How do you feel about Olympic hockey?

[Garden Mystique]

I don't know what's not to love about Olympic hockey I personally can't wait. Especially now that USA is a pretty darn good team and they seem to be proud to play for thier country and it's nice to see that. I'm excited for it

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

Mostly terrible..

Though that's because I am in Canada so I have to hear every Canadian player get overrated because of "Olympics omg Olympics.. Gold Medal!!!... doesn't matter if he sucks in the NHL Playoffs he has a gold medal!!"

it's a 4 game tournament... blah.

 

[blue425]

I could do without it. Never was a fan of putting the season on hold.

Move it to the summer games. The years it happens it will be like an early training camp.

 

[Mr Atoz*]

I hate it since they allowed professionals to play. I don't like the conflicted loyalties. Would anyone here root for Brodeur against Lundqvist? When the players were amateurs you had a feeling they were dedicating their lives to their country. Now it's padding their endorsement deals and shilling for the canadian hockey propaganda machine. Watching a Greco-Roman wrestler or weightlifter train their whole lives for one shot at a medal and then go home to be a carpenter or janitor was so much more satisfying than seeing someone with a $50 million contract wave their medal around as if it had real meaning.

And this is coming from someone that's been to the Olympics several times. But not lately and probably not again.

 

[Cake or Death]

Olympic hockey has an extremely flawed tournament structure and I personally don't watch it. Though, I do not watch TV at all, so I reckon not watching the Olympics kind of aligns with that. My usual concern is that no NY Rangers get permanently/badly injured.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I hate it since they allowed professionals to play. I don't like the conflicted loyalties. Would anyone here root for Brodeur against Lundqvist? When the players were amateurs you had a feeling they were dedicating their lives to their country. Now it's padding their endorsement deals and shilling for the canadian hockey propaganda machine. Watching a Greco-Roman wrestler or weightlifter train their whole lives for one shot at a medal and then go home to be a carpenter or janitor was so much more satisfying than seeing someone with a $50 million contract wave their medal around as if it had real meaning.

And this is coming from someone that's been to the Olympics several times. But not lately and probably not again.

If you don't like professional athletes getting paid lots of money and having endorsement deals than why do you watch the NHL? Why not limit yourself to college hockey?

 

[Cake or Death]

Also, I am disgusted and embarrassed by our selection committee. For them to publicly humiliate players, including former medal winning Olympians, is inexcusable. It's sad to hear such criticism of NHL and Olympic players from guys like Burke and Poile - two guys who themselves never played a single NHL or international game. David Poile was only even first hired because his dad was a hall of fame inducted GM, who drafted Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent. David Poile, in contrast, now has 32 years as an NHL GM, has never made the finals, and only once has one of his teams ever gotten out of the second round of the playoffs. Three decades of futility and this guy is publicly criticizing guys who actually made the NHL and played for their country and won medals?

 

[Chimpradamus]

Being a demoralized Rangers fan, it's extremely fun to watch some world class hockey once every 4th year as a huge relief of the regular season snooze/ agony fest. Seeing your country's best players all together to face the best of the best, it's such a treat. Ridiculously stacked teams that don't play like it's some All-Star vacation? Sign me up. Not watching a team where half the squad looks like hungover lumberjacks on skates, with the sole purpose of killing creative play and they're not even good at that? Sign me up.

At first, I was very much a fan of the international sized rink, then I became more fond of the NHL sized rink, only to realize what an undersized bathtub it has truly become. I don't even need to hesitate between sacrificing physicality and "dump'n'pray" for watching at least 2-3 passes in a row connect within a team with regularity. There's simply no time and space left for the players in the NHL and it is becoming ridiculous to watch. Watching smooth D-men retreat with the puck to repeat the attack cycle and keep the puck within the team, is awesome. Watching the "get it ouuuuut!" strategy, not so much.

A great cycling game with smooth skating and passing beats physicality in terms of entertainment value IMO, coming from someone who has watched alot of hockey on both surfaces. Especially when that extra physicality also means more serious injuries and star players constantly on the IR because they didn't keep their head up 65 minutes out of 60. The players have to focus on who will wreck them, not where their teammates are. The talent pool is not deep enough to make up for it and the flow of the game is getting hacked to pieces. The size, strength and speed of the players have developed tremendously, the NHL rink has not. Something has to happen.

