WCH - Impressions of the Tournament

[Canuckistani]

The best-of-three final has produced some amazing series. Glad to see it back.

1976 Canada Cup - Canada def Czech 6-0, 5-4 OT
1984 Canada Cup - Canada def Sweden 5-2, 6-5
1987 Canada Cup - Canada def USSR 5-6 OT, 6-5 OT, 6-5
1991 Canada Cup - Canada def USA 4-1, 4-2
1996 World Cup - USA def Canada 3-4 OT, 5-2, 5-2
1997 Worlds - Canada def Sweden 2-3, 3-1, 2-1

 

[JackSlater]

To the few supporters of this tournament. The question remains who is standing up and cheering with passion when team N.America and Team Euro scores?

There will be no flags waving for these teams, there will be no fans banging the glass when a penalty should of been called, there will be no oohs and ohs when they miss a chance late in the 3rd., there is no personnal connection to these teams?
The few of you who I are interested to see these teams do not understand that it is a passionate fan base that makes the event exciting. And there will be no passionate fan base supporting these teams when they step on the ice.

I assume that the crowd will support the Young Gunz for the most part. No one is actually going to care passionately about them, but the crowd will support them in general during the actual games I assume as there's usually a rooting interest in a game and Canadians aren't going to want to cheer for Russia or Sweden, for instance. If this team plays Canada though, that's the ideal situation. Canadian players playing in Canada getting booed as they play team Canada.

Indeed it would be an utter humiliation for Bettman to have to stand at center ice and announce to the ACC that the greatest hockey nation on earth is....a collection of Canadians and Americans born before Oct 1 1992.

It's such a horrendous idea that the NHL stuck them in the opposite pool in the hope of avoiding the awful sight of them playing against their own country.

The best situation is still for Canada and USA to be eliminated early, the Young Gunz and Euro Leftovers to succeed and the finals to be something like Leftovers vs Finland or something.

I don't doubt that many conversations about this have taken place and the NHL already regrets having the gimmick teams. This is exactly why it's almost a foregone conclusion we won't see them again. JMHO.

There is no reason to think that any subsequent conversations are different than conversations that took place before those teams were announced. It remains to be seen if the gimmicks will go away. There seems to be no issue yet other than a bit of mockery in the media with the gimmicks, and I don't think that is going to dissuade the NHL from doing what it wants.

I'll be rooting quite hard for Team NA except game with Russia. I think it's gonna be the most exciting team on tournament. I don't care that spoiled north american fans won't support them. I hope they'll go to the Finals and rub it in your face.
Actually I wasn't that psyched about this tournament but the more negative bashing I read here the more I want this World Cup and these 'gimmick' teams to be successful.

Sound logic. The more successful the gimmicks and this World Cup are, the more likely things will stay that way in the future. The prospect of having 0 best on best hockey in the future must be absolutely exhilarating to you.

Haha I've been thinking similar thoughts. I don't like the gimmick teams but I like the attitude of some of the bashers here even less. People don't get exactly what they want exactly the way they want it and they start whining like self-entitled spoiled brats. I wonder how they ever deal with any adversity in real life.

It's nearly as interesting as a poster trying to contribute poorly thought out responses to a thread without even familiarizing themselves with the topic or following what has already been said by others. The willingness of some people to blindly defend the NHL when it is flagrantly doing something stupid, and then whine that people remain displeased about said stupid thing, is eye opening. Blind deference to the NHL didn't exist to nearly the same degree years ago.

 

[Gary Nylund]

For me, the 3 game final is the main reason why I have preferred these tournaments to the Olympics. 3 Game final >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 1 game final and this outweighs all the other considerations by far.

 

[xxxx]

When I was thinking about it first, I thought all 8 teams could advance to the QFs, but thinking about it now, it adds that very interesting level to the group-stage games. People say everything was made for Canada and US to easily advance, but imagine the US losing to Team Europe in their first game. Certainly possible, hockey is a game played on ice, not on paper, and it's just one game, just 3 periods. The US would then need to win against Canada, otherwise they could be very well out. Every game is gonna be important, with sort of a play-off atmosphere, which makes it maybe even better.

