Did you enjoy the tournament without NHLers?

[jetsforever]

I cared about the outcome, but I was mad that Canada lost because they're missing their top few hundred players.
Also, nothing against Germany but there's no way they should be making the final.
It's time to change the rules back.

 

[Alwalys]

Between the large ice and the quality of player, that was some out and out BAD hockey. i was entertained because of the competition but as a fan of the NHL I could not help but notice how bad the level of play was.

 

[KingBilly]

I didn't enjoy it so much, but then the games were on at an ungodly hour and I didn't catch many live. I enjoyed the women's tournament a lot and they lost to their hated rival. Night and day. At least the women's was best on best in some sort of fashion. There were bragging rights on the line. Even if Canada came up on the short end of it(and deservedly so, I think).

It's not that NHL'ers have to participate, it's that I wish there were a way to make it best on best without their participation. The World Juniors is about the closest you can get, to a best on best without NHL participation. As soon as some pro leagues participate, but not the biggest one, it leads to a situation where no one can say it proves anything. And that bugs me a little. You can't really say what it means.

It was a bit of a farce, but kinda entertaining to see a country like Germany have their moment. Still, I walk away having learned almost nothing about where the countries rank in terms of hockey.

 

[Passionis]

Yes, definately.

But having NHLers would also be fun.

 

[SotasicA]

It was better this way. I don't want NHLers in the Olympics.

This might favour some teams though, so maybe U20 would be the best format for the Winter Games.

But it was cool to see an underdog Germany knock out so many teams, so I did enjoy this much more than the Sochi games, for instance. Canada's overpowering talent made those games boring. And I don't want the NHL to stop for two weeks anyway. That's just dumb. There's the World Cup for an NHL-driven tournament already, if you have that itch.

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Nope. (Sweden)

 

[mel]

I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Maybe if it was made up of all amateurs I would have enjoyed it more? Not sure. It could also be the time zone. I didn't get to watch as many games as I would have liked and the ones I did watch were not very entertaining.

 

[stampedingviking]

I was against the NHL players not going but after watching the tournament I found it to be a lot better and more entertaining than recent ones. It was nice to see a pretty even field with no team jam packed with superstars just steamroller over lesser teams. The big ice meaning more space for skill helped tremendously, none of the dump chase/board battle/line change you normally see on the smaller ice.

No NHL in 2022 wouldn't upset me.

 

[W75]

It's different.

 

[Past Considerations]

Definitely less. I treated it pretty similarly than I nowadays treat IIHF Worlds, that means watching-following games as background noise but not really caring enough and not losing sleep over the results. The final was the only one I actually watched properly. Not a great tournament, but Germany making the final is a great story and the pretty exciting gold medal game might be seen as a classic in the future.

 

[Past Considerations]

Maybe if it was made up of all amateurs I would have enjoyed it more?

Why this idea keeps popping up? You're not going to find a lot of true amateurs outside of hobbyist / beer league level. If hockey is the only thing you do and you get paid to do it, then you can't be an amateur.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Liked it because all teams were fairly evenly match in all honesty. Korea was competitive, Germany was a minute away from winning gold and Canada faced tough competition throughout. If that doesn't scream parity, I don't know what does.

If the NHlers were participating, Canada/USA would be the de facto final like it was in both 2010 (in actuality) and in 2014 (the semifinal). This year, almost every team had a chance of knocking off the other.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Germany getting silver says it all for me. What a sham.

 

[canuck2010]

In terms of higher faster stronger, it has to be termed an absolute failure. Some of the hockey was pretty bad.

But as in any competition, there were exciting moments and Cinderella stories. Nice to see some dark horse countries with a chance to win. Russia (OAR lol) gets to add another tainted gold to there Olympic legacy, big deal.

Thought the penalty call in OT was pretty lame. I mean come on.

 

[Frank the Tank]

It was OK. Funny enough it reminded me of a world championship in an Olympic year where strange things happen because the top tier players are absent.

 

[Bonk]

Didn't care, didn't watch for the first time in my life.

Except for the women's gold-medal game, that is.

 

[Baxterman]

I voted no because it was the closest option but really it wasn't so much that I didn't like it as I just didn't care.

Didn't watch more than 10 mins (while flipping through channels) didn't even realize that Canada had already played, let alone won, the Bronze medal game until I found a few hours after the game and still can't name more than 5 guys on the roster.

Congrats to the Germans on their run but I don't watch the local Atom tournament playing on my local rinks at Christmas time and I didn't watch this tournament because both have as much relevance to me as each other, which is none.

 

[Chimpradamus]

It was total shit. I watched two games and one period and that was it. It wasn't enjoyable whatsoever, it felt like a Euro Hockey Tour tournament in december, in some empty ice barn in nowhere on a thursday. No, I don't watch those either.

I watched zero minutes of the women's hockey, because that isn't hockey. It's bandy with a puck.

All in all, I watched barely nothing of this olympics, I mostly ignored it.

 

[Vintage93]

It was poor hockey and borderline unwatchable even at the best of times

 

[Ceremony]

What I saw of it, yes.

Although your poll is missing a "Yes, as much as I would have if NHL players were playing" option.

 

[robertmac43]

I came in with a skeptical outlook on the tournament but after giving it a chance I really enjoyed it

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

It was poor hockey and borderline unwatchable even at the best of times

Mostly agree.

It had some moments of great play, mostly from the Russians, but overall I felt like I was watching college hockey from two schools with mediocre programs.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Timezone differences affected quite a bit, but also the lack of stars drew excitement from it
Usually for us Europeans the one time we see our stars on free tv is in the Olympics. There is an excitement, a 4 year or more wait

Eg. Nagano 98 Selänne-Koivu-Lehtinen looked the best line in the world, 2002 Saku had cancer, So we had to wait until 2006 to have a real shot with our best team, and in between - we didn’t see that line against the best.

 

[ovikovy817]

YEEEEEESS

 

[joe89]

I probably would've watched more had the tournament been in Europe, but I can't say I did. I watched 3½ of Sweden's games, the overtime of USA-Slovenia and the last 5 minutes + overtime in the gold medal game. That's for sure the least I've ever watched of Olympic hockey.

You don't have to add "that favored Russia" in the poll. I don't care who it favored. I just want an interesting tournament. The World Champs can be very interesting no matter who is favored on paper. I don't feel like the Olympics reached that level. Yes, the outcome with Germany was pretty exciting but I don't know if that makes the tournament as a whole any better.