It's a damned shame that France is out.

[mattihp]

Reminds me of Belarus when Grabovski and the Kostitsyn bros were younger, they had some very competitive tournaments and were able to challenge bigger countries as well. Well not so much the last few years..

France doesn't remind be of Belarus one bit.

As soon as the golden trio was off the ice Belarus still played lumberjack hockey.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

But it's true that Moscow (a large market with a strong tradition of hockey success) has been a pretty lame host for this event the last couple times. Moscow is not a hockey town but doesn't get outright derogatory comments like those France has gotten.

What?
Last year's WC game Russia playoffs had an average of 12.100 spectators with 12.500 max. The tournament's average attendance has been drown down by Petersburg's small arena. I would say it was pretty good in terms of attendance, not the best, of course, but that's partially due to Petersburg using their small arena and not the big one.
At any WC, just all of them, team Russia games are the best attended. There must be a reason.