4 Ways to make the Olympics a better tournament

[Mr Kanadensisk]

I'm a big international ice hockey fan, but I think there are a few things that could be done to improve the Olympic tournament.
Gary Betman should realize that the Olympics are the best advertising his league could ever have, and should do everything possible to help the tournament. This would required strong leadership on his behalf so that individual teams wouldn't try to hold players back. Obviously individual clubs act in their own interest first, and not necessarily in the interest of the league or the game.

1) Shorten the NHL season in Olympic years, say by ten games, and increase the length of the Olympic break. This would amount to each club losing the revenue from 5 home games every four years. Considering the huge upside to the league, this shouldn't be to onerous.

2) Put a clause in all NHL player contracts requiring them to play if they are selected by their country. A lot of countries pay their Olympic athletes bonuses for winning medals, and I wouldn't object to NHLers getting an extra bonus if they are selected to play. This might help appease the union.

3) Have an exchange program with refs from Europe. This gets the NHL refs experience with International rules, and European refs would get exposure to games with players of the NHL caliber.

4)The "Elite Seven" nations of Hockey (Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech, Slovakia) have rosters packed with NHL stars. After that the talent level drops off considerably. This years tournament has 12 teams, five of which aren't really competitive with the rest. This year teams that make it to the medal round will play 8 games.
I propose only having 8 teams in the tournament, the "Elite 7" plus one. Hold a qualifying tournament in the summer, with the winner getting the eighth Olympic spot.
Have all 8 teams play each other once, with the top four teams advancing to the semi finals. This way every game would be a highly skilled, competitive match, and medalling teams would play 9 games, only one more than this year.

Click to read more...

 

[shawn_kemp*]

I agree with 2 and 3 and 4

 

[Hire Sather]

FORCING guys to play? Yeah that helps..

 

[EHCler]

FORCING guys to play? Yeah that helps..

Any intelligent coach whould anyway pick the players who will give everything for their country. Most players even NHL stars are proud to play for their country at the olympics and will play 100%. If someone does not care well the coach should not pick him. That is purely the coaches responsibility, if the coach is unable to do so well maybe he is the one to be fired.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

FORCING guys to play? Yeah that helps..

Think of it more like expecting them to play.

 

[Slitty]

The Olympics arent about winning, its about competing and representing your nation. Just because Latvia for example has no hope of winning, that dosent mean that they shouldnt play in the Olympics.

 

[RUSqueelin*]

Good points and well thought out.

Concerning #4. Did they not do this in 2002. I swear I remember teams like Germany trying to qualify and not having their few NHL players in the process (NHL teams wouldn't release them earlier) So they've now changed it to this format.

If you think about it though. If the goal is to increase NHL presence and popularity world wide then why not have more counties in the tourney?

 

[jekoh]

Concerning #4. Did they not do this in 2002. I swear I remember teams like Germany trying to qualify and not having their few NHL players in the process (NHL teams wouldn't release them earlier) So they've now changed it to this format.

No they didn't do this in 2002, there were actually two more teams in 2002. And one of those teams which supposedly can't compete did knock out the number one contender, remember ? They couldn't even qualify this time, which shows the other countries as just as good.

No, this format in Turin is the good format, a round-robin with only eight teams would be boring. And qualifying tournaments should be played during the season, not in the summer. Especially since you have, what, 25 countries entering the qualifiers. Also keep in mind the hosts are through automatically, which only the Top-6 would be automatic qualifiers, not Top-7.

Agree with 1, 2 and 3, though.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

No they didn't do this in 2002, there were actually two more teams in 2002. And one of those teams which supposedly can't compete did knock out the number one contender, remember ? They couldn't even qualify this time, which shows the other countries as just as good.

No, this format in Turin is the good format, a round-robin with only eight teams would be boring. And qualifying tournaments should be played during the season, not in the summer. Especially since you have, what, 25 countries entering the qualifiers. Also keep in mind the hosts are through automatically, which only the Top-6 would be automatic qualifiers, not Top-7.

Agree with 1, 2 and 3, though.

The Swede's just couldn't get themselves up for the game against Belarus. It's a shame Sweden lost, because Belarus were slaughtered by Canada and Russia in the next two games, and showed to me they really had no business being there.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

The Olympics arent about winning, its about competing and representing your nation. Just because Latvia for example has no hope of winning, that dosent mean that they shouldnt play in the Olympics.

