Which tournaments matter in which countries?

[kp61c]

1.Olympics
2.World Championship
the we plummet down to
3.The Khl
and on the bottom dwell some other tournaments lost in obscurity
4. ....????

 

[obskyr]

1.Olympics
2.World Championship
the we plummet down to
3.The Khl
and on the bottom dwell some other tournaments lost in obscurity
4. ....????

Outside of few cities, KHL is just as obscure as any other professional sports league that isn't a part of the UEFA. Good luck finding people who actually discuss it in real life.

 

[MMANumminen]

WJC is not important but it is interesting

 

[Rob]

I am glad that the WJC has gained popularity in Sweden. I find the hockey to be a lot more intense and exciting than the WHC. Of course it is understandable that it will never surpass the WHC in overall popularity though.

 

[Reds4Life]

To a casual finnish person (people who watch ice hockey) it is like this:

1.) Olympics
2.) WHC
-
-
-
3.) Canada cup/World cup or whatever.
4.) Luga... Maybe.

No one cares about WJC or Stanley cup.

Same in Czech Rep.

 

[jekoh]

Will this convince you?

Convince me of what?

A lot of Canadians do care about the WHC, the fact they care more about something else does not change that.

 

[mahagga73]

In America.1. Stanley Cup. 2. Olympics. 3. World Cup. 4.Under 20 ( just the diehards like me watch it even when USA looks good). 4. Worlds (this is the first year a lot of the games have even been on cable, basically nobody watches). US hockey fans , for the most part, only watch best on best tourneys but interest in the under 20's has picked up quite a bit .

 

[Xokkeu]

The Women's Olympic team would be an interesting one to place if we did that.

I think the World Cup if brought back correctly as in placed right in that two year gap of the Olympics will be a different animal these days. I think it will do quite well this time around.

Women's Olympics are different than worlds. The women's Olympic is bigger than than even the u20s

 

[Mehar]

Will this convince you?
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/e...-nhl-schedule-does-cbc-191146373.html#more-id


https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/e...tournament-hockey-hits-heights-225344019.html


Even I was shocked: the WHC gets lower TV ratings in Canada than the Spengler Cup

Hockey-Worlds
Canada vs. Sweden
Sunday
TSN
355,000

Quote:
1. World junior, Canada vs. Czech Republic, Saturday, TSN: 1,745,000
2. NHL, Bruins-Sens/Habs-Lightning, Saturday, CBC: 1,230,000
3. World junior, Canada vs. Germany, Thursday, TSN: 755,000
4. NHL, Flyers at Oilers, Saturday, CBC: 713,000
5. Spengler Cup, Canada vs. Davos, Saturday, TSN: 699,000
6. Spengler Cup, Canada vs. Vitkovice, Thursday, TSN: 692,000
7. NFL, Packers at Bears, Sunday, City/Sportsnet East: 584,000
8. NFL, Eagles at Cowboys, Sunday, TSN: 549,000 (NBC audience not calculated)
9. Spengler Cup, Canada vs. Rochester, Sunday, TSN: 496,000

This sums up perfectly the WHC ranks in comparison in Canada. Thanks for this.

 

[Xokkeu]

In America.1. Stanley Cup. 2. Olympics. 3. World Cup. 4.Under 20 ( just the diehards like me watch it even when USA looks good). 4. Worlds (this is the first year a lot of the games have even been on cable, basically nobody watches). US hockey fans , for the most part, only watch best on best tourneys but interest in the under 20's has picked up quite a bit .

NBC has been showing team USA and knockout games for the past four years plus.

 

[novisor]

I think most Canadians would agree with this:

1. Olympics
2. Stanley Cup Finals/Playoffs (all depends on teams participating)
3. World Juniors
4. Memorial Cup
5. World Cup (is this relevant if it really doesn't occur anymore?)
6. World Hockey Championship
7. Spengler Cup

If better NHLers were sent to the WHC (i.e actually accepted there invitations/aren't given a free pass) it would be a much bigger deal. It pains me to see the best Canadian players not going to the tournament even if they are invited. I can understand an olympic year, having already played in a much more intense tournament mid season, but the tournament has become a 4 year tryout for the olympics for probably 50% of the players named. Olympic years are brutal, but the year before is usually at least a very good Canadian "C" team, or even "B" team because players want to impress for the upcoming Olympics (Giroux/Subban were on 2013 team for example.)
Russians are often criticized for there effort in the SC playoffs, but even the best, Malkin, Oveckin will always go play for Russia, even after the second round, in an olympic year (Geno).

