If Hockey had a real World Cup, would that be the best way to grow the game?

[IIHFjerseycollector]

I haven't seen Iceland in a hockey tournament since Mighty Ducks 2.

youll have your chance next month ! IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division II, Group B

 

[Czechboy]

I have three points I would like to point out

1. Olympics must have NHL players. This is CRUCIAL for long term popularity of the game. NHL must allow players to participate. Olympics would have 5 times bigger audience than world cup and the difference would be even higher among non-active hockey followers.

2. If there's world cup, please, for the love of god, no gimmick teams. Yes, having them allowed to show bigger % of top NHL players but as a negative effect it turned the tournament into a meaningless joke.

3. Stop saying we have "only" 6 countries that can win. Baseball, basketball, American football are all fantastic sports even though US would probably win every time if they played with best players internationally. We can have nice tournaments and watch amazing game of hockey if we stop this negativity and make an effort.

In fairness... I think we say only FIVE could win it.

Having said that.. World Cup of Football started in 1930 and they've had 8 win it in almost 100 years. Best on best hockey didn't start till the 1980's and I think 5 nations have won one to my knowledge...

Czechs Nagano
Swedes Salt Lake?
Canada most of them
US World Cup 1996
Russia World Cup 1981

So 5 champs in about 40 years or 8 champs in about 90 years.

Finn's have not one won but their gold generation is right now and they don't even get a chance to win one

 

[Cas]

Stop saying we have "only" 6 countries that can win. Baseball, basketball, American football are all fantastic sports even though US would probably win every time if they played with best players internationally. We can have nice tournaments and watch amazing game of hockey if we stop this negativity and make an effort.

As it turns out, USA has actually only been in the finals of the World Baseball Classic (essentially analogous to the World Cup) once in four tries. Puerto Rico has made it twice, though.

Japan has won two of the four WBCs so far, and the 2009 WBC did have the hard-fought extra-innings game between Japan and South Korea. In recent years, the Korean baseball league has been increasing in stature and more Korean players are moving to the USA, so that's a big point in favor of "growing the game" through international tournaments.

 

[theslatcher]

In fairness... I think we say only FIVE could win it.

Having said that.. World Cup of Football started in 1930 and they've had 8 win it in almost 100 years. Best on best hockey didn't start till the 1980's and I think 5 nations have won one to my knowledge...

Czechs Nagano
Swedes Salt Lake?
Canada most of them
US World Cup 1996
Russia World Cup 1981

So 5 champs in about 40 years or 8 champs in about 90 years.

Finn's have not one won but their gold generation is right now and they don't even get a chance to win one

Sweden won in Lillehammer '94, & Turin '06. Salt Lake we do not speak of.

 

[joelef]

Do what the wbc does

 

[joelef]

For example Italy could be Canadian nhl players of Italian descent team Israel could be Jewish nhlers players he’ll you could even have a Jamaican team with ok subban which eild be a huge pr coup for the nhl

 

[Czechboy]

Sweden won in Lillehammer '94, & Turin '06. Salt Lake we do not speak of.

Apologies about wrong Olympics.

Lillehammer was not a best on best.

 

[Lartsaman]

Best way to grow the game is to ditch all the other countries and arrange Canada-Usa-Russia triple series.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Ice Hockey requires a boatload of infrastructure just to even play at a rudimentary level. The chances of building in an entire hockey culture from scratch are almost slim to none. Hockey is a niche sport, and the NHL understands that, and it's OK. There is no need to start building a bunch of rinks in India in a feeble attempt to expand to some non-existent audience.

 

[Omark]

Ice Hockey requires a boatload of infrastructure just to even play at a rudimentary level. The chances of building in an entire hockey culture from scratch are almost slim to none. Hockey is a niche sport, and the NHL understands that, and it's OK. There is no need to start building a bunch of rinks in India in a feeble attempt to expand to some non-existent audience.

No one says some poor country should play hockey. Playing hockey cost thousand euros per month, therefore it will always be a luxury sport.