 

[Hanji]

Such an absurd format, not to mention advertising on uniforms and electronic advertising on the boards. What's next, Team African Canadian/American?

Seriously. We had a prime opportunity for a great, ahem, 'Canada Cup'. Instead we get this garbage. F.U. Bettman.

 

[JackSlater]

Such an absurd format, not to mention advertising on uniforms and electronic advertising on the boards. What's next, Team African Canadian/American?

Seriously. We had a prime opportunity for a great, ahem, 'Canada Cup'. Instead we get this garbage. F.U. Bettman.

That is indeed the problem. As to your point about Team African Canadian/American...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-announces-world-cup-of-hockey-to-return-in-2016-1.190879

"The NHL's long-range plan includes a Ryder Cup-style North America vs. Europe series in 2018 and a more expansive 2020 World Cup that could feature North American players with German, English, Irish, Italian or French heritage playing for those countries to grow the game in those nations."

Apparently you're not so far off from what the NHL is considering.

 

[stars33]

That is indeed the problem. As to your point about Team African Canadian/American...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-announces-world-cup-of-hockey-to-return-in-2016-1.190879

"The NHL's long-range plan includes a Ryder Cup-style North America vs. Europe series in 2018 and a more expansive 2020 World Cup that could feature North American players with German, English, Irish, Italian or French heritage playing for those countries to grow the game in those nations."

Apparently you're not so far off from what the NHL is considering.

This is how ridiculous Bettmans international plans are:

European soccer has been a perfect example for being a laboratory of new ideas for sporting events. The reason why is the fact that unlike N.American sports where each pro league has an monopoly on its sport, European soccer had to compete with other national leagues. They developed many ways to get viewers engaged in their domestic leagues by creating open cups, and having there teams and players enter champions league and international tournaments. In comparison to north American pro sports there was no need to adapt since there was no competition from professional leagues among similar sports.
With all this knowledge and data collected from the European soccer market after years of trial and error on what type of tournaments are most engaging to fans, the final successful result has been the tournaments mentioned above.
With all this being said, the NHL decides to overlook the evolution of the European soccer model and goes rogue when creating a similar international tournament and calendar. First by creating fake teams for the world cup and second coming up with continent vs continent series.
These ideas are idiotic and disgraceful. Furthermore, there was no demand from fans for these ideas and no previous model of success for such ideas.
Hockey fans that like international hockey wanted a true World cup that included the hockey world not just the NHL world.
If the goal of the NHL is too make money than I have a business tip for them.
Listen to your customers!!!

 

[Doshell Propivo]

That is indeed the problem. As to your point about Team African Canadian/American...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-announces-world-cup-of-hockey-to-return-in-2016-1.190879

"The NHL's long-range plan includes a Ryder Cup-style North America vs. Europe series in 2018 and a more expansive 2020 World Cup that could feature North American players with German, English, Irish, Italian or French heritage playing for those countries to grow the game in those nations."

Apparently you're not so far off from what the NHL is considering.

Baseball does that with the World Baseball Classic. Meh, as long as it doesn't replace the Olympics I have no problem with it. It's an exhibition.

I would REALLY be interested in a Ryder Cup style tournament though. That would be fun and I think could get very competitive with the players.

 

[JackSlater]

Baseball does that with the World Baseball Classic. Meh, as long as it doesn't replace the Olympics I have no problem with it. It's an exhibition.

Some would like this tournament to be a serious tournament as opposed to an exhibition, and unfortunately an idea like the one listed obviously prevents that from happening.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

Seriously, just bring back the Canada Cup. Thank you.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

Some would like this tournament to be a serious tournament as opposed to an exhibition, and unfortunately an idea like the one listed obviously prevents that from happening.