World class players with the space and time to make what they're truly good at: awesome moves and tic-tac-toe plays that only a handful on the planet can do at full speed and even sacrifice a second of "will I get wrecked?" attention once and then for that little extra. I love it, best hockey event bar none. If I had to choose between watching the NHL playoffs and an olympic tournament, it wouldn't even be a choice. Quality beats quantity. If the NHL would stop their players from participating in the olympics, I would definitely boycott the NHL without hesitation.

And yes, the olympics @ 2010 was a downer. Still very good, but not as good as the tournaments on international ice. The bath tub doesn't like game flow.

 

[Oak]

Chimp, I've complained about small ice over the years, but this year it hit me more than usual. I watched a WJC game on dvr then watched the Rangers immediately after and it was painful watching the NHL game. It almost seemed like somebody was playing a joke on the players with the smaller ice.

Maybe one day right?

And since you're from Sweden. Holy **** man the Swedish juniors team looks awesome. I was really impressed by them.

 

[Oak]

Also, I am disgusted and embarrassed by our selection committee. For them to publicly humiliate players, including former medal winning Olympians, is inexcusable. It's sad to hear such criticism of NHL and Olympic players from guys like Burke and Poile - two guys who themselves never played a single NHL or international game. David Poile was only even first hired because his dad was a hall of fame inducted GM, who drafted Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent. David Poile, in contrast, now has 32 years as an NHL GM, has never made the finals, and only once has one of his teams ever gotten out of the second round of the playoffs. Three decades of futility and this guy is publicly criticizing guys who actually made the NHL and played for their country and won medals?

I agree. Pretty ridiculous to say any of those things openly. I hope they get some good backlash for it.

 

[Mr Atoz*]

If you don't like professional athletes getting paid lots of money and having endorsement deals than why do you watch the NHL? Why not limit yourself to college hockey?

You completely miss the point. Maybe you're not old enough to remember what the Olympics used to be. Professional athletes are professional athletes. The summer and winter Olympics combined have maybe 200 different events. Of those 200 events maybe ten of them are truly world popular 'sports', hockey being one of them. When I grew up, the russians cultivated their best athletes in every Olympic sport, paid them their entire lives, gave them the best of everything, and bribed the Olympic officials to call them amateurs. American athletes on the other hand, sacrificed their whole lives, raised money from friends, relatives and strangers, borrowed from and often lived with coaches, to have a chance to medal in their sport that no one cared about except for two weeks every four years. Then they went back to a normal job and were never heard from again until maybe they had a shot four years later. There was something noble in that. Something that the arrogant Dream Team or Sidney Crosby's ugly face can't begin to live up to. Why not let college hockey players that might not ever get to the NHL have a shot at a gold medal instead of guys who it will be just one more trophy on the wall for?

 

[chosen]

You completely miss the point. Maybe you're not old enough to remember what the Olympics used to be. Professional athletes are professional athletes. The summer and winter Olympics combined have maybe 200 different events. Of those 200 events maybe ten of them are truly world popular 'sports', hockey being one of them. When I grew up, the russians cultivated their best athletes in every Olympic sport, paid them their entire lives, gave them the best of everything, and bribed the Olympic officials to call them amateurs. American athletes on the other hand, sacrificed their whole lives, raised money from friends, relatives and strangers, borrowed from and often lived with coaches, to have a chance to medal in their sport that no one cared about except for two weeks every four years. Then they went back to a normal job and were never heard from again until maybe they had a shot four years later. There was something noble in that. Something that the arrogant Dream Team or Sidney Crosby's ugly face can't begin to live up to. Why not let college hockey players that might not ever get to the NHL have a shot at a gold medal instead of guys who it will be just one more trophy on the wall for?

I understand your belief that it should be restricted to amateurs, but that is just simply not the reality of it.

Anyway, the Olympics are better hockey because the emphasis is on skill and speed, the two elements that most make hockey an exciting sport to watch. Regular-season NHL play is so far behind in excitement that it is ridiculous.

The Stanley Cup is a different animal because of the results mattering so much. If the team you are rooting for is playing, it can't be beat. However, if you are not rooting for one of the teams, I would prefer Olympic hockey, if only slightly.

The best hockey I have ever seen has been in international competition. The first battle between Canada and the USSR was effin unbelievable, as was the international competition that saw Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line. Those games were hold your breath on every shift material.

 

[94now]

I want Ice Hockey to be part of Summer Olympic games. That resolves all issues with NHL. Plus, indoor sports are no longer a true winter competitions, like bobsled, skiing, etc. So there is a valid excuse there.