We need to have these tournaments for wealthy countries. Europeans don't watch the NHL in the middle of the night. Even in Finland, common people only watch international hockey. Same thing in every European hockey country. If international hockey sucks because of lack of best on best tournaments, it's terrible for the game here in Europe. Draisaitl would be 5 times more known in Germany if he could play in olympics. Just simply sad how that this is not happening.

NHL is your thing over there, European thing is international tournaments.

 

[WarriorofTime]

No one says some poor country should play hockey. Playing hockey cost thousand euros per month, therefore it will always be a luxury sport.

We need to have these tournaments for wealthy countries. Europeans don't watch the NHL in the middle of the night. Even in Finland, common people only watch international hockey. Same thing in every European hockey country. If international hockey sucks because of lack of best on best tournaments, it's terrible for the game here in Europe. Draisaitl would be 5 times more known in Germany if he could play in olympics. Just simply sad how that this is not happening.

NHL is your thing over there, European thing is international tournaments.

The issue is Hockey is only ever really likely to take off in northern climates, like say around the 54th parallel north. It generally already is played in the places it's more suited for, oh sure, you could build a bit more popularity in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the other Baltics (Estonia, Lithuania). Expand into Mongolia (which is a ground zero operation, and that lacks the economics in place currently), get more involvement from Norway which is a big winter sport country but not heavily interested in hockey, expand into Poland. But you have diminishing returns on the whole thing.

 

[Omark]

The issue is Hockey is only ever really likely to take off in northern climates, like say around the 54th parallel north. It generally already is played in the places it's more suited for, oh sure, you could build a bit more popularity in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the other Baltics (Estonia, Lithuania). Expand into Mongolia (which is a ground zero operation, and that lacks the economics in place currently), get more involvement from Norway which is a big winter sport country but not heavily interested in hockey, expand into Poland. But you have diminishing returns on the whole thing.

You are missing the point. Hockey already has insane wealthy good countries and we have amazing hockey economy, thousands of pro players and hundreds of millionaires. NHL team revenues are hundeds of millions. This is amazing for a winter sport - or any sport really. I played badminton as a kid and could just dream of such opportunities.

BUT

We have to have an effort to keep it that way. We have these things because people in USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden etc have amazing hockey memories and experiences. If we stop providing those experiences, the culture will worsen. NA has NHL so it's not that crucial there, but Europe needs best on best international tournaments.

 

[WarriorofTime]

You are missing the point. Hockey already has insane wealthy good countries and we have amazing hockey economy, thousands of pro players and hundreds of millionaires. NHL team revenues are hundeds of millions. This is amazing for a winter sport - or any sport really. I played badminton as a kid and could just dream of such opportunities.

BUT

We have to have an effort to keep it that way. We have these things because people in USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden etc have amazing hockey memories and experiences. If we stop providing those experiences, the culture will worsen. NA has NHL so it's not that crucial there, but Europe needs best on best international tournaments.

yep, goes to show the power of the North American sporting culture

 

[aquaregia]

I think the fact that ice hockey took off and continues to be a major sport in Czechia and Slovakia, despite neither climate nor economics being strongly in their favour, shows that given enough time the sport can blossom in near enough any European country.

Of course it's not realistic to expect it to flourish all over the world, but if we were to set the goal of having 20ish countries that can consistently supply some NHL-level talent and at very least hold their own against the top nations now and again... I don't see why that wouldn't be achievable.

 

[Czechboy]

I think the fact that ice hockey took off and continues to be a major sport in Czechia and Slovakia, despite neither climate nor economics being strongly in their favour, shows that given enough time the sport can blossom in near enough any European country.

Of course it's not realistic to expect it to flourish all over the world, but if we were to set the goal of having 20ish countries that can consistently supply some NHL-level talent and at very least hold their own against the top nations now and again... I don't see why that wouldn't be achievable.

Also, there is wealth and cold climate in Asia. Another market that could be grown.

 

[ijuka]

Also, there is wealth and cold climate in Asia. Another market that could be grown.

Figure skating is absolutely massive in Japan, you'd imagine that another skating sport would have a market... Same with China, in fact.

However, it's a pipe dream as long as NHL continues catering to only North American viewers aka won't participate in the Olympics. They're more interested in nickle and diming their existing fans than reaching new markets.

