Which tournaments matter in which countries?
- Thread starter Canuckistani
- Start date
- Status
I think myself as a huge hockey fan.
For me the list goes like this:
1. Olympics
2. World Cup / Canada Cup
3. Liiga
4. WJC
5. NHL
6. World Championships
7. U20 Liiga
8. Mestis
9. EHT
...rest leagues I really don't care. Next season CHL will go somewhere there.
- Stoat
For me the list goes like this:
1. Olympics
2. World Cup / Canada Cup
3. Liiga
4. WJC
5. NHL
6. World Championships
7. U20 Liiga
8. Mestis
9. EHT
...rest leagues I really don't care. Next season CHL will go somewhere there.
- Stoat
A very small percentage of Canadian hockey fans care, however from your perspective that still represents a lot of hockey fans.
Hammer Time
Registered User
- May 3, 2011
- 3,957
- 11
Most of this is a function of the time and place when these tournaments are held. The WJC and Spengler Cup are held in late December, which is the one time of the year where most Canadian businesses have an extended holiday. The World Championships are usually held in Europe, in May, so considering time zones, the vast majority of Canadians are at work when the games are going on. I daresay that if the WJC was held in mid-November in Eastern Europe every year, Canadians would rapidly lose interest in it.
The CAN-SWE game was on a Sunday by the way, which is a day off for most Canadians. I do not buy your theory completely. The level of interest in the WHC is not the same as the WJC, Olympics, World Cup, Stanley Cup, etc. I know this from first hand experience going to bars in downtown Toronto.
It should be renamed to the European Hockey Championship or the IIHF Cup, but not the WHC. I always felt this way. Winning this tournament does not make you the best country in the world, when most nations do not have their best talent on the ice, such as Canada relying on a career NHL backup in Scrivens as their starter. True Best on Best is the Olympics. Everyone knows that.
In Finland the Olympics and WHC are equally popular and important in the general population. People are as eager to watch the games whether it's the Olympics or WHC, and I think the average person doesn't even understand the difference in magnitude of these tournaments. Both tournaments get as much exposure from the media which generates equally big of an interest among the audience regardless of the tournament.
After those the ranking order goes as follows:
3. World Cup
4. WJC
5. Stanley Cup playoffs (depends on how many Finns are playing)
For me personally it goes
1. Olympics
2. NHL
3. WJC/World Cup
4. WHC (I watch the games only if I have nothing better to do and I don't care about the outcome)
After those the ranking order goes as follows:
3. World Cup
4. WJC
5. Stanley Cup playoffs (depends on how many Finns are playing)
For me personally it goes
1. Olympics
2. NHL
3. WJC/World Cup
4. WHC (I watch the games only if I have nothing better to do and I don't care about the outcome)
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
- 19,807
- 15,473
It's just a name, and the name of any tournament is irrelevant. The players who show up decide how significant the tournament itself is.
Yes, timing and hype is a huge part of why Canadians generally prefer the WJC. Start the WJC during the first round of the NHL playoffs and watch interest whither and die. Put the WC on around Christmas and have 95% of the best eligible players attend and it would be tremendously popular. Fact is that the WJC has already become firmly entrenched in Canada's hockey fandom, while the WC is viewed as a curiosity taking place in Europe with most of the best players not in attendance.
cutchemist42
Registered User
There's a good chance your average hockey fan cant even name the 2004 World Cup winner, the tourney was smaller then what a lot of people remember. I personally prefer the hockey played after a season then before a season, and still prefer the WHC setup over the World Cup setup.
Classicnamesup
MVP Backhand Slapper
from my perspective in Czech:
1. olympics
2. WHC - tradition,history,and what is even more important - you can evaluate players from your league how they are on national level, plus comparing with NHLers from USA and Canada.
3. Canada cup/world cup, it does not have special atmosphere for us but it was simply best of best and Iam pretty sure a lot of people watched it (maybe little bit less than Olympics)
4. czech league
5. eurohockey tour - tournaments for SWE,CZ,FIN,RUS national teams during the season - not for results but for testing players on higher level
6. WJC - getting more important since problems with youth program appeared in CZ. What I personally do not agree is when some canadians using results from this tourney as a proof they are best. It shows how good is your youth program, but those guys are still not complete players, it is just important for development but switch between juniors and seniors is still quite big.
