Does this tournament mean anything to Russia?

[Riddum]

This is mostly a question for Russian posters.

In Canada, no really one cares about it. No one is talking about it or watching the games. No one can name 3 people on the Canadian Roster.

So when Russia wins the tournament, will it be celebrated in Russia?

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[NyQuil]

 

[Peiskos]

Of course it will be celebrated, I'm not Russian but I know how Russians are, specifically Russian hockey fans. They will treat a potential win at the Olympic tournament (especially if they beat Canada in the final) as a legitimate opportunity to proclaim that Russian hockey is superior to Canadian hockey.

Even though it would be ridiculous to ever suggest that.

 

[Albatros]

The NHL not participating is counted against the NHL, not really against the Olympics. Winning it now would be quite different to Sochi, but for different reasons.

 

[Pouchkine]

Try Telling Don Cherry this isn't important! Some posters here are absolutely clueless.

Winning Olympic Gold means Winning Olympic Gold it's celebrated everywhere in every discipline especially one this prestigious.

 

[wretched34]

Perhaps don't speak on behalf of an entire nation.....
Just because you obviously don't care, doesn't mean no one does.
I'm actually more interested in this tournament than I have been in past tournaments. Sure it's always amazing to see the absolute best in the world play eachother, but in past Olympics, I really didn't start paying attention until the semi's, because it was expected that Canada would be there. As per the game this morning, Canada barely made it out of the quarters, and it was a heck of a game.

As for the players, though I may not be able to name them all, I can name most, and I am excited for them. There are a lot of guys who had their dreams of being fulltime NHLers, or even making the NHL cut short, and now, here they are, Olympians. Representing their entire country on the world stage. There are 2 things hockey kids in Canada grow up dreaming of, the Stanley Cup, and an Olympic Gold, most of these guys never got a sniff at the Stanley cup, so I'm happy that they can represent our country, and reach for a dream.

I will celebrate a Canadian gold in 2018, as much, if not more than the Olympic gold in 2014.

 

[Zine]

This is mostly a question for Russian posters.

In Canada, no really one cares about it. No one is talking about it or watching the games. No one can name 3 people on the Canadian Roster.

So when Russia wins the tournament, will it be celebrated in Russia?

‘So when Russia wins’? A little premature, no?

As it pertains to hockey fans, it might be a bigger deal if we manage to screw this up.
But if we win there will be some celebration but nothing like there would be normally.

Non NHL-participation aside, these olympics in general have been rather lacklustre in popularity because of the whole ‘Olympic Athlete From Russia’ thing.

 

[Name Nameless]

Not a Russian, so I guess I'm not what you asked for. But my hunch is they care a lot. Like, a lot. And that that NHL-thing means nothing to them. OAR has had a miserable Olympics. This should mean it means even more to win in hockey.

 

[Pouchkine]

If Russia wins Gold and Silver in Ladies Figure Skating and Olympic Gold in Hockey that would salvage their olympics.

 

[Zine]

Of course it will be celebrated, I'm not Russian but I know how Russians are, specifically Russian hockey fans. They will treat a potential win at the Olympic tournament (especially if they beat Canada in the final) as a legitimate opportunity to proclaim that Russian hockey is superior to Canadian hockey.

Even though it would be ridiculous to ever suggest that.

You know how Russians are and think? Wow, I didn’t realize we were such a uniform and homogeneous group of people. Thank heavens we have you to analyze us properly!

Back on topic - For various reasons, there’s actually a reasonably sized contingent of fans who wouldnt mind if this team lost.

 

[Jon Riley]

People keep on acting like hockey fans are somewhat relevant compared to the whole world scale.
Most of the people out there do not even know what the NHL is, so for the vast majority of the people of the world this time is not different from any other olympic tournament. And an olympic gold is an olympic gold.

 

[ovikovy817]

Olympic gold is olympic gold. Olympic silver is olympic silver. Olympic bronze is olympic bronze. Olympic participation is olympic participation.

Or maybe you think there is no life outside the NHL? If so, you'll be disappointed.

 

[Talus]

This is mostly a question for Russian posters.

In Canada, no really one cares about it. No one is talking about it or watching the games. No one can name 3 people on the Canadian Roster.

