Will you be OK if fans of the winning country at the 4 Nations refer to their country as the "world champs"?

[Paxton Fettel]

But Russia doesn't ever win at these things anyways.

To answer the OP: I'll be traumatized. How dare anyone use the words World Champion? That's so offensive on so many levels to real world champions. I mean...these are words, and words hurt precisely how much I allow them to hurt, and if someone dares to call one of these teams World Champs I will be in a world of pain.

Neither do the Americans and the rest of the field seldom win either

 

[MikeFolignosHelmet]

I view this as a NHL event, not a national team event.

 

[Phil Kessels Hot Dog]

All four of these teams would smash any team in the World Championship. So can the world champions really call themselves world champions?

 

[Neil Racki]

No

 

[tarheelhockey]

one could argue that the winning roster is stronger than the 2024 IIHF World Champions from Czechia.

That’s a bit of an understatement.

Czechia’s top scorers in that tournament were Roman Cervenka, Lukas Sedlak, and Dominik Kubalik. There’s a reason they’re not in a tournament of top-tier teams.

A better question is, can they call themselves "best team in the World"?

These are the best 4 rosters that have been assembled in over a decade, so they would be justified in using that title.

 

[qc14]

If the US wins, they're World Champs and this trophy is validation of a changing of the guard and signifies the dominance of the best generation of American players ever

If Canada wins, it's a mickey mouse trophy made up by Bettman to make Crosby feel better after having to deal with the Pens sucking so much

 

[Blanka]

Nope.

 

[ORRFForever]

Re : "Will you be OK if fans of the winning country at the 4 Nations refer to their country as the "world champs"?"

Yes, WT, now that Canada has won, it is OK.

 

[Summer Rose]

Re : "Will you be OK if fans of the winning country at the 4 Nations refer to their country as the "world champs"?"

Yes, WT, now that Canada has won, it is OK.

Nope. USA didn't win, therefore it's a joke tournament.

 

[Peiskos]

If the US wins, they're World Champs and this trophy is validation of a changing of the guard and signifies the dominance of the best generation of American players ever

If Canada wins, it's a mickey mouse trophy made up by Bettman to make Crosby feel better after having to deal with the Pens sucking so much

Bingo.

 

[Czechboy]

Czechia’s top scorers in that tournament were Roman Cervenka, Lukas Sedlak, and Dominik Kubalik.

We also had Pasta, Necas and Zacha. They arrived later but were pretty key in the quarters, semis and gold game (spoiler: our best forwards). Palat and Kampf were also excellent. As was Ondrej Kase. I actually think that forward core would keep up. Then add in Kulich and Hertl - I'm feeling okay about it to be honest. Goalies were Dostal/Vej/Mrazek and I"d be just fine with that too. Our D (which is weak) would have Hronek and Jiricek added to it and that would be a nice upgrade.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

If the US wins, they're World Champs and this trophy is validation of a changing of the guard and signifies the dominance of the best generation of American players ever

If Canada wins, it's a mickey mouse trophy made up by Bettman to make Crosby feel better after having to deal with the Pens sucking so much

 

[Crosby2010]

I would say that the tournament signified how I felt anyway. I felt that Canada had the best roster and the best team. The win just re-iterates what I already felt. Despite the US really coming close and nearly winning as well. And while we'll always remember McDavid's goal I think the 2026 Olympics is where the rubber hits the road. You'll have probably 10 countries, it will be a two week tournament, there will be a huge build up, Russia hopefully is in there to make it complete, and this is where a lot more bragging rights will happen. But yeah, 2025 was still nice. I think of it like a 1979 Challenge Cup type of thing. It is and it isn't an official tournament.

 

[Summer Rose]

I would say that the tournament signified how I felt anyway. I felt that Canada had the best roster and the best team. The win just re-iterates what I already felt. Despite the US really coming close and nearly winning as well. And while we'll always remember McDavid's goal I think the 2026 Olympics is where the rubber hits the road. You'll have probably 10 countries, it will be a two week tournament, there will be a huge build up, Russia hopefully is in there to make it complete, and this is where a lot more bragging rights will happen. But yeah, 2025 was still nice. I think of it like a 1979 Challenge Cup type of thing. It is and it isn't an official tournament.