7. NHL - I do not think people really watched games but we are constantly informed
8. Spengler cup - we respect the tradition of this tourney but I think just fans of the team which is sent there from CZ follows it. It is not even in TV. Looks like canadians follows it more than europeans...
)
1. olympics
2. WHC - tradition,history,and what is even more important - you can evaluate players from your league how they are on national level, plus comparing with NHLers from USA and Canada.
3. Canada cup/world cup, it does not have special atmosphere for us but it was simply best of best and Iam pretty sure a lot of people watched it (maybe little bit less than Olympics)
4. czech league
5. eurohockey tour - tournaments for SWE,CZ,FIN,RUS national teams during the season - not for results but for testing players on higher level
6. WJC - getting more important since problems with youth program appeared in CZ. What I personally do not agree is when some canadians using results from this tourney as a proof they are best. It shows how good is your youth program, but those guys are still not complete players, it is just important for development but switch between juniors and seniors is still quite big.
7. NHL - I do not think people really watched games but we are constantly informed
8. Spengler cup - we respect the tradition of this tourney but I think just fans of the team which is sent there from CZ follows it. It is not even in TV. Looks like canadians follows it more than europeans...
)Is is quite unfair to rename the tourney just because of one league in the world does not let players to go, don't you think?
Incognito
Registered User
This is just silly. Winning the World Championships does not make a nation the best. Only winning the Olympics can give a nation a credible claim to the #1 spot in the rankings. I know a lot of Europeans think that the Worlds are a huge deal because the NHL is the only league whose playoffs conflict with the schedule of the tournament, but they have to realize that the NHL harbours by far the top players in the world, and the greatest number of them too. A tournament that is missing a great deal of NHL players is not much of a tournament, to say the least.
what's there not to understand ?
Olympics - officially IIHF tournament with best players, unoficially IIHF+NHL tournament with NHL only refs in most important games
joke but still better that World Cupbonus info:
final game SWE-CAN officiated by NHL ref Kelly Sutherland - IIHF said, that they pick best refs based on their performance during Olympics - well, RUS-SVK 3rd period, that was reffing at it's best by Sutherland
Canada Cup/World Cup - NHL tournament with NHL refs with NHL rules with Canada winning of course, I mean can you imagine the ratings if Canada is not in final
- only complete Pejorative Slur can take World Cup seriously (what's with the Cup from 1981 lol) they don't even try to hide that it's "managed"WHC - IIHF tournament without players playing 2nd (3rd) round of NHL playoffs, with some impressive AHL refs, because for some reason there are always USA/CAN refs that should not be allowed to call 16y juniors games ...
WJC - IIHF tournament brutally overhyped by Canadian media and NHL , they obviously need these tournament to be played in NA so logically it's more important for the NA fans
I think it's funny how some of the Europeans are questioning how little Canadians could care less for the WHC. Come and see for yourself. People have posted the numbers for viewership... the freaking SPENGLER CUP has more people watching it.
The WHC is looked at as a joke tournament here in Canada simply because how can you call it a WORLD Championship.... when the best players aren't even there???? You could put together a Canadian team from JUST the final 4 teams in the Stanley Cup finals that would destroy the Russian team that won the WHC. Canada would still have the better goaltending and defense by a country mile.
Rick Nash / Johnathan Toews / Patrick Sharp
Ben Pouliot / Jeff Carter / St. Louis
Justin Williams / Andrew Shaw / Kris Versteeg
David Desharnais / Mike Richards / Brendan Gallagher
Drew Doughtly / Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook / PK Subban
Ryan McDonough / Willie Mitchell
Marc Staal / Dan Girardi
Carey Price
Corey Crawford.
Rankings based on importance.
Olympic Hockey/Stanley Cup (Best vs Best)
WJC (Best vs Best)
World Cup of Hockey/Canada Cup (Best vs Best)
.
.
.
Memorial Cup
.
.
WHC.
We don't care about third rate tournaments that don't show anything in regards to who is actually.... THE BEST. The WHC is a mean nothing event!
Get it? Got it? Goooooood!
The WHC is looked at as a joke tournament here in Canada simply because how can you call it a WORLD Championship.... when the best players aren't even there???? You could put together a Canadian team from JUST the final 4 teams in the Stanley Cup finals that would destroy the Russian team that won the WHC. Canada would still have the better goaltending and defense by a country mile.
