World Cup Boycott

[earlimus]

I'm a huge fan of best on best tournaments, and I was hoping that they brought the World Cup back. In an ideal world, I'd love to see both the World Cup and the Olympics. That's best on best every 2 years, and it would be great.

Having said that, I couldn't agree more about the absolute farce that Bettman has made of this tournament with the 2 gimmick teams. I'll still watch and get into it, however it's a joke for all of the reasons stated above by others.

Slovakia and Switzerland 100% deserve to be in this tournament (gimmick teams do NOT). Slovakia is an historic hockey nation and the Swiss have finally cemented