It's always been an exhibition, invitational tournament. I agree that this year's version is a gimmick but as long as we have a true best-on-best tournament during the Olympics I have no problem if the NHL manufactures its own national teams. If however this is meant to be a replacement for the Olympics then that will be a damn shame.

 

[JackSlater]

It's always been an exhibition, invitational tournament. I agree that this year's version is a gimmick but as long as we have a true best-on-best tournament during the Olympics I have no problem if the NHL manufactures its own national teams. If however this is meant to be a replacement for the Olympics then that will be a damn shame.

Bill Daly already essentially said that it is meant to replace NHL participation the Olympics.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

Bill Daly already essentially said that it is meant to replace NHL participation the Olympics.

Meh, the proof will be in the pudding. We'll see how it all shakes out.

 

[OscarsCards]

This tournament is all but a bad joke. Well, there's always a next time of course.

 

[Paul4587]

I hope it tanks. Two gimmick teams in place of actual nations makes it a joke. Not to mention Canada and US can't ice their best teams due to the U23 roster.

 

[XokkeyGuy]

What do you mean by "not highly regarded in Europe"? Examples, please. Of course if you compare it to Olympics hockey it won't be the same interest. When it's Olympics a lot of casual people watch hockey games, people who watch hockey once a year at best and know only Ovechkin and maybe Malkin. When it's World Cup this is mostly for true hockey fans, not for some people who root only for their national flag at big sports events or people who are interested only in their local teams. And don't forget time zone differences, only true hockey European fans will be watching games at night. I'd say in Russia it's the same interest as NHL playoffs. Maybe even higher since it's national team playing.

Im ru in sweden and neither me or my friends (we're all hardcore hockey fans, enough said there, it goes deep) are very interested in this tournament. We will probably watch it, not the team Europe or NA23 games against teams we dont root for. But we are really not hyped at all as if it were the WHC or OG.
To be fair, I've never seen any russian on these forums write anything good about the world cup except for you - very few swedes and finns as well. I have never seen you in the russian threads on this forums either discussing anything, have a look there and you'll see no one is really positive about it.
Around 90% in the big newspapers commentary sections are always negative about this tournament in Sweden - mostly those who have been to an NHL-game and are strong supporters of NHL ice hockey more than the national league here are looking forward to it (which are few).
I mean, sure I'll watch it, but it could have been so much better and the bias from what every hockey fan here has learned from the past and which our commentators repeat at each ice hockey tournament about the canadiens in the 70's and 80's doesn´t make it any better about the bias case.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Potential?

There are millions and millions of Hockey fans in this World, and most aren't watching.

You don't need to tell anyone in Russia, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Switzerland when the Olympics or World Championships are, because the whole World is watching.

Is there any promotion for this tournament in those countries? How many Hockey fans let alone casual fans in those countries know there is anything going on? For goodness sakes, most Americans don't even know this is going on.

The point of an international tournament is so people from around the world can come together and watch the sport they love.

We can count on one hand how many international travellers will arrive to this stupidity.

The commercial is the stupidest in the history of television. ''who owns Hockey'', my god, only a stupid league like the nhl would come up with that.

does anyone not watch real international tournaments like
World Cup Football
World Cup Rugby
World Cup Cricket

My goodness, after seeing the success of those World cup's , how can you ruin an event that has the potential to be great, this isn't rocket science.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I'll be honest, there's a pre-tournament game or something in Columbus for this, and I don't even care to go. Actually, I forgot this was a thing until a few days ago. I have absolutely no care to watch this tournament, even though I likely will.