 

[Czechboy]

Figure skating is absolutely massive in Japan, you'd imagine that another skating sport would have a market... Same with China, in fact.

However, it's a pipe dream as long as NHL continues catering to only North American viewers aka won't participate in the Olympics. They're more interested in nickle and diming their existing fans than reaching new markets.

I believe Korea is also awesome at speed skating. Clearly the money, facilities and equipment are possible.

Your second paragrpah is correct!

 

[Silky Johnson]

The world cup of football has though...just look at how many Canadians are following soccer canada now. I think Canada is getting more involved in soccer especially with automatic qualification for 2026 world cup. NHL should watch out

Hockey is a better game to watch IMO. Football is accessible but kind of boring compared to hockey. Hockey has more scoring, is way faster and has hitting/ fights. Line changes do alot for the constant intensity.

Just a better game to watch.

Football is huge because of its universality.

Hockey being an expensive winter sport means it will likely be somewhat niche on the world stage. It could grow some more but will always be limited.

That's OK with me. I live and spend alot of time in the heart of the football world but as a bit of an elitist I enjoy knowing I have better sports tastes (hockey and rugby) then the unwashed masses.

 

[jackjohnson]

Hockey is a better game to watch IMO. Football is accessible but kind of boring compared to hockey. Hockey has more scoring, is way faster and has hitting/ fights. Line changes do alot for the constant intensity.

Just a better game to watch.

Football is huge because of its universality.

Hockey being an expensive winter sport means it will likely be somewhat niche on the world stage. It could grow some more but will always be limited.

That's OK with me. I live and spend alot of time in the heart of the football world but as a bit of an elitist I enjoy knowing I have better sports tastes (hockey and rugby) then the unwashed masses.

Hockey is not in the same stratosphere as Football or soccer in the global stage. So that is your opinion as a hockey fan but that does not mean it's the opinion of majority. Maybe others will say soccer is more enjoyable than rugby because they like the more finesse and continuous play that soccer provides or the fact that they can enjoy watching a sport that they can actually play without physical requirement of being 300lbs or big. Also with lots of immigrants coming to Canada, they would be more familiar with the sport of soccer compared to hockey and might find it financially easier to get involved in. Also why can't Canada be good in other sports aside from hockey? If Canada also gets better in other sports then it will create more sports fans and more options rather than Canadians cheering on US soccer teams or English teams, they would cheer for their home country.

 

[jackjohnson]

Figure skating is absolutely massive in Japan, you'd imagine that another skating sport would have a market... Same with China, in fact.

However, it's a pipe dream as long as NHL continues catering to only North American viewers aka won't participate in the Olympics. They're more interested in nickle and diming their existing fans than reaching new markets.

NHL sucks at marketing and I blame Buttman for it. I mean they got rid of NHL.tv in Canada and US which was a great service. Now I. Canada people need to pay $20 per month to watch a low quality crappy stream from Sportsnet that doesn't even cover all 32 teams. They can't even provide good service to North Americans so I don't even expect them to be able to cater adequately to other countries. The fact that they don't allow NHL players to play in Olympics where lots of people around the world watch the event, shows how incompetent they are. No one cares about hockey world Cup since they don't see those players in Olympics and see how it can be really exciting. They just see a bunch of college players playing in Olympics and think how low quality it is. They don't see an Ovechkin ripping 100mph shots or McDavid deking 5 players.

 

[jackjohnson]

The issue is Hockey is only ever really likely to take off in northern climates, like say around the 54th parallel north. It generally already is played in the places it's more suited for, oh sure, you could build a bit more popularity in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the other Baltics (Estonia, Lithuania). Expand into Mongolia (which is a ground zero operation, and that lacks the economics in place currently), get more involvement from Norway which is a big winter sport country but not heavily interested in hockey, expand into Poland. But you have diminishing returns on the whole thing.

