I'd say
9109 SVK vs GER
16617 SUI vs NOR
9109 SWE vs USA
17413 CZE vs FIN
9109 FRA vs KAZ
16935 GBR vs CAN
9109 POL vs LAT
15719 AUT vs DEN
9109 USA vs GER
17413 CZE vs NOR
9109 SVK vs KAZ
15433 FIN vs GBR
8525 LAT vs FRA
16015 DEN vs CAN
8425 SWE vs POL
13512 AUT vs SUI ..... is 200.661 together

Another 3 days:
9109 USA vs SVK
16127 NOR vs FIN
8309 GER vs SWE
17413 SUI vs CZE
7025 KAZ vs LAT
10011 DEN vs NOR
6797 POL vs FRA
14704 CAN vs AUT
8652 GER vs LAT
17413 CZE vs DEN
9109 SVK vs POL
15239 SUI vs GBR .... 139.908 together (340.569 after first six days)

 

[mattihp]

Lots of goals in these champs, good to have a great amount of fans to see that.

Only Finland and Sweden concentrate on keeping the conceded goals down.

 

[NyQuil]

Lots of goals in these champs, good to have a great amount of fans to see that.

Only Finland and Sweden concentrate on keeping the conceded goals down.

Early days.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Holy crikey Austria!

 

[NyQuil]

 

[Jukurit]

Finland might not even make quarter-finals. 3 games remaining against Canada, Switzerland and Denmark. Most likely 0 points against Canada and Switzerland. If they get 3 points against Denmark that puts them at 10 points. Austria has 3 games remaining (Czechia, Norway, GB). If they get 6 points they end with 10 points. Austria makes the quarter-finals ahead of Finland because they won the game against Finland.

 

[NyQuil]

Finland might not even make quarter-finals. 3 games remaining against Canada, Switzerland and Denmark. Most likely 0 points against Canada and Switzerland. If they get 3 points against Denmark that puts them at 10 points. Austria has 3 games remaining (Czechia, Norway, GB). If they get 6 points they end with 10 points. Austria makes the quarter-finals ahead of Finland because they won the game against Finland.

I'd be surprised if Finland is blanked in regulation by both Switzerland and Canada. Not to mention, Austria might underestimate their opposition the way other teams have against them.

Still a lot of moving parts for me to get too excited about Austria's chances.

 

[Jukurit]

I'd be surprised if Finland is blanked in regulation by both Switzerland and Canada. Not to mention, Austria might underestimate their opposition the way other teams have against them.

Still a lot of moving parts for me to get too excited about Austria's chances.

Finland is very bad this year. Canada will easily destroy them and Switzerland will most likely win too.

 

[NyQuil]

Finland is very bad this year. Canada will easily destroy them and Switzerland will most likely win too.

The roller coaster is part of the fun of the tournament.

I think Finland will tighten up knowing what is at stake.

Canada has to play all three of the higher ranked teams in a row so we'll see if they can elevate their level of play accordingly.

 

[ForumNamePending]

The round robin is only half over, so plenty of time for my post to jinx things, but up to this point, it's good too see that while a decent amount of high end talent has returned to the tournament, a high number of blowouts haven't. From a competitiveness standpoint this tournament really wasn't trending in a positive direction in the 3-4 years preceding COVID.

 

[andy500]

GB need to go and win a couple of games now to avoid relegation. Not seeing where the goals are coming from to make that possible, but they have played the three teams with most quality so far.

Huge game tomorrow against Denmark.

 

[Old Man Jags]

Austria has momentum and as a Czech fan, I am now very worried about tomorrow’s game. We may well lose. BUT: As I said elsewhere, the Austrians are not suddenly all-powerful hockey overlords because they had some really great games. They did get beaten 5-1 by Denmark. So let’s just see what happens. This fantastic round robin may yet yield some more unexpected results.

I'd be surprised if Finland is blanked in regulation by both Switzerland and Canada. Not to mention, Austria might underestimate their opposition the way other teams have against them.

Still a lot of moving parts for me to get too excited about Austria's chances.

i

 

[stv11]

It's not unusual to see teams that get good results as underdog have trouble when they play as favourite. Austria won't have an easy time against Norway.

And Finland is perfectly capable of beating anyone. My money is still on them to reach the quarterfinals.