The 2026 Olympic men's tournament, as in recent editions, will feature 12 teams. Same format as before as well - 3 groups of 4 teams each, with the round-robin stage only determining seeding. Group winners and the best ranked second-place team get byes to the quarterfinals, and the remaining 8 teams face each other in a play-in round. Russia's participation is yet to be determined. If they're allowed in, they'll draw into group C along with the USA, Slovakia, and Latvia. If Russia isn't allowed in, they'll be replaced by France.

If you're curious, here are the other two groups:

Group A: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy
Group B: Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark

 

[Crosby2010]

The 2026 Olympic men's tournament, as in recent editions, will feature 12 teams. Same format as before as well - 3 groups of 4 teams each, with the round-robin stage only determining seeding. Group winners and the best ranked second-place team get byes to the quarterfinals, and the remaining 8 teams face each other in a play-in round. Russia's participation is yet to be determined. If they're allowed in, they'll draw into group C along with the USA, Slovakia, and Latvia. If Russia isn't allowed in, they'll be replaced by France.

If you're curious, here are the other two groups:

Group A: Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy
Group B: Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark

Ah, nice. Yeah in 2010 we played 7 games. That was because we needed to play the Germans in the play-in round to get to the quarterfinals. Just a hunch, but playing three games with Sweden, Swiss and Italy should give us the 1st seed. US is going to have it on easy streak in the round robin if Russia isn't in there. France, Latvia and Slovakia? That won't be hard. Either way, should be fun. Can't wait. This tournament just made me more excited for the Olympics.

 

[Banjo Cat]

If the world consisted of 4 nations....

 

[WarriorofTime]

Ah, nice. Yeah in 2010 we played 7 games. That was because we needed to play the Germans in the play-in round to get to the quarterfinals. Just a hunch, but playing three games with Sweden, Swiss and Italy should give us the 1st seed. US is going to have it on easy streak in the round robin if Russia isn't in there. France, Latvia and Slovakia? That won't be hard. Either way, should be fun. Can't wait. This tournament just made me more excited for the Olympics.

The goal is for USA and Canada to be on opposite sides of the bracket so the bracket lines up to have them potentially meet in the Final. It does not always work out as intended, but I think that's what the tournament organizers hope will happen.

 

[JackSlater]

I think any country calling itself "world champs" in hockey is odd, outside of maybe 2005. In a technical sense the iihf organizes the world champioships so the winner of that would be on some level world champions, but because of the state of that tournament throughout history it's kind of an eye rolling sentiment.

The four nations was a big win for Canada, but there are bigger events and it wasn't even a world championship in a technical sense. So, I would find anyone declaring a world champion based on this event to be grasping a bit.

 

[ahmedou]

 

[Crosby2010]

The goal is for USA and Canada to be on opposite sides of the bracket so the bracket lines up to have them potentially meet in the Final. It does not always work out as intended, but I think that's what the tournament organizers hope will happen.

They used to do this in the old Canada Cups. Eagleson, crooked as he could be, knew how to organize a good tournament. Canada and Russia would always play each other last because the organizers thought that both teams would win all of their other games and the final round robin game decides first place. But neither would play each other in the semis because they were 1-2. It didn't always work out that way. 1976 it was just two teams that advanced and Canada had to win their final game against the Soviets to get in the final against the Czechs, not the Soviets. 1981 it worked out. 1984 it didn't work out since Canada didn't perform well in the round robin and had to play the Soviets in the semis, but what a game that was! 1987 it worked out. 1991 Russia did not play well.

 

[Peiskos]

I mean it was the best possible teams that everyone in the tournament could ice, the Americans iced their very best possible team, Canada iced its very best possible team as did the Swedes and Finns. Let's also not pretend like Russia would have had a chance with their horrible defence and overall shallow roster outside a few names. So yes absolutely Canada are World Champs.