There is no way NHL will let its players to go South Korea in 2018. Got to work on moving hockey to summer games.

 

[Mr Atoz*]

I understand your belief that it should be restricted to amateurs, but that is just simply not the reality of it.

Anyway, the Olympics are better hockey because the emphasis is on skill and speed, the two elements that most make hockey an exciting sport to watch. Regular-season NHL play is so far behind in excitement that it is ridiculous.

The Stanley Cup is a different animal because of the results mattering so much. If the team you are rooting for is playing, it can't be beat. However, if you are not rooting for one of the teams, I would prefer Olympic hockey, if only slightly.

The best hockey I have ever seen has been in international competition. The first battle between Canada and the USSR was effin unbelievable, as was the international competition that saw Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line. Those games were hold your breath on every shift material.

None of that could hold a candle to Lake Placid. Even the canadians and their obsessive patronization of hockey wouldn't dare claim that. The fact that a hockey game was considered the most important sporting event in at least the last half of the 20th century and they played absolutely no part in it drives them insane. And if NHL players had been playing instead in 1980 it wouldn't have had one tenth of the significance that it did.

The NHL should gracefully bow out and let the next generation of players have their chance. Instead we have to listen to two solid weeks of the screeching weasel shriek his overblown calls trying to snag a few extra ratings points.

 

[Fitzy]

I don't care if the NHL backs out of the Olympics provided the world cup of hockey takes up the reigns. I enjoy seeing the best players play for their countries.

Amateur rules would help boost NCAA participation.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Chimp, I've complained about small ice over the years, but this year it hit me more than usual. I watched a WJC game on dvr then watched the Rangers immediately after and it was painful watching the NHL game. It almost seemed like somebody was playing a joke on the players with the smaller ice.

Maybe one day right?

And since you're from Sweden. Holy **** man the Swedish juniors team looks awesome. I was really impressed by them.

Yeah, it gets painfully obvious when you watch a game directly after eachother. One of those teams being the Rangers certainly doesn't help.

I don't care if the NHL backs out of the Olympics provided the world cup of hockey takes up the reigns. I enjoy seeing the best players play for their countries.

Amateur rules would help boost NCAA participation.

I will never understand this romanticist view. Amateur hockey disappeared decades ago. Almost all the good players get paid in some way to play hockey. I wouldn't even call scholarship players amateurs and college sports are far from being amateur leagues, they have more money and are more profitable than most pro leagues in the world. Just because college players are cash cows doesn't change this fact. Scholarship systems barely exist in countries where it's free to study at university level and they get paid a small sum from their teams to play hockey, so they certainly wouldn't be eligible.

So who are going to play olympic hockey on the world stage? Plumbers who quit hockey 10 years ago? All good players have to go through the hockey leagues in their country and why shouldn't they? As soon as they get to the 2nd divisions they normally become half-amateurs. How would that be good for hockey and why would that be fun to watch? Why would anyone watch fringe sports at the olympics and say: "Yes, I guess they'll be really good some day, but since we will never get to see them if they do, who knows?"

 

[Ail]

Yeah, it gets painfully obvious when you watch a game directly after eachother. One of those teams being the Rangers certainly doesn't help.

I will never understand this romanticist view. Amateur hockey disappeared decades ago. Almost all the good players get paid in some way to play hockey. I wouldn't even call scholarship players amateurs and college sports are far from being amateur leagues, they have more money and are more profitable than most pro leagues in the world. So who are going to play olympic hockey on the world stage? Plumbers who quit hockey 10 years ago?

Agreed. "Amateur" Olympics would basically become the World Juniors 2.0 on a 4 year cycle. That's exactly what the world juniors are, college and junior players. The only difference is kids/men over 20 would be able to play who weren't playing in paid professional leagues.

It would be redundant and would only get more attention because it's called the Olympics and not World Juniors.

 

[Garv23]

The 1980 USA game is something that will never be reproduced. Easily my favorite moment in sports. Hell, it turned me into a hockey fan instantly at the age of 9. That said, those days are long gone. I love the olympics now and as a hockey fan can't get enough of these super-talents going up against each other.

I can't wait. And besides it's not like our team is giving us much to cheer for!

 

[cd211]

i like it..

i think winning a gold metal has more prestige then winning a cup to most countries outside the USA..

your playing on the world stage, with everyone watching.. 2010 olympics people who didn't even like hockey in the the US tuned in and watched Canada vs USA for gold metal..