Of course this isn't only a problem for Canada, but the United States as well.

 

[Kulleroinen*]

Are you sure about that KHL and NHL comparison?
I personally know nobody who follows KHL. Yet every hockey fan I know is very informed on what exactly is going on in NHL at the moment and has no problems naming a lot of players all around the league.

I'm going just by personal observations. Quite many of my friends travel to see KHL matches but only one has went to see a NHL game. We also talk about KHL more than NHL and NHL discussion is mostly about our favourite teams after few beers. (my team is/will be better than yours)

 

[um]

this is one of those speak for yourself moments as a Canadian, here,s what i think:

1) Stanley Cup
2) Olympics
3) World Championships

5) World Juniors (a fun little tournament as the nhl season is losing its early season magic)
6) Memorial Cup

 

[Canuckistani]

For Canada:

The tournament they do well on. If they lose, the tournament is irrelevant.

Nonsense. Canadian fans still care about the Olympics and WJC when we lose and are still pretty indifferent to the WC when we win.

 

[ViD]

In Russia :

1. Olympics
2. WHC
3.WJHC




4. World Cup


The WC is not popular at all because team Russia plays all its games in North America and games start at 3-4 am

 

[xxxx]

The IIHF WHC is a joke tournament really. Not by itself, but by the attitude the countries and players have towards this. If you win this tournament, what it actually really says? That you are the best in the world?

It's sweet that europeans think about it as a I. tier, very important tournament.

It's a great to win any tournament. And this is, hands down, the best senior tournament outside the olympics or world cup. But it really doesn't look like that...

 

[Scotty B]

I would like WHC a lot more, if it were held in Canada/ NA more often

I don't know if pressure could be put on HC by the IIHF, by TSN, or by whomever, to achieve this though

But I do believe it wouldn't be difficult to find Canadian cities willing to host, or co-host this event since we Canucks are, after all, a Hockey mad nation. I also believe if the event was held on this side of the Pond more often, fewer of our guys would decline invites...

As it stands now...Olympics, World Cup, World Jr, SLC Playoffs...and WC somewhere considerably further down the list, pour moi...

 

[ViD]

The IIHF WHC is a joke tournament really. Not by itself, but by the attitude the countries and players have towards this. If you win this tournament, what it actually really says? That you are the best in the world?
.

yes, it does. And if you don't agree, send your best available players and win it next year.

(reply about Olympics coming next)

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

yes, it does. And if you don't agree, send your best available players and win it next year.

(reply about Olympics coming next)

Are you sure you want that, I mean out of the last 5 tournaments where that was the case Canada has won 3, and I'm sure you know Russia has won 0.

Can't win in Sochi so need to feel good somehow I suppose

How about let's have every other country send half their Olympic team with Russia having ZERO, then let's see what would happen. I would love to see that, I'm sure your posts would be even more hilarious.

 

[xxxx]

yes, it does. And if you don't agree, send your best available players and win it next year.

(reply about Olympics coming next)

That's nonsense. No need to argue about that. No team is sending their best. That's a problem. So, any team that wins the championships can say about the rest, send better teams next time.

Even if Team Canada lost to Team Russia at this tournament, what would it mean? That Russian B team beat Canada's E team? Impressive. Our world would never be the same.
To make it clear, I'm not mentioning this as an excuse why Canada didn't win the tournament, but to make it clearly seen how weird the tournament is. It's called the World Championships. But it's not. At least change the name. The IIHF Cup. That sounds better.