Rick Nash / Johnathan Toews / Patrick Sharp
Ben Pouliot / Jeff Carter / St. Louis
Justin Williams / Andrew Shaw / Kris Versteeg
David Desharnais / Mike Richards / Brendan Gallagher
Drew Doughtly / Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook / PK Subban
Ryan McDonough / Willie Mitchell
Marc Staal / Dan Girardi
Carey Price
Corey Crawford.
Rankings based on importance.
Olympic Hockey/Stanley Cup (Best vs Best)
WJC (Best vs Best)
World Cup of Hockey/Canada Cup (Best vs Best)
.
.
.
Memorial Cup
.
.
WHC.
We don't care about third rate tournaments that don't show anything in regards to who is actually.... THE BEST. The WHC is a mean nothing event!
Get it? Got it? Goooooood!
In Finland, I'd say:
Olympics (Just above the Worlds. The Olympic status brings more prestige but being a multi-sport event takes some attention away from hockey.)
World Ch'ship = Stanley Cup (People care more about the Worlds but probably rate SC above)
World Cup
Liiga
Junior Worlds
For me personally:
Stanley Cup
Olympics
World Cup (as a regular event could be on Olympics' level)
Junior Worlds
World Ch'ship
Liiga
Olympics (Just above the Worlds. The Olympic status brings more prestige but being a multi-sport event takes some attention away from hockey.)
World Ch'ship = Stanley Cup (People care more about the Worlds but probably rate SC above)
World Cup
Liiga
Junior Worlds
For me personally:
Stanley Cup
Olympics
World Cup (as a regular event could be on Olympics' level)
Junior Worlds
World Ch'ship
Liiga
It was called Versus a couple years ago and I don't remember them showing anything WHC past 2012 when it became NBCSN. Maybe it wasn't on my provider.
SanDogBrewin
Righteous bucks!
The reason Canada Cup/World Cup isn't that important to American hockey fans is because it isn't around right now.
The WJHC might not be that important to hockey fans in areas where hockey isn't prevalent, baseball and football crazed states, but it is most certainly an important tournament to US fans in states that are hockey crazed like Michigan, Minnesota and Massachusetts for example.
Look. It has been World Champs since the beginning. Canada just did not even sent NHLers there because they were confident to win. Then times changed and they need to send NHLers. You always arguing about C,D,E teams or who you missed. And how was Canada team last year?? You don't have to take care about it, but the quality is of this tourney is high and you loosing. You are number one now, but results from this tourney are very uncovincing. Fact that you follow more Spengler cup (respctful tourney that no one even watch in Europe) is probably smth like culture difference which I never understand to....
VMBM
Hansel?!
Hedning
A New Beginning
- Apr 26, 2012
- 1,371
- 0
Sweden-Russia was the first game I watched (had it on in the background when i was installing an operation system & programs) I was quite lost on many names from the roster, I'm not a particular fan of the SHL. And will be even less next season... And the Swe-Rus game also turned out to be the only one i watched, probably a "record" of sorts from my viewpoint.
Don't give much for these second grade tourneys. But I know many does, nothin' wrong with that. (And it has just been to much Hockey this season for me to muster up any interest for this years WHC-tournament)
***
Olympics (Best on best)
World Cup/Canada Cup
WJC
WHC
***
Right now summer is fast approaching and I also just want the SC to be over with. I'm starting to get tired of Hockey as a whole for now, it's been a long season and with the Olympics as well... Will it then also not be NY in the final, then i probably only will be watching with one eye. The other teams are of more or less zero interest. NY still have some.
See you in fall...
Don't give much for these second grade tourneys. But I know many does, nothin' wrong with that. (And it has just been to much Hockey this season for me to muster up any interest for this years WHC-tournament)
***
Olympics (Best on best)
World Cup/Canada Cup
WJC
WHC
***
Right now summer is fast approaching and I also just want the SC to be over with. I'm starting to get tired of Hockey as a whole for now, it's been a long season and with the Olympics as well... Will it then also not be NY in the final, then i probably only will be watching with one eye. The other teams are of more or less zero interest. NY still have some.
See you in fall...
- Status
Latest posts
-
Kings apologize for selling Turkish-made scarves on Armenian Night- Latest: Primary Assist
-