 

[jj cale]

Im ru in sweden and neither me or my friends (we're all hardcore hockey fans, enough said there, it goes deep) are very interested in this tournament. We will probably watch it, not the team Europe or NA23 games against teams we dont root for. But we are really not hyped at all as if it were the WHC or OG.
To be fair, I've never seen any russian on these forums write anything good about the world cup except for you - very few swedes and finns as well. I have never seen you in the russian threads on this forums either discussing anything, have a look there and you'll see no one is really positive about it.
Around 90% in the big newspapers commentary sections are always negative about this tournament in Sweden - mostly those who have been to an NHL-game and are strong supporters of NHL ice hockey more than the national league here are looking forward to it (which are few).
I mean, sure I'll watch it, but it could have been so much better and the bias from what every hockey fan here has learned from the past and which our commentators repeat at each ice hockey tournament about the canadiens in the 70's and 80's doesn´t make it any better about the bias case.

And here we come to the crux of the matter.

The gimmick teams are really neither here nor there to European fans, that is just an extra bit of incentive for them to rail about it. The fact is is that this tournament could have had no gimmick teams and had 8 proper national teams and they still would not accept it, they never did and never will unless it is a non NHL organized tournament and it is held in Europe or someplace, anyplace, but North America..

That is the real truth of the matter and is the reason i only really consider North American fans opinions on this tournament, because most European fans are going to pan any format of an NHL organized world cup.Does not matter what the NHL does with a tournament like this...............European fans will not like it.

I have been very interested in seeing NA fans opinions on the whole matter, but European fans opinions on it have and will continue to be uninteresting to me personally.

Because I have known for the better part of 40 years what those opinions are going to be anyway..................they will be negative.

That is already a given.

 

[Lepardi]

That is the real truth of the matter and is the reason i only really consider North American fans opinions on this tournament, because most European fans are going to pan any format of an NHL organized world cup.Does not matter what the NHL does with a tournament like this...............European fans will not like it.

I have been very interested in seeing NA fans opinions on the whole matter, but European fans opinions on it have and will continue to be uninteresting to me personally.

Because I have known for the better part of 40 years what those opinions are going to be anyway..................they will be negative.

That is already a given.

You don't know what you're talking about. People here in Finland didn't "pan" the World Cup in 1996 and 2004. Because those were tournaments for NATIONAL teams. There are plenty of people here in Finland who enjoy watching best-on-best international hockey a lot more than we enjoy watching the World Championships. That's why it's truly a shame that NHL decided to make this year's edition a non-international event. It's such a massive and unnecessary downgrade to the legitimacy of the tournament.

 

[VictoriaJetsFan]

I have often wondered why players like Chara and Hossa don't say something and make an issue out of Slovakia getting screwed. Same with the Swiss too....I thought those guys would have more national pride...

 

[jj cale]

You don't know what you're talking about. People here in Finland didn't "pan" the World Cup in 1996 and 2004. Because those were tournaments for NATIONAL teams. There are plenty of people here in Finland who enjoy watching best-on-best international hockey a lot more than we enjoy watching the World Championships. That's why it's truly a shame that NHL decided to make this year's edition a non-international event. It's such a massive and unnecessary downgrade to the legitimacy of the tournament.

The guy from sweden just finished saying their commentators always talk about the built in Canadian bias when talking about past world/Canada cups.

And from what I have read From European posters here over the years considering those tournaments..............it backs what he said up.

I seem to have a decent grasp on Europeans viewpoint considering this tournament regardless of what format they use.

 

[542365]

I'll still watch it because it's hockey after a long break of not having real hockey, but I could not possibly care any less who wins. I honestly don't think the players really care either. They're going to be playing half assed because they don't want to get injured right before the season starts. It's not going to be an exciting event because the players won't care. Why would they? It's just an event created for the NHL to bring in more money, doesn't help them at all.

 

[XokkeyGuy]

The guy from sweden just finished saying their commentators always talk about the built in Canadian bias when talking about past world/Canada cups.

And from what I have read From European posters here over the years considering those tournaments..............it backs what he said up.

I seem to have a decent grasp on Europeans viewpoint considering this tournament regardless of what format they use.