 

[JackSlater]

I think most Canadians would agree with this:

1. Olympics
2. Stanley Cup Finals/Playoffs (all depends on teams participating)
3. World Juniors
4. Memorial Cup
5. World Cup (is this relevant if it really doesn't occur anymore?)
6. World Hockey Championship
7. Spengler Cup

Not even remotely close. The World/Canada Cup is far ahead of any international tournament other than the Olympics (with NHLers) in Canada. People still remember most of those tournaments very well (other than 1991 and 2004 basically) and in some cases (1976, 1987) they still get far more attention than any WJC ever will.

I would rank it like this:

Stanley Cup (Canadians would be disappointed by the Olympic hockey tournament not taking place. Imagine what would happen if the Stanley Cup playoffs were cancelled.)
Olympics
World/Canada Cup



WJC



WHC
Memorial Cup
Spengler Cup

Are you sure you want that, I mean out of the last 5 tournaments where that was the case Canada has won 3, and I'm sure you know Russia has won 0.

Yeah, but Canada has won 4 out of the last 5 best on best tournaments. Still, calling a tournament "World Championships" means the winner is clearly the best. Who cares that Canada didn't get a single player from even the 55 man summer orientation camp? If a tournament says it is for the "World Championships" that is all that matters!

 

[janecky]

The Finnish hockey elitists here make me laugh. You personally rank the WC tournament behind the juniors? Sure, and you really feel that deep down. There is no way I can pretend the WJC is the more meaningful tournament. Many kids playing in the WJC never become good players even in the Finnish league. In fact, the majority of them have no idea how hard it is to become a good player on the national level.

The WC is almost on par with the Olympics in this country. Every kid grows up in that environment. And realistically, it's a lot more meaningful than the WJC even on paper considering only a tiny fraction of Finnish pro players ever reach a level to be selected for the World Championships. It is a major career achievement for a player to make the roster even when we have our C- or D-level roster, and it takes years of hard work. The WJC tournament just happens to feed off the Entry Draft hype and the league setup in North America. For a Finnish kid, the big time is cracking the lineup in the Finnish Liiga, not playing in the WJC. Sure, it's nice to see kiddies compete against the best of other countries in their age group, but that's all it is. The WJC is just the highest level of junior tournaments, but it's still a junior tournament just like the under-16s.

 

[TheBloodyDwarf]

As normal finnish ice hockey fan.

1) Olympics
1) Ice Hockey World Championship

I just can't say which one is more important. If we looks overall hype Olympics vs World Championship, World Championship is clear winner. Why so? Becoz in olympics there is so much other sports happening than ice hockey. But when World Championship is happening all sport hype is only for ice hockey.
I know that many think that World Championship Gold medal is better than Olympic Silver/Bronze. I also think like that.
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SM-liiga
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NHL
WJC
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World Cup/Canada Cup. If you go ask random ice hockey fans most likely 1-2 out of 20 could remember that there even has been tournament like this.

 

[Urbanskog]

The Finnish media actually didn't start to hype the WJC until the kiddos reached the final. Before that, hardly anyone knew that it was going on.

 

[Gemini]

The Finnish hockey elitists here make me laugh. You personally rank the WC tournament behind the juniors? Sure, and you really feel that deep down. There is no way I can pretend the WJC is the more meaningful tournament. Many kids playing in the WJC never become good players even in the Finnish league. In fact, the majority of them have no idea how hard it is to become a good player on the national level.

The WC is almost on par with the Olympics in this country. Every kid grows up in that environment. And realistically, it's a lot more meaningful than the WJC even on paper considering only a tiny fraction of Finnish pro players ever reach a level to be selected for the World Championships. It is a major career achievement for a player to make the roster even when we have our C- or D-level roster, and it takes years of hard work. The WJC tournament just happens to feed off the Entry Draft hype and the league setup in North America. For a Finnish kid, the big time is cracking the lineup in the Finnish Liiga, not playing in the WJC. Sure, it's nice to see kiddies compete against the best of other countries in their age group, but that's all it is. The WJC is just the highest level of junior tournaments, but it's still a junior tournament just like the under-16s.

Don't confuse WHC (the ongoing IIHF tournament) with WC (World/Canada Cup). You're talking about the WHC.