I have seen hockey played in Iran where they have an ice skating rink in a middle of a mega mall bigger than west Edmonton mall. I think people are just making excuses when they say poor countries as a lot of countries are able to build world class hockey arenas if they wanted to invest in it. Look at Qatar where they built 8 soccer stadiums for the world Cup, you think they don't have money for hockey arenas?? China could easily spend money and build like 30 hockey arenas if it wants to. India can also build hockey arenas and there are lots of wealthy people in India too, same as with China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc. The problem is if they have the passion to play the sport otherwise not affording to play a sport is kind of a cop out. It's not like North America is the only place where people can afford to play hockey. If there is enough interest then the infrastructure will be provided. Again the best example is Iran where there was some Interest in hockey and ice skating and the infrastructure was built to accomodate those people. How do people think Jamaica got into bob sledding when it's not a "traditional" country?

 

[jackjohnson]

I think the fact that ice hockey took off and continues to be a major sport in Czechia and Slovakia, despite neither climate nor economics being strongly in their favour, shows that given enough time the sport can blossom in near enough any European country.

Of course it's not realistic to expect it to flourish all over the world, but if we were to set the goal of having 20ish countries that can consistently supply some NHL-level talent and at very least hold their own against the top nations now and again... I don't see why that wouldn't be achievable.

First more people need to be exposed to the sport to inspire more people to play the sport. When hockey is never shown in middle Eastern countries or south eastern Asian countries or African countries then there would be a lot less people exposed to the sport. Even in Europe hockey is not being shown enough to expose more people. Again it comes down to NHL doing a crummy job of marketing. They get all the elite players around the world but keep it in North America. How would you expect people to get into a sport where they can't even watch the best players in the world. If I was still living in the middle east, then I would have never known about hockey. It's all about exposure, the other things like not being able to afford to play hockey is just non sense in my opinion. I mean if you never seen the sport of hockey or heard about it then you would not spend money on it since you don't know about it.

Best way to grow the game is to ditch all the other countries and arrange Canada-Usa-Russia triple series.

How does that grow the game?

 

[Czechboy]

Hockey is not in the same stratosphere as Football or soccer in the global stage. So that is your opinion as a hockey fan but that does not mean it's the opinion of majority. Maybe others will say soccer is more enjoyable than rugby because they like the more finesse and continuous play that soccer provides or the fact that they can enjoy watching a sport that they can actually play without physical requirement of being 300lbs or big. Also with lots of immigrants coming to Canada, they would be more familiar with the sport of soccer compared to hockey and might find it financially easier to get involved in. Also why can't Canada be good in other sports aside from hockey? If Canada also gets better in other sports then it will create more sports fans and more options rather than Canadians cheering on US soccer teams or English teams, they would cheer for their home country.

canada is flying with other sports right now.. just won the Davis Cup.. could win a Fed Cup (eg. have the talent to do that, not saying they will) and are in the next 2 soccer World Cups which could really help that sport take off (eg. there is some 10 year old wanting to be the next Davies right now). I think it's the strongest Canada has been as a sporting nation to be honest. Also the women's soccer is very good.

I think it's great... I mentioned it earlier but the tennis/football crowd seem to not interact that much with the hockey crowd so I could see those other sports improving with hockey not taking a hit at all.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I love how you guys say NHL sucks at marketing lol. Always buttmans fault that nobody plays/watches hockey in the world eh. Easy scapegoat when we can't even fill up all our Arenas in North America

 

[Silky Johnson]

Hockey is not in the same stratosphere as Football or soccer in the global stage. So that is your opinion as a hockey fan but that does not mean it's the opinion of majority. Maybe others will say soccer is more enjoyable than rugby because they like the more finesse and continuous play that soccer provides or the fact that they can enjoy watching a sport that they can actually play without physical requirement of being 300lbs or big. Also with lots of immigrants coming to Canada, they would be more familiar with the sport of soccer compared to hockey and might find it financially easier to get involved in. Also why can't Canada be good in other sports aside from hockey? If Canada also gets better in other sports then it will create more sports fans and more options rather than Canadians cheering on US soccer teams or English teams, they would cheer for their home country.

Yes. As I said, it is my opinion.

Football sucks compared to hockey and rugby in my opinion.

My opinion is also that football is only as popular as it is because of its universality. Its a less sophisticated game but everyone can play it.

I don't know what you are going on about. Canada is clearly getting better at football as demonstrated by them qualifying first in CONCACAF for the World Cup. I just don't really care.