International year in review!

[Zine]

Before the Ukraine thing, Russia was universally cited as one of everybody's fiercest rivals..... leading to countless amazing and intense hockey games and moments.
International hockey rivalries

But now, from a hockey standpoint, Russia isn't missed? Hmmmm,.....

Have fun in all those grudge matches against Belarus.

Still a higher level of play than Ukraine.

 

[MeHateHe]

Before the Ukraine thing, Russia was universally cited as one of everybody's fiercest rivals..... leading to countless amazing and intense hockey games and moments.
International hockey rivalries

But now, from a hockey standpoint, Russia isn't missed? That's quite odd.






Still a higher level of play then Ukraine.

I've said, more than once, the hockey fan in me would prefer Russia be a part of the civilized world again, and allowed to participate in world events. I really enjoy watching Canada kick their asses up and down the ice, as we've done fairly reliably at all divisions over the past 30 years.

But hockey always takes a backseat to humanity. Russia doesn't deserve to play our game at world championships.

 

[Zine]

I've said, more than once, the hockey fan in me would prefer Russia be a part of the civilized world again, and allowed to participate in world events. I really enjoy watching Canada kick their asses up and down the ice, as we've done fairly reliably at all divisions over the past 30 years.

But hockey always takes a backseat to humanity. Russia doesn't deserve to play our game at world championships.

Then we're somewhat on the same page.
People can have their political opinions. I get it. But let's not let political hatred alter on ice hockey analysis.

Political hackery is the only way we get from "Russia is our fiercest on ice rival!" to "Russia isn't missed at all" within a year.

 

[MeHateHe]

Then we're somewhat on the same page.

Yeah, I'm going to be polite and say we're not on the same page, even remotely. Your snide comment about the state of hockey in Ukraine (I'm Canadian, but my family came to Canada from Mariupol decades ago) was pretty shitty, given that thousands are dead, the infrastructure is in ruins and normalcy is years away. So, no, we're not on the same page.

Hockey is something I care about. But we're measuring importance by numbers, hockey is a 1 and allowing Ukraine to continue its peaceful existence is about a 1,000. I'm honest that I want Russia participating in world tournaments, but not at any price.

 

[Zine]

Yeah, I'm going to be polite and say we're not on the same page, even remotely. Your snide comment about the state of hockey in Ukraine (I'm Canadian, but my family came to Canada from Mariupol decades ago) was pretty shitty, given that thousands are dead, the infrastructure is in ruins and normalcy is years away. So, no, we're not on the same page.

Hockey is something I care about. But we're measuring importance by numbers, hockey is a 1 and allowing Ukraine to continue its peaceful existence is about a 1,000. I'm honest that I want Russia participating in world tournaments, but not at any price.

And I have family in Donetsk at this moment, a community who has felt the wrath of Ukrainian atrocities for a decade now. I have a more personal connection to the situation than you'll ever have. We all have different experiences.

You're the poster who interjects anti-Russian hatred into nearly every post. All it leads to is ruined discussion and deleted posts. If you dont like snide remarks, dont make them in the first place.

So lets keep the discussion to the quality of WC without Russia participating. Hockey talk.

 

[MeHateHe]

And I have family in Donetsk at this moment, a community who has felt the wrath of Ukrainian atrocities for a decade now. I have a more personal connection to the situation than you'll ever have. We all have different experiences.

You're the poster who interjects anti-Russian hatred into nearly every post. All it leads to is ruined discussion and deleted posts. If you dont like snide remarks, dont make them in the first place.

So lets keep the discussion to the quality of WC without Russia participating. Hockey talk.

I have no anti-Russian hatred. I have held the Russian people in the highest regard forever, even through the Cold War and all the propaganda we were subjected to. I am able to distinguish the actions of a government from the people. And I wouldn’t sneer at the hockey results of a people literally fighting for their lives.

 

[Old Man Jags]

Before the Ukraine thing, Russia was universally cited as one of everybody's fiercest rivals..... leading to countless amazing and intense hockey games and moments.
International hockey rivalries

But now, from a hockey standpoint, Russia isn't missed? Hmmmm,.....






Still a higher level of play than Ukraine.

It’s like you are having trouble reading, or only see what you want to see.

There are countless posts here now saying that of course, a quality team is missing, so that lowers quality by a bit. But it lowers it far less than if Canada was missing, and overall people have just moved on. There is a little bit less quality, as they would be if one of the other top teams was not playing, but it is FAR less significant than Russian fans like to believe.

There’s nothing more ludicrous than saying that tournaments just have no value without Russia.

You also need to understand that people have the habit of adapting to new circumstances. Yes, rivalries with Russia were there as set out in the thread on the topic you have highlighted. But now that Russia is not there, people got used to the situation and have moved on. You guys have not, but we non-Russian fans have. A few years down the line, those fiercely contested games with Russia will just be a distant memory for us.

But since you have pasted in the link to the discussion about hockey rivalries (from 2021), it might be useful to remind ourselves of the reasons for some of those rivalries. This is a quote from a Czech poster in that very discussion thread, putting Russia at number 1, and giving his reasons:

“We taught them to play and then they conspired to put all our best players in jail for long years. Later occupied our country outright.”

This is true btw. He is referring to our world championship winning team of 1947, most of whom ended up in jail or even worse, hard labour in the uranium mines.

Here is an IIHF article on this: IIHF - The horror of Jachymov

[Moderators: This is not bringing politics into it, but just quoting / pasting in an existing post from 2021 on this forum in the rivalries thread Zine has quoted here.]

 

[Old Man Jags]

And poor losers.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3201669

It’s funny you should mention this one. Yesterday the victorious Czech ice hockey players had a reception in the presidential palace in Prague. The president spoke and even the Russian ice hockey team came up and he said that nobody’s missing them, not just because of recent circumstances but also because of their poor sportsmanship. He specifically pointed to this event in 2015 and said, “we really don’t want this behaviour here”.