Another NHL Marketing Fail: No Canada-NA Game

[Soundwave]

Have you ever considered the possibility that team NA may not have wanted to play their own country?

That whole bird flew the coop when they decided to allow NAT into the tournament period.

Once they decided to go ahead with the team, it's a no brainer from a marketing POV to have them play at least once in the pre-tournament games at least.

 

[Sky04]

Because some of us remember when teams and countries hated each other on the ice and it always made for better hockey. I would refer anyone to the 1996 World Cup for instance as an example.

Cool, go live in nostalgia then, no national teams "hate" each other right now, I'd rather just watch exciting hockey. Canada has dominated Russia since 2010, in best on best, it's not even exciting anymore, much rather would've seen them gone up against the NA team.

 

[Big Phil]

Regardless of format, what exactly was the rationale for having Team North America play Team Europe twice and then Czech Republic in the pre-tournament games?

The NHL had *full* control over that, NA-Canada should've been the final pre-tournament game.

Even at my local 7-11, I'm looking at their Pepsi display (World Cup sponsor) and the Team North America Pepsi is sold out, you can buy any one of the other countries. Kids are wearing that NA jersey all over the place.

Anyone with half a brain knows looking at this tournament this is a match up a casual fan would want to see. Not to mention Crosby and McDavid have never played against each other, this would be a fun way to have that happen.

But nope, lets have them play Czech Republic and Team Europe twice. And no offence to those teams, but isn't the point of this tournament to market the NHL?

Way to sell your game guys.

Lets go out of our way to avoid a match up that could create too much excitement.

Anyone over 30 would probably be able to recite the days when this tournament was about hockey superiority. Go figure huh? So yeah, count me in as one of those guys desperately cheering on Russia so that I don't have to see my country play a bunch of kids from a continent in a very important game. I'll stick to our traditional rivals.

 

[NickLidstrom]

That whole bird flew the coop when they decided to allow NAT into the tournament period.

Once they decided to go ahead with the team, it's a no brainer from a marketing POV to have them play at least once in the pre-tournament games at least.

You seem to be the only one in the thread to think it was a 'no brainer'.

 

[The Greatest 101]

Just organising North America cup next time,so no one can mess up the marketing.lol

 

[Soundwave]

You seem to be the only one in the thread to think it was a 'no brainer'.

Maybe. Seems pretty damn obvious to me though. Look at a company like EA when they show clips of this tourney, the main match up they show is North America-Canada, because that's what people want to see.

It's called ..... market-ing.

Something that apparently eludes the NHL entirely.

But hey, we got Team North America versus Czech Republic and Team Europe twice! Great planning NHL. Pat yourself on the back for that one, you'll overtake women's tennis one day ... maybe.

 

[JackSlater]

I think this was intentional and if anything the point was to avoid this. NAT-USA/CAN = playing against your own country.

When the tournament was announced the NHL basically said that Hockey Canada and USA Hockey didn't want to actually play against the Young Gunz, so they were placed in different groups. They didn't want players playing against their own country. That is the likely reason that there was no exhibition game as well.

Darn................does that mean we have to settle for the greatest hockey rivalry of all-time in the semi-final on Saturday - Canada/Russia? I was so looking forward to Canada playing..................uh..........um...........Canada. Oh, and the USA. Yeah, them too.

Nah, give me an actual country for a game that will have some actual passion and teeth behind it. If anyone noticed, McDavid is the first player that made a veiled complaint about this format today. Yeah, a 19 year old kid is the only one with the guts to speak out against it. Not Sidney "management" Crosby. But McDavid. He simply said in 4 years he would not want to play for NA but for "his country." He was careful how he worded it but the gist of it was "it's been fun but I want to be serious in 4 years". He also set his sight on the Olympics in 2018.

Lebrun put that out on the internet, good of McDavid to say the obvious. Good that the first frankenstein team was eliminated too. It worked out nicely, where at least one of the American/Canadian teams was hurt by the gimmick and the gimmick team still didn't even advance. Hopefully that helps in ensuring that it won't return.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Anyone over 30 would probably be able to recite the days when this tournament was about hockey superiority. Go figure huh? So yeah, count me in as one of those guys desperately cheering on Russia so that I don't have to see my country play a bunch of kids from a continent in a very important game. I'll stick to our traditional rivals.

I guess they should've played the group stages first, then negate the results from those games and after that decide what games they want to have in the semis to get the most exciting hockey.

If you would've wanted to see Canada, USA and NA in the same group, I won't argue that point. To have this thread started up now just screams saltiness from a team NA fan though.

