Who else has very little interest in the Four Nations tournament?

[Grifter3511]

Get real. Making millions (NHLers get paid for regular season only) is exponentially more meaningful to players than playing for their country.

You'd be hard pressed to find an NHLer who will voluntarily terminate his contract to play in a best-v-best.

Playing in the nhl is their job. They do it day in, day out, 8-9 months of the year. You think players get excited to fly into Utah on a Wednesday night in February, or for an afternoon game in Seattle on a Sunday in November? Same shit, different day for the majority of the year.

I have a job that covers my cost of living, and it's a job that most would consider somewhat meaningful, but there are numerous things that I do outside of my job that I find more meaningful than my job. Would I give up my job for them? Of course not, I need to live and they don't pay my bills. But livelihood and 'meaningfulness' or whatever you want to call it are not synonymous.

Of course players would rather make millions. It's not an either or. But I bet every single player who made their international team is more excited about this change of routine than they are about any single regular season games they'll play.

Edit: it would be interesting to get a non-NHL sanctioned anonymous poll from players in the NHL who didn't make their national teams on whether they would give up the two week break to play for their country if asked, or if they'd prefer the time off.

 

[Grifter3511]

I own it. And I am happy to say I changed my mind. I was getting excited for this as time went on and I was glad to see it back last night.

Good on you! It happens from time to time, but it's also pretty rare to see posters change their opinions, or admit they were wrong (not that you were wrong in this instance. You can't be wrong about how you feel about something) and not just double down, move the goalposts or ghost the thread.

Hopefully your namesake keeps up the inspired play tomorrow night!

 

[nORRis8]

I must admit, my interest in the tourney was next to nil.
After watching the Canada Sweden game my enthusiasm picked up.
Now to see tomorrow night US v Canada plus as a Bruins fan to see two bitter foes Marchand and Bennett on the same line...very watchable.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

If you are going to complain and whine about the posters who are not into the tournament this thread is not for you. Let them be. Move along and enjoy the tournament. Thanks.

Ah yes. Page upon page of “complaining and whining” for months leading up to the tournament about how it was a joke, not worth anyone’s time, and plenty of implicit and explicit patronization of posters willing to give it a chance. Maybe I missed it, but didn’t see much in the way of mod activity after the entire thread about the tournament became mostly posters claiming they had no interest in it and it was stupid.

Along comes an undeniably great hockey game with an inevitable number of posters with the opine that all the naysayers were dead wrong about the quality of hockey that we ended up seeing. An obvious result given the general tone of the thread for months leading up to the tournament. Somehow it only takes hours for a line to suddenly be drawn.

Brilliant work.

 

[BullLund]

In Finland, it doesn't seem like people even know that this is going on. Generates about the same amount of interest as some random beer league tournament.

Doesn't help that the games are being played at midnight.

 

[NyQuil]

In Finland, it doesn't seem like people even know that this is going on. Generates about the same amount of interest as some random beer league tournament.

Doesn't help that the games are being played at midnight.

Unless they make the Final at which point it becomes a very important tournament.

"Yes it's BEST on BEST! Of course it is!"

Doesn't surprise me though. It's on in the middle of the night and I can't imagine the NHL markets directly to Finland.

 

[End on a Hinote]

I went from zero interest, to only hoping that we beat the USA today. I couldn't care less if we finished behind Sweden or Finland.

 

[BullLund]

Unless they make the Final at which point it becomes a very important tournament.

"Yes it's BEST on BEST! Of course it is!"

Finnish hockey fans would be all over it, but the casual audience that usually cares about these national games, just doesn't seem to even know that this is going on.

To the masses, guys like Marko Anttila are bigger names than the likes of Aleksander Barkov or Mikko Rantanen because they played more national games. Even though he wouldn't make a 4th line in the NHL even on his best day.

I'd wager that there will be a lot more interest in the usual world championship games, even with the lesser quality of players.

 

[NyQuil]

I'd wager that there will be a lot more interest in the usual world championship games, even with the lesser quality of players.

The World Championships are a long-standing tradition in Europe.

When I lived in West Germany in the mid-80s, I'd watch them from beginning to end on German (!) TV, even back when they weren't very competitive. They still showed all the games.