I guess what the Olympics are about is different for every fan, but to me it's about seeing the world's most elite athletes competeing head to head to find out who is the best.

 

[Force]

They should have 32 teams in the Olympic Tourney, not 8. The Olympics about about representing your country to the best of your abilies, and i say Canada vs. Israel would be an awesome game. Canada could learn a lot. This isn't some silly "World Cup of Hockey" figurnig out who is "The Best". This is to compete with the youth of the World in PEACE. North American sports attitude gets on my nerves again and again.

(Who is this Kobe Bryan't anyway? If he is supposed to be a good Basketball Player, why doesn't he step on the court and win a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ? As if scoring 81 Points in some kindergarden league full of kindergarden merchandising and kindergarden fans would mean anything. Live in the Olympic Village, meet athletes from around the world, represent your country to the best of your abililies and try your hardest to win a medal - and if you don't respect the performance of your adveraries. The Heart of a champion isn't made of winning or scoring... Sorry wrong sport t.t)

 

[Sanderson]

And why exactly should they do that?
Last I know, you have to qualify for the Olympics, for every category there is. You can't just allow everyone to participate, it would take ages and there isn't enough place for all the athletes.

You don't seem to know much about Olympic history. The Greeks didn't invent it to have a happy meeting, it was always a competition. The peace-part comes from the fact, that some of the tribes were at war with each other and they weren't supposed to fight each other at that place. It never was about "world-peace" or something like that.

 

[jekoh]

The Swede's just couldn't get themselves up for the game against Belarus. It's a shame Sweden lost, because Belarus were slaughtered by Canada and Russia in the next two games, and showed to me they really had no business being there.

Sure Sweden deserved the Gold medal in SLC, no question but you've got to love the giant killing, i'd rather have the 2002 games without Czechia than without Belarus (and I always root for the Czechs). Any real fan of the sport must hope Switzerland or Germany can knock out the US or Finland, or something. That would be best for hockey.

 

[Jussi]

The easiest way to make the tournament better would be to start the NHL season a week earlier, thus allowing a longer break and a little less hectic schedule.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

They should have 32 teams in the Olympic Tourney, not 8. The Olympics about about representing your country to the best of your abilies, and i say Canada vs. Israel would be an awesome game. Canada could learn a lot. This isn't some silly "World Cup of Hockey" figurnig out who is "The Best". This is to compete with the youth of the World in PEACE. North American sports attitude gets on my nerves again and again.

(Who is this Kobe Bryan't anyway? If he is supposed to be a good Basketball Player, why doesn't he step on the court and win a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ? As if scoring 81 Points in some kindergarden league full of kindergarden merchandising and kindergarden fans would mean anything. Live in the Olympic Village, meet athletes from around the world, represent your country to the best of your abililies and try your hardest to win a medal - and if you don't respect the performance of your adveraries. The Heart of a champion isn't made of winning or scoring... Sorry wrong sport t.t)

This is talking. I agree 100%

 

[shawn_kemp*]

My super solution to make the Olympics better :

instead of a 12-team or 8-team tourney, just make it a best of 15 games series between Canada and Russia. The other teams can compete in the World Championship or something!

 

[shawn_kemp*]

The easiest way to make the tournament better would be to start the NHL season a week earlier, thus allowing a longer break and a little less hectic schedule.

Bingo. I would add that they could also delay the start of the playoffs by a week.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Remember that they barely got the new CBA resolved barely in time for training camp. This year, starting the season a week early wasn't really an option. But yes, getting started a bit earlier would generally be a good idea.

The only bullet point in the first post that I agree with is #3. The idea of forcing players to play in the Olympics is silly and counterintuitive to the democratic ideals most of these countries employ. And as for the "Elite Seven" it will not always be thus, one can't define a team's abilities strictly by the number of NHL players on it.

 

[helicecopter]

Remember that they barely got the new CBA resolved barely in time for training camp. This year, starting the season a week early wasn't really an option.