So when Russia wins the tournament, will it be celebrated in Russia?

i do know what will happen if they don't win.this is Russia's only hope of getting Olympic gold and if they fail they will be not thought of very highly in their country or the hockey world.

 

[NyQuil]

Olympic gold is olympic gold. Olympic silver is olympic silver. Olympic bronze is olympic bronze. Olympic participation is olympic participation.

Or maybe you think there is no life outside the NHL? If so, you'll be disappointed.

Exactly.

There's plenty of life outside of the World Cup and the top domestic soccer leagues, and look how the Olympic soccer competition is viewed without all of the top players.

It's pretty much equivalent.

 

[ovikovy817]

Not a Russian, so I guess I'm not what you asked for. But my hunch is they care a lot. Like, a lot. And that that NHL-thing means nothing to them. OAR has had a miserable Olympics. This should mean it means even more to win in hockey.

false

Russia had a very good olympics.
We are participating without our best athletes unfairly not invited, who could win 9+ gold medals + others medals.

We had 33 medals in Sochi.
Now (at the moment) we have 13 medals, we have 99,9% of chances to win at least 3 others medals. So it makes 16. (+ very good chances to had 2-3 others) but even with 16 it means

50% of what we won in Sochi. It's very good considering the whole situation.

This year our winter olympic team (I mean whole sports together, and with those who wasn't unfairly invited) was better than the team we had in Sochi.

 

[YMCMBYOLO]

false

Russia had a very good olympics.
We are participating without our best athletes unfairly not invited, who could win 9+ gold medals + others medals.

We had 33 medals in Sochi.
Now (at the moment) we have 13 medals, we have 99,9% of chances to win at least 3 others medals. So it makes 16. (+ very good chances to had 2-3 others) but even with 16 it means

50% of what we won in Sochi. It's very good considering the whole situation.

This year our winter olympic team (I mean whole sports together, and with those who wasn't unfairly invited) was better than the team we had in Sochi.

Sorry but Russia was fairly denied access due to them cheating. Don't believe everything you see on RT

 

[ovikovy817]

Sorry but Russia was fairly denied access due to them cheating. Don't believe everything you see on RT

RT??
Yeah better watch BBC, CNN, CBC and co.

So when even IOC and CAS said there is no proof of cheating, you continue to listen to your media?

 

[YMCMBYOLO]

RT??
Yeah better watch BBC, CNN, CBC and co.

So when even IOC and CAS said there is no proof of cheating, you continue to listen to your media?

IOC never said there was no proof of cheating, as with the CAS. "No proof" is just not true. CAS found "insufficient" but never said no proof. And I'm pretty sure the cat decision was based on the individual cases of 28 Russian athletes, not the actual doping scandal that occurred in 2014.

It's not a secret it was state sponsored, except well, your country while every other country knows what went down.

 

[Name Nameless]

IOC never said there was no proof of cheating, as with the CAS. "No proof" is just not true. CAS found "insufficient" but never said no proof. And I'm pretty sure the cat decision was based on the individual cases of 28 Russian athletes, not the actual doping scandal that occurred in 2014.

It's not a secret it was state sponsored, except well, your country while every other country knows what went down.

I think perhaps there is a mix-up here between the no proof on individual athletes, as opposed to proof on systematic irregularities in the system.

 

[Sportpsych90]

If you think Russians were the only ones “cheating” you’re sorely mistaken. A large portion of athletes at this level take ped’s, they just know when and how to do it not to fail a drug test

 

[Eisen]

It would be an Olympic Gold. It has it's own mystique.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

I would have thought that it traditionally means a lot to the Russian people.

 

[Fantomas]

Russia will party hard if they win.

 

[Cuthalu]

Why is it that so many people see denial as a better alternative to improvement?

 

[skacore]

Haha. A lot of Canadians are becoming very insecure over this tournament. We're used to winning most of the time, and being the heavy favourite. It's hilarious how many of us need to remind ourselves that "this tournament isn't real!" just in case we come up short. I also find it funny how everyone has secretly made Russia into this tournament's villain, and everyone would love to see them fail. They have the 2nd best league in the world besides the NHL? So what? Good for them, that's good for hockey.

Everybody still wants their country to win, NHL players or not, that's the truth. If games were being played at 7PM EST like most NHL games it would still be drawing a lot more interest.