It's kind of like the World Juniors here in Canada. It's sort of a Christmas tradition as opposed to simply a hockey tournament.

Unsurprisingly, the most ardent fans of those tournaments have the games typically shown during prime time.

What's nice about Olympic hockey is that everyone pretty much agrees on their importance, significance and entertainment value regardless of where they are hosted and when the games are played.

 

[elmaco]

Finnish hockey fans would be all over it, but the casual audience that usually cares about these national games, just doesn't seem to even know that this is going on.

To the masses, guys like Marko Anttila are bigger names than the likes of Aleksander Barkov or Mikko Rantanen because they played more national games. Even though he wouldn't make a 4th line in the NHL even on his best day.

I'd wager that there will be a lot more interest in the usual world championship games, even with the lesser quality of players.

There will be a massive audience today since it starts at 8pm.

 

[BullLund]

The World Championships are a long-standing tradition in Europe.

When I lived in West Germany in the mid-80s, I'd watch them from beginning to end on German (!) TV, even back when they weren't very competitive. They still showed all the games.

It's kind of like the World Juniors here in Canada. It's sort of a Christmas tradition as opposed to simply a hockey tournament.

Unsurprisingly, the most ardent fans of those tournaments have the games typically shown during prime time.

What's nice about Olympic hockey is that everyone pretty much agrees on their importance, significance and entertainment value regardless of where they are hosted and when the games are played.

Olympics are huge, for sure. It's been a huge disservice to this generation of Finnish NHL stars that they haven't been able to participate in the Olympics. Players like Teemu Selänne and Saku Koivu became household names because of the way they performed in the Olympics, which also led to people watching their NHL games because of that star power.

I believe that Rantanen, Aho, Barkov, are just as good as the past generation, but they just haven't had the chance to show up.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

I can't believe they put season on pause for a 4-team tournament. I could not care less about any of the games, even if they aired prime time in Europe, let alone now that they air in the middle of the night.

Finnish caps fan? Gotta be rare no? Given their general aversion to Finnish players

 

[Fatass]

Seems up in the air as to the kind of games we will see today. Already players going down. (Theadore) And is Makar out now? Rumblings of that yesterday.
Yes, it’s fun to watch the guys put on their national sweaters and compete for fans of hockey. But as fans of certain teams how worried do we get seeing our club’s top players every time they absorb a hit or get into an awkward collision? McAvoy, for example, took a couple nasty collisions against Finland.
So yes, it’s good the guys are trying hard. But it’s a double edged sword for fans of certain nhl clubs. Try hard to win but don’t get injured!

 

[Golden_Jet]

In Finland, it doesn't seem like people even know that this is going on. Generates about the same amount of interest as some random beer league tournament.

Doesn't help that the games are being played at midnight.

Guess you don’t know what time todays game is.

 

[authentic]

I must admit, my interest in the tourney was next to nil.
After watching the Canada Sweden game my enthusiasm picked up.
Now to see tomorrow night US v Canada plus as a Bruins fan to see two bitter foes Marchand and Bennett on the same line...very watchable.

I don’t think people considered beforehand that this is the most absolute hockey skill ever seen on one ice surface in a game, and that yes they’re actually going to try playing for their country so an all-star game doesn’t come close. Really feel bad for those who are robbing themselves of such incredible hockey.

 

[nORRis8]

I don’t think people considered beforehand that this is the most absolute hockey skill ever seen on one ice surface in a game, and that yes they’re actually going to try playing for their country so an all-star game doesn’t come close. Really feel bad for those who are robbing themselves of such incredible hockey.

Yes I agree.
When especially the US and Canada who have first rate 1st line players on their teams play on play on the 3rd and 4th lines and Canada sitting a guy like Sam Bennett tells you of the depth and the skill.
Plus they're playing full out hockey, it's not a crappy Allstar game atmosphere

 

[5 14 6 1]

People love to complain, the specific complaint for the 4 nations cup is a made-up tournament, unlike the Olympics or Stanley Cup, which are naturally occurring competitions.

Every tournament is a made up tournament

 

[Auston Marlander]

Every tournament is a made up tournament

Obvious sarcasm is lost on far to many people