Actually thats' not true. There was the time to anticipate training camps and moreover to shorten them. And there was without a doubt the time to posticipate the start of the playoffs, so i guess that's not the point (it's not a valid excuse/explanation).. let's tell it as it is, it was just their choice to not do anything of that sort.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

They should have 32 teams in the Olympic Tourney, not 8. The Olympics about about representing your country to the best of your abilies, and i say Canada vs. Israel would be an awesome game. Canada could learn a lot. This isn't some silly "World Cup of Hockey" figurnig out who is "The Best". This is to compete with the youth of the World in PEACE. North American sports attitude gets on my nerves again and again.

(Who is this Kobe Bryan't anyway? If he is supposed to be a good Basketball Player, why doesn't he step on the court and win a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ? As if scoring 81 Points in some kindergarden league full of kindergarden merchandising and kindergarden fans would mean anything. Live in the Olympic Village, meet athletes from around the world, represent your country to the best of your abililies and try your hardest to win a medal - and if you don't respect the performance of your adveraries. The Heart of a champion isn't made of winning or scoring... Sorry wrong sport t.t)

Yes and the East Germans really exemplified this sense of sportsmanship, I'm sorry my North American attitude upsets you so much!

 

[RUSqueelin*]

No they didn't do this in 2002, there were actually two more teams in 2002. And one of those teams which supposedly can't compete did knock out the number one contender, remember ? They couldn't even qualify this time, which shows the other countries as just as good.

No, this format in Turin is the good format, a round-robin with only eight teams would be boring. And qualifying tournaments should be played during the season, not in the summer. Especially since you have, what, 25 countries entering the qualifiers. Also keep in mind the hosts are through automatically, which only the Top-6 would be automatic qualifiers, not Top-7.

Agree with 1, 2 and 3, though.

Ahh...knew my memory wasn't that bad.

http://www.canoe.ca/2002GamesHockeyFeb02/0220_hky11-sun.html

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Here's my dream Olympic format:

I would hold a tournament in the summer with these teams (Switzerland, Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Austria, Denmark, Kazakhstan), winner qualifies for the Olympics.

For example, say Switzerland wins.

I would have this schedule over the 16 day Olympic competition:

Day1: Can-Fin, USA-Swe, Cze-Svk, Rus-Sui
Day2: Can-Swe, USA-Sui
Day3: Fin-Cze, Rus-Svk
Day4: Can-Sui, USA-Rus
Day5: Fin-Svk, Swe-Cze
Day6: USA-Svk, Fin-Rus
Day7: Can-Cze, Swe-Sui
Day8: Can-Rus, USA-Fin
Day9: Swe-Svk, Cze-Sui
Day10: Can-Svk, USA-Cze
Day11: Fin-Sui, Swe-Rus
Day12: Can-USA, Rus-Cze, Svk-Sui, Swe-Fin
Day13: Off
Day14: SF1(1st vs 4th), SF2(2nd vs 3rd)
Day15: Bronze Medal Game
Day16: Gold Medal Game

The talent level would be unreal, and ever game in the preliminary round would be crucial!

 

[jekoh]

Ahh...knew my memory wasn't that bad.

http://www.canoe.ca/2002GamesHockeyFeb02/0220_hky11-sun.html

I'm not sure what your point is, but contrary to what the article suggests, Slovakia was knocked out in the first round of the 2002 Olympics, not in a "qualifying tournament".

But yes the format has changed, which is a good thing, the 2002 one was a disgrace.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Actually thats' not true. There was the time to anticipate training camps and moreover to shorten them.

....which no team wanted to do, for good reason. You'd see twice the number of groin pull/muscle injuries that we're seeing now.

And there was without a doubt the time to posticipate the start of the playoffs

Postponing the start of the playoffs wouldn't make a difference, since the Olympics don't take place right prior to the start of the playoffs. They take place in the middle of the season, with dates already booked for those arenas in those weeks prior to and after the Olympic dates. The NHL can't reschedule games for free.

 

[helicecopter]

Postponing the start of the playoffs wouldn't make a difference, since the Olympics don't take place right prior to the start of the playoffs. They take place in the middle of the season, with dates already booked for those arenas in those weeks prior to and after the Olympic dates. The NHL can't reschedule games for free.

Postpone the start of the playoffs when you decide the regular season schedule and you can find a few free days before and after the Olympics.