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Why is international hockey not popular?

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maclean said:
In terms of the comparison to football/soccer, national team breaks are built into the schedules of European leagues so that players can play international games. Even just in terms of different Cup competitions it is normal for games to be rescheduled to make room for all matches. In short the whole process is organised by the competent international authority UEFA to work. In North America the sports world is much more commercialised and monetised and in many ways it is in the interest of the very strong league organisations to downplay the prestige of international tournaments.
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For an example of the bold/underlined part, I believe Eridivisie re-arranged a domestic league match for Ajax (meaning Ajax didn't play) so they could concentrate on their Champions League match with Tottenham.
 
NorCalhockey said:
For an example of the bold/underlined part, I believe Eridivisie re-arranged a domestic league match for Ajax (meaning Ajax didn't play) so they could concentrate on their Champions League match with Tottenham.
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There are actually regulations in place governing how many days a team gets to have off between games, so that may not necessarily have been a decision of the league (in the implied meaning of giving them space to concentrate) but they may have actually been in a way "required" to do. I unfortunately don't remember the details but I think what you're referring to is they also had a domestic cup match in addition to the domestic league and Champions League and the other team had to approve the change and it got quite complicated, not sure how they ended up working it out. To bring it back to the issue at hand, they did however HAVE to work it out somehow, they couldn't just say, well screw it we're not playing then.
 
goonybird said:
When Crosby McDavid Matthews etc. aren't at the WHC it's not even the best of what's left. At least the WJHC is the best available players.
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Also, those still eligible U20 players who are already in the NHL probably played at the World Juniors at some point. One thing that makes it kinda special is that most players won't get to play there more than once or twice. Those are special occasions, just like the Olympics every four years, as opposed to the annual IIHF Worlds.
 
For me, a big part of it is the time zone thing. I can't get invested in a tournament where the only games I can watch are the replays of games that happened 10 hours ago.

It's one thing if it's the Olympics and all the best players from each country are there -- there's something special about that -- but it's another thing if it's B-level teams from certain countries because their best are either still playing in the playoffs or don't want to attend.
 
goonybird said:
When Crosby McDavid Matthews etc. aren't at the WHC it's not even the best of what's left. At least the WJHC is the best available players.
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To be honest McDavid goes almost every year, Crosby and Matthews are just Iginla approach type of guys.
 
I find it sad that Canada or US never want to host the tournament, it would be great for it, especially considering a lot more NHL players would likely be joining in. After a long season of hockey, I feel like it's probably a less exhausting thought of going to Las Vegas or New York rather than Slovakia to play a few extra games for your nation.
 
robertmac43 said:
I wouldn't say they mean nothing. Players for the most part want to play in these friendlies as it keeps there name in consideration for future Major tournaments. For instance if you don't show in the October International break, you may not get a look come Euro qualifiers.
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Plus, showing up is pretty much mandatory. If you do not report to the national team when called, even for a friendly match*, you automatically get a certain amount of matches of suspension for the national league as well. Happens very rarely but it happend.

*Most of the time though, the player, his team, and the national team reach some kind of "gentlemen agreement" where they tend not to send/call players that are recovering from injuries, fatigued or out of shape.
 
Civetty said:
I find it sad that Canada or US never want to host the tournament, it would be great for it, especially considering a lot more NHL players would likely be joining in. After a long season of hockey, I feel like it's probably a less exhausting thought of going to Las Vegas or New York rather than Slovakia to play a few extra games for your nation.
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Check 2008 World Championships, held in Canada and not much of an improvement.
 
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Honestly I think it's not as popular because they don't plan the tournaments very well. The World Championships are played while the playoffs are going on. Many top NHL players are either still playing, just starting their vacations, or recuperating injuries. The World Cup of Hockey was a great idea, that was poorly executed. It was played in the offseason, but they only allowed "top countries" to participate while creating 2 more teams of all different players. The Olympics were great for a handful of years. You really got the best of the best playing in the tournament. But now, NHL players are not allowed to play in those tournaments due to issues between the NHL and the IOC. So, while the last Olympics were great, it really isn't the best vs the best anymore.
 
The competitions are generally played with second-tier players.

Soccer leagues stop their seasons so the best guys can go.
 
It's pretty big in Europe already. Not so much in North America. People blame that it's because it's not best on best, but I think the time zone differance is a much bigger reason. Anyway, for international competition to grow, ice hockey needs to grow in markets like Germany, France and Great Britain. I think it will, eventually. It's a great sport full of speed, skill and physical elements. And in todays age with all the social media, more and more people catch on.
 
Canada is being represented by such luminaries as Troy Stecher and Mathieu Joseph. Joseph finished 102nd in scoring among Canadian forwards. Forget B team, that's I team.
 
Nexon said:
Of course when it was held in their home country, look at USA and Russia this year.
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Well that is what the guy is saying in response to you stating the tournament being held in Canada made no difference in our players participation.

He is showing you having the tournament in Canada DID make a difference in terms of how many more top end guys played.
 
Didn’t read through the thread, so some of these points have probably been made.

Regarding international hockey overall, hockey is mainly a NA based sport and given the geography international play in any sport has never been emphasized over here historically. The US and Canada span the entire continent coast to coast, so the international matches and rivalries never developed as they have in Europe, which had many countries in a small geographic area. Therefor the “professional” game takes prominence.

For the U.S. particular international hockey is not something players and fans have grown up with. The World Championships have only made it on television here within the last 5-7 years, mainly because the NHL now has their own channel they need programming for. Same for the World junior although it has now a decade + of regular coverage.

And finally the World Championships aren’t seen as a major tournament because of timing. It is a consolation tournament and treated as such for the most part. It is akin to if FIFA held the World Cup during the Champions League knockout rounds.
 
FinPanda said:
1.7 million saw the game against Canada here in Finland. About 1 million was the average audience. Who said international hockey is not popular?

It is in Europe.
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It is here too depending on what the tournament is, same thing as in Europe.

I really don't get the thread.
 
Its big everywhere but North America.

Its one of the only times people can watch the talents they grew up watching in their teens until they got drafted to NHL.. So of course Europeans hope "their" NHLers wants to play at the IIHF or Olympics when it happens. Why do you think a lot of people have a love hate relationship towards NHL?

NHL do have European fans, but because of when games are played its hard to watch alot of games.
 
It's popular with my dad. I went by just now a few hours ago and he watched Denmark vs France. He even said England's in the tournament. They're in the tournament as England, I asked, but no apparently they're in the tournament as Great Britain.
 
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