WC: General Talk '14 — Canada

[madmike77]

oh well...we'll line up in the queue stretching from one end of the country to the other paying bloated and inflated prices for the upcoming junior tournament...I mean there's no question the pressure to win at home now has to be on some Hockey Canada staffers/flunkies... it has to be...

It's unfortunate, but at the end of the day this tournament gets almost no press in NA because it always coincides with the NHL playoffs. It doesn't make sense for Hockey Canada to put a lot of effort into this tournament when the bottom line is most Canadians really don't care.

Right now they're using it primarily to give younger players who have the potential to be Team Canada stars in the future a taste of international hockey and I don't have a problem with that.

 

[JackSlater]

oh well...we'll line up in the queue stretching from one end of the country to the other paying bloated and inflated prices for the upcoming junior tournament...I mean there's no question the pressure to win at home now has to be on some Hockey Canada staffers/flunkies... it has to be...

I agree that they will be facing some pressure after years of WJC problems. A lot of that pressure is mitigated by the Olympics though. For the WC, I doubt HC feels any pressure. Canada can lose this tournament year after year and the average hockey fan (or even the vast majority of big hockey fans) won't give it another thought even a few minutes later. I will be interested to see if this attitude changes at all when TSN loses access to most of their NHL content. I would assume that they will go all in on international content, and the WC is at least something they can schedule each year. More prominent exposure might provide more incentive for HC and players to give it their all.

 

[1Gold Standard]

I agree that they will be facing some pressure after years of WJC problems. A lot of that pressure is mitigated by the Olympics though. For the WC, I doubt HC feels any pressure. Canada can lose this tournament year after year and the average hockey fan (or even the vast majority of big hockey fans) won't give it another thought even a few minutes later. I will be interested to see if this attitude changes at all when TSN loses access to most of their NHL content. I would assume that they will go all in on international content, and the WC is at least something they can schedule each year. More prominent exposure might provide more incentive for HC and players to give it their all.

I haven't given that angle much thought...interesting. I hope that's how it plays out though. And going to 5 National feeds..you'd assume TSN will carry almost every game of every international tournament they can get their hands on.

 

[JackSlater]

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I haven't given that angle much thought...interesting. I hope that's how it plays out though. And going to 5 National feeds..you'd assume TSN will carry almost every game of every international tournament they can get their hands on.

It will be interesting. I am guessing that in a few years TSN will show almost all WJC and WC games. Probably a lot of the U18 as well. Increased exposure will increase interest in the WC in Canada. It won't ever be the same level as the WJC due to scheduling, but I think it will become more prominent. It can't hurt.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

I hope all you posters who wanted Scrivens in the net instead of Reimer are happy. Bad goaltending let Canada down.

 

[xxxx]

I hope all you posters who wanted Scrivens in the net instead of Reimer are happy. Bad goaltending let Canada down.

Well, I do think that Scrivens looked really bad. I would have let play Reimer instead. Still a mystery to me why a goalie like Smith, Bernier, or Holtby was not invited.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Well, I do think that Scrivens looked really bad. I would have let play Reimer instead. Still a mystery to me why a goalie like Smith, Bernier, or Holtby was not invited.

Agreed.

This is the second time that Reimer got snubbed for the quarterfinals and same outcome. Not saying Reimer would have won but Scrivens was not playing well.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Well, I do think that Scrivens looked really bad. I would have let play Reimer instead. Still a mystery to me why a goalie like Smith, Bernier, or Holtby was not invited.

Bernier injured

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Wasn't Canada's day but give these guys some credit, They went over and put on the maple leaf and played their hearts out.

This tournament, although it's nice to win, really has little meaning, especially in an Olympic year, and especially to Canadians while the NHL Playoffs are going on, and the very best players don't participate. We won gold in Mens Hockey at 3 of past 4 Olympics, and in Womens hockey 4 in a row. I'm not losing any sleep.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

End of the day Canada is the 9 time and current back to back reigning Olympic champions, Russia hasn't won at the Olympics since 1992, this is why Canadian stars don't have the pressure Russians do to go to this tournament.