 

[Soundwave]

I guess they should've played the group stages first, then negate the results from those games and after that decide what games they want to have in the semis to get the most exciting hockey.

If you would've wanted to see Canada, USA and NA in the same group, I won't argue that point. To have this thread started up now just screams saltiness from a team NA fan though.

Nah I'm bitter as a hockey fan, we missed out on an oppurtunity to watch something that honestly is probably once in a life time.

You'll never, ever see McDavid, Gaudreau, Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon, etc. on the same team ever again most likely, and to see them play against Crosby, Tavares, Toews, etc. would've been incredible, perhaps a special moment in hockey history.

One of the great crops of young players ever assembled taking on one of the greatest international powerhouses ever. Crosby vs. McDavid for the first time among 50 other great story lines.

But nope. Lets have them play Team Europe twice. And Team Czech Republic.

This tournament is a cynical cash grab anyway, if that's the case then at least give us hockey fans something new to see, instead we get to see Canada pummell Russia/whoever for the 50th time. Oh joy. And I say that as someone who supports Canada, but it's not like we don't get to see Canada play often, we've had the 2002 Olympics, 2006, 2010, 2014 and now they're throwing in this tournament too.

Give the fans something they'll remember.

 

[Yemack]

Nah I'm bitter as a hockey fan, we missed out on an oppurtunity to watch something that honestly is probably once in a life time.

You'll never, ever see McDavid, Gaudreau, Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon, etc. on the same team ever again most likely, and to see them play against Crosby, Tavares, Toews, etc. would've been incredible.

But nope. Lets have them play Team Europe twice. And Team Czech Republic.

This tournament is a cynical cash grab anyway, if that's the case then at least give us hockey fans something new to see, instead we get to see Canada pummell Russia/whoever for the 50th time. Oh joy. And I say that as someone who supports Canada, but it's not like we don't get to see Canada play often, we've had the 2002 Olympics, 2006, 2010, 2014 and now they're throwing in this tournament too.

Give the fans something they'll remember.

Just like you have 20/20 hindsight on marketing, I do have some insights on hockey and I know how team NA vs team Canada game would have gone. You would be pretty salty regardless. Just be happy they eliminated themselves.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Nah I'm bitter as a hockey fan, we missed out on an oppurtunity to watch something that honestly is probably once in a life time.

You'll never, ever see McDavid, Gaudreau, Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon, etc. on the same team ever again most likely, and to see them play against Crosby, Tavares, Toews, etc. would've been incredible.

But nope. Lets have them play Team Europe twice. And Team Czech Republic.

Like I said, I won't argue the point that they could've put team NA in the same group as Canada or played an exhibition game against them. The timing of this thread just makes it seem pretty salty.

 

[Roughneck]

It's called ..... market-ing.

Something that apparently eludes the NHL entirely.

But hey, we got Team North America versus Czech Republic and Team Europe twice! Great planning NHL. Pat yourself on the back for that one, you'll overtake women's tennis one day ... maybe.

Sold more tickets splitting them up than a NA-Canada and Czech-Europe setup would. TV deal was going to be the same regardless.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

If you weren't so dense, you'd clearly see that the only reason North America lost to Russia was because of Matt Murray trying to make saves with an injured finger, which caused 4 straight goals on 4 straight shots... About as dumb as it gets, really.

Aside from Murrays epic **** up, team NA skated circles around Russia that whole game and made them look like a slow beer league team.

Yea I'm sure that because of his injured finger, he couldn't block a shot or catch a puck
If his finger wasn't injured, he would have had a shutout am I right?

Blaming the loss on his injured finger is beyond stupid. It was a "minor injury" and it shouldn't have bothered him much. Heck Galchenyuk last season played his last 20 games with an injured finger, and he still managed to score like 16 goals in that span.

That 6 minutes wasn't only on Murray, the whole NA team were bad and looked like peewee players against Russia.

They only scored 3 goals on a bad and slow Russia defense. lol

 

[Soundwave]

Just like you have 20/20 hindsight on marketing, I do have some insights on hockey and I know how team NA vs team Canada game would have gone. You would be pretty salty regardless. Just be happy they eliminated themselves.

You need 20/20 hindsight to look at the teams in this tournament and say "hey this match up would be a good one, we probably should set aside at one least one of the pre-tournament games so the fans can enjoy it"?

Hope those NHL marketing execs aren't working too hard. Wouldn't want them to burst a brain cell.

And yeah, sure Team Canada would win. Maybe. I also though guarantee you it would be a pretty fun game to watch and a game people likely would talk about for years.

