WC: Shake-up of the lower tiers of IHWC

[SoundAndFury]

This led nowhere? Color me surprised.

 

[FrHockeyFan]

It is terribly on-brand for the IIHF to have their semi-annual congress in a country that has no ice rinks.

IIHF - Recap: 2024 Semi-Annual Congress

Event in Rhodes spotlights women's role, announces tournament hosts

www.iihf.com

I guess those places are more easily available and cheaper to book that time of the year. Yet, they still occasionally organise it in more hockey-friendly countries like Malmö in 2001, Vancouver in 2007, Montreux in 2008, Tokyo in 2012, Paris in 2016 or St. Petersburg in 2021 just to mention the non-Mediterannean places it was held in over the past 25 years.

 

[Albatros]

Even when top division countries were responsible for organizing these autumn events they still preferred to take it to the Mediterranean, for example Slovakia organized theirs in the resort of Portorož in Slovenia.

 

[FrHockeyFan]

Maybe there was a shake-up after all. Just not the kind we speculated about.

 

[MeHateHe]

Maybe there was a shake-up after all. Just not the kind we speculated about.

Considering that there's no intra-regional play (except for the Asia tournaments) I fail to see what this will accomplish. I was only barely aware that these regions exist.

I suppose there's the possibility that Aus/NZ could leverage this to grow their game at home, like tell their local media that they're now lumped in with Canada and the US, but beyond that? Are there player/coach/official exchanges that occur within regions?