The "Gimmick" Teams Are The Best Part of WCOH

[Uno Bench]

I really hope this is sarcasm.

No sarcasm, Im sick n tired of people not able to think outside the box and swallowing everything that is fed to them. Sure everyone wants to see great fast-paced hockey, the All-Star game, develop that concept instead. Dont mess whit the Nations, and nationality-teams, it ridicules the sport..

 

[Laineux]

Why not just have 8 random teams, each of different colour, selected by 8 random all stars? Then players can play for the pride of their colour!

Why not just gather the best players all over the world to 30 teams and make them play 82 games and then make the 16 best face off in 7-game playoff series...

 

[BattleBorn]

Why not just gather the best players all over the world to 30 teams and make them play 82 games and then make the 16 best face off in 7-game playoff series...

31 sounds better to me. Maybe 32.

I agree with your point though. If there aren't national teams you might as well just not do it at all.

 

[JackSlater]

Why not just gather the best players all over the world to 30 teams and make them play 82 games and then make the 16 best face off in 7-game playoff series...

Over 1000 games of this per year would not be enough. International hockey should be made to resemble such a set up as well. Remove the pesky "national" aspect of "international". At least, since games are being played between multiple teams, the "inter" aspect remains and we all should be satisfied with that.

 

[Gary Nylund]

OP, I agree with you that it's fun to watch a team made out of young players with such talent play together, but it just sucks that it had to be in this environment. It makes it a glorified allstars tournament. Don't get me started on how stupid team Europe is for so many reasons. It really stresses a lot of north americans grouping Europe as some sort of single commodity that is so far from how it is in reality. A french guy will have pretty much nothing culturally in common with someone from Poland. I'm not saying all north americans are this ignorant, but from my experiences spending a lot of time in the states, Europe is often viewed as one single entity rather than a place made out of loads and loads of differences between countries. The whole idea is just really strange. Team North America in many ways is a lot more sensible to group together.

The Allstar weekend is so outdated at this point, why couldn't they sort out something like the NBA do? Rookies vs. Sophomores. Or make two teams out of a mixture of the two.

The thing is, if this wasn't the environment, would the games have been as entertaining? I'm not disagreeing with anything you say BTW, I'm just thinking that a game like Rookies vs Sophomores like you suggested would end up being something similar to the All-Star game (little urgency/intensity in the play). I think the fact that they were going up against national teams had everything to do with their high level of play.

 

[Theokritos]

Because principle is a dumb reason not to try something.

We're going to have to disagree on this one. If my favourite band had a gig in town but announced they would lip-sync in order to guarantee an experience true to the record, I wouldn't go to see them – out of principle. If a friend of mine won the lottery and bought an original painting by Caravaggio to use it as target for his hockey shooting training, I would decline the invitation to join him – out of principle. Nothing wrong with that.

You don't have to watch anything. Like I said, I'm not trying to tell you what to do.

No worries, I didn't misunderstand you. It's just that I don't get the idea one could possibly be convinced by the experience if he is against the way the whole thing is set up in the first place. Again, I'm not claiming the hockey isn't good or anything like that. I assume it is, but that doesn't change the fact that the concept is what it is: something I despise.

 

[jj cale]

Well all those people who said here there would be no "ooohs and aahs" for a game involving Team N.A were sure wrong.


They have the most crowd buzz in the whole tourney, even more then Canadian games so far.

 

[DeltaSwede]

The thing is, if this wasn't the environment, would the games have been as entertaining? I'm not disagreeing with anything you say BTW, I'm just thinking that a game like Rookies vs Sophomores like you suggested would end up being something similar to the All-Star game (little urgency/intensity in the play). I think the fact that they were going up against national teams had everything to do with their high level of play.

I know what you mean, and that is probably the case. It wouldn't be as good as their display has been at the World Cup, but young players have something that veteran players don't have at an allstar weekend, something to prove. I think their game would be more exciting than the traditional allstar game would.

 

[SotasicA]

Once the tournament is done, they should release a Blu-Ray for each of these teams. Both have a unique story, and you won't see anything like this in international hockey probably ever again.

 

[XokkeyGuy]

you won't see anything like this in international hockey probably ever again.

That would be the best thing about this tournament.
Nations vs. nations is the only way to go.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I know what you mean, and that is probably the case. It wouldn't be as good as their display has been at the World Cup, but young players have something that veteran players don't have at an allstar weekend, something to prove. I think their game would be more exciting than the traditional allstar game would.

Makes sense to me, good point.

 

[krt88]

Screw it, every 4 years okay a best of 7 series a full team Europe vs a full Team North America. First 3 games in Europe, next 4 in USA and Canada.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I don't believe for a second that Bettman and the rest of the NHL bigwigs thought Europe would have a chance of being in this position.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

The best part of the WCH is that Sweden got beaten by both gimmick teams!!!

 

[tarheelhockey]

Every game now is must-watch TV.

The ratings disagree.

 

[Atas2000]

Team europe in the finals is another proof of how stupid the format is.