But nah. Why have that when you can have NAT vs. Czech Republic.

 

[Inkling]

Anyone over 30 would probably be able to recite the days when this tournament was about hockey superiority. Go figure huh? So yeah, count me in as one of those guys desperately cheering on Russia so that I don't have to see my country play a bunch of kids from a continent in a very important game. I'll stick to our traditional rivals.

I don't know...the integrity of this particular tournament (as an international competition) was already out the window when TNA and TE got created. Given that, I would have loved to have seen TNA play Canada for the sheer novelty. We'll probably never get the opportunity again and it would have been fun.

 

[Seanaconda]

Yea I'm sure that because of his injured finger, he couldn't block a shot or catch a puck
If his finger wasn't injured, he would have had a shutout am I right?

Blaming the loss on his injured finger is beyond stupid. It was a "minor injury" and it shouldn't have bothered him much. Heck Galchenyuk last season played his last 20 games with an injured finger, and he still managed to score like 16 goals in that span.

That 6 minutes wasn't only on Murray, the whole NA team were bad and looked like peewee players against Russia.

They only scored 3 goals on a bad and slow Russia defense. lol

Scored 4 against Swedens defense and the king.

So does this mean Russia is better defensively than Sweden? Crazy. But anyways I would love a canada vs na game and a canada vs Sweden and a canada vs russia game.

 

[Yemack]

You need 20/20 hindsight to look at the teams in this tournament and say "hey this match up would be a good one, we probably should set aside at one least one of the pre-tournament games so the fans can enjoy it"?

Hope those NHL marketing execs aren't working too hard. Wouldn't want them to burst a brain cell.

And yeah, sure Team Canada would win. Maybe. I also though guarantee you it would be a pretty fun game to watch and a game people likely would talk about for years.

But nah. Why have that when you can have NAT vs. Czech Republic.

Dont worry about NHL marketing execs. They are doing just fine getting paid handsomely. Just worry about yourself instead.

 

[Soundwave]

Scored 4 against Swedens defense and the king.

Probably should've been more than that too, the refs let Sweden get away with a bunch of blatant calls on Gaudreau and McDavid.

 

[Soundwave]

Dont worry about NHL marketing execs. They are doing just fine getting paid handsomely. Just worry about yourself instead.

They're also incompetent. I don't doubt they get paid reasonably well to sit around a table and sniff their own farts, which is probably the extent of their marketing knowledge. I doubt they're ever in any real danger of ever getting fired so why even bother trying.

I'm sure they are very happy working for the NHL ... because they would never have such positions with the NBA, NFL, or MLB.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Scored 4 against Swedens defense and the king.

So does this mean Russia is better defensively than Sweden? Crazy. But anyways I would love a canada vs na game and a canada vs Sweden and a canada vs russia game.

Like when a NHL team gets shut out by an AHL goalie and then scores five goals on Price in the next one? Every game is different and comparing games between different teams means absolutely nothing.

 

[Seanaconda]

Like when a NHL team gets shut out by an AHL goalie and then scores five goals on Price in the next one? Every game is different and comparing games between different teams means absolutely nothing.

Just a response to the they only scored 3 goals against a weak Russia defense. I know how hockey works.

 

[NeverForget06]

I don't know...the integrity of this particular tournament (as an international competition) was already out the window when TNA and TE got created. Given that, I would have loved to have seen TNA play Canada for the sheer novelty. We'll probably never get the opportunity again and it would have been fun.

This is my opinion on the matter. Why not? Those who believe this tournament is a dumb gimmick aren't going to change their minds at this point. So why not let the rest of us enjoy this great hockey

 

[WonderTwinsUnite]

I really don't understand why the teams didn't just play the teams in the other pool for exhibition.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Just a response to the they only scored 3 goals against a weak Russia defense. I know how hockey works.

The Swedes were also playing a back to back game against speedy NA team that had a day off in between. Not that much of a surprise that Swedish defense or Lunqvist weren't at their sharpest.

 

[Past Considerations]

btw this exact format is used by FIFA World Cup. 4 teams in same group stage and 2 teams advance.

With the tiny difference that the are 8 groups, and the groups are formed in a way that the teams are put in the groups based on the qualifications and drawn from pools based on rankings. Wich means there isn't going to be a group with 4 good teams (of course in soccer the difference between good and bad teams is much smaller) unless there are some major surprises in the qualification stage.

I have no idea why FIFA World Cup is being bought up in these threads all the time. The name is the only similarity.