It's not as if we just hate NA and everything they do, what this loss in faith of your tournaments comes from is usually from the older generation of fans and players who have passed their veiws on to the younger, from parents, commentators and so on who watched those older games.
They all talk and remember those tournaments as if it was yesterday, they remember them as the greatest games ever played, but always end the stories and sentences with "but we felt bad for the russians who were cheated everytime", or mentioning the worse conditions the europeans got - everything from locker rooms to hotels etc.
And during the 2000's there has been little change to it, JWC's and various WHC's have continued to be good examples of bias. There has simply been too little effort from your side to change our view of you guys. This upcoming World Cup is like even another step backwards - like some others here have mentioned, had you at least not put these mix-teams up in the tournament we would at least give it a chance, even if it would be with critical eyes to start with because of the past experiences. But it feels as if NHL just keeps trying to become more and more elitist, cooperation and compromising isn´t of any interest - that's how I see the NHL.

And I will be honest to say this - I did not care to watch the OG final in 2014 even though Sweden reached the final. All I know from it was seeing Crosbys goal in a summary later that day. When I heard that the final was going to have 3 canadiens as refs and 1 american it was done deal for me (this doesn´t represent the average fans although it was a huge thing during those days in the media and everyone was upset by it, but I personally simply lost interest, this was too much, even the olympics got destroyed).
I'm glad that Canada won 3-0, because then it showed that they were the better team, but in reality there was never a chance for Sweden to win it. If it would be a tight game then the "mistakes" from the highly professional referees would suddenly start occurring.
Canada has a hegemony on the influence in this sport, it is being hosted by a private organization which is heavily influenced by canadiens, setting their own rules such as banning Voinov from participating although he played in the recent IIHF tournament and will play in the Olympics, the entire tournament is being played in Canada with no one from outside having a say in it and on top of that they will use their own referees securing the right results if needed.

 

[SpoolCat]

It's not as if we just hate NA and everything they do, what this loss in faith of your tournaments comes from is usually from the older generation of fans and players who have passed their veiws on to the younger, from parents, commentators and so on who watched those older games.
They all talk and remember those tournaments as if it was yesterday, they remember them as the greatest games ever played, but always end the stories and sentences with "but we felt bad for the russians who were cheated everytime", or mentioning the worse conditions the europeans got - everything from locker rooms to hotels etc.
And during the 2000's there has been little change to it, JWC's and various WHC's have continued to be good examples of bias. There has simply been too little effort from your side to change our view of you guys. This upcoming World Cup is like even another step backwards - like some others here have mentioned, had you at least not put these mix-teams up in the tournament we would at least give it a chance, even if it would be with critical eyes to start with because of the past experiences. But it feels as if NHL just keeps trying to become more and more elitist, cooperation and compromising isn´t of any interest - that's how I see the NHL.

And I will be honest to say this - I did not care to watch the OG final in 2014 even though Sweden reached the final. All I know from it was seeing Crosbys goal in a summary later that day. When I heard that the final was going to have 3 canadiens as refs and 1 american it was done deal for me (this doesn´t represent the average fans although it was a huge thing during those days in the media and everyone was upset by it, but I personally simply lost interest, this was too much, even the olympics got destroyed).
I'm glad that Canada won 3-0, because then it showed that they were the better team, but in reality there was never a chance for Sweden to win it. If it would be a tight game then the "mistakes" from the highly professional referees would suddenly start occurring.
Canada has a hegemony on the influence in this sport, it is being hosted by a private organization which is heavily influenced by canadiens, setting their own rules such as banning Voinov from participating although he played in the recent IIHF tournament and will play in the Olympics, the entire tournament is being played in Canada with no one from outside having a say in it and on top of that they will use their own referees securing the right results if needed.

The best referees in the world referee in the NHL which are generally Canadian and american, they weren't going to have a convenient mistake they're professionals in the Olympic finals. Voinov beat up a women and the NHL decided it was better to get rid of a clown like that because thats pretty low It's Voinovs fault he can't play in the world cup not some evil North American plot. As for for what happened before I wasn't around but maybe it could be blamed on Alan Eagleson who was literally almost kicked out of Luzhniki arena during the Summit series.