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Russia and Belarus out for next two world championships.

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The right people are mad, so it's probably the right decision, but...
Why 2 years?
 
Zine said:
When double standards exist, the IIHF becomes nothing more than a political entity pushing certain political agendas over others. The main focus ceases to be about hockey all.
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An international organization composed of representatives of nation-states is a political entity? I'm shocked!
 
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MXD said:
The right people are mad, so it's probably the right decision, but...
Why 2 years?
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I was surprised too. I was positive they weren't going the worlds in Sweden. I thought Olympic decision was next. Then the next World's. They banned them for the first and third event and left the middle one open to more meetings. Thought that was strange.
 
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Politics, folks.

If you don't think you can stay out of political undertones, then stay out of the thread (which is now significantly shorter than it was five minutes ago).
 
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moropanov said:
Theres been very good WCH and WJC tournaments in recent years uprise of Czechs have replaced Russia so havent really noticed level of competiteveness getting weaker. I think Olympics will be amazing hockey and Russias absence wont matter much at all.
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This is such a lie. Everyone has noticed the weaker quality. If you say you haven’t, you are flat out lying to yourself.

Do Czechs probably enjoy it more? Yeah, but even they will acknowledge it weakens the field without Russia.
 
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I understand why certain people feel it’s deserved, but if you are then going to refuse to acknowledge double standards with some of the other teams that haven’t been banned in the past, you aren’t being fair.

I find the IIHF wholly corrupt. I hope the IOC that isn’t nearly as controlled by certain federations will be more sensible.

World Championships isn’t that big of a deal because realistically it’s not as important as the Olympics and probably even the yearly junior events. I think the bigger deal is we won’t have Russia at the important junior tournaments for 2025-26. A total buzz kill and the quality will be watered down again.
 
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Cas said:
An international organization composed of representatives of nation-states is a political entity?
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I hate** to be a pedant, but the IIHF is made up national hockey federations which, while they may be funded in whole or in part by the government of the nations they represent, they are not actually representing those governments.

**I love being a pedant. Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life! In my case, because I'm a pedant, everyone hates me and will never hire me.

By the way, the world championship is fine without those guys. The Olympics will be fine without those guys. I mean, I loved watching Canada slap 'em around on their home ice in 2014, after pretty much dismantling them in 2010, but if they're not there, oh well.
 
jcbio11 said:
Correct decision. No amount of coping and seething from Russia will change this.

Hockey is fun. WJC, WCH and the Olympics are all fun tourneys to follow.
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And there's no way Finland, Sweden and Czhechia would agree to play even with a "neutral athletes from Russia" team in it. You basically lose most other teams. But the bigger issue is going to be NHL's insistence on only NHL players as Gord Miller hinted at in a podcast.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
World Championships isn’t that big of a deal because realistically it’s not as important as the Olympics and probably even the yearly junior events.
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The ironic thing in all of this is that the WC is most popular in Europe and the IIHF just cut off about half of its audience and they're doing this because they're under political pressure. It's not good for the business model.

The collective West continues to cut their nose to spite their face.
 
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Fyodorov said:
Indeed.

"Let's discuss our favorite whiskies, but you're only allowed to talk about ones that have no alcohol."
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I prefer a variety which includes Vodka. I wonder how many here would enjoy including Vodka in the list of spirits? 😉
 
Jussi said:
And there's no way Finland, Sweden and Czhechia would agree to play even with a "neutral athletes from Russia" team in it. You basically lose most other teams. But the bigger issue is going to be NHL's insistence on only NHL players as Gord Miller hinted at in a podcast.
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These nations will do what the U.S.A tell them to. Make no mistake about it
 
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Speaking as an American, the World Championships hold so little to me that I honestly don't care, despite me thinking it's silly.

There starts to come a point though that by not allowing them to participate, you are cheapening or devaluing the "best on best" aspect of the Olympics.

The 4 Nations thing is already a joke because of how many star players in the league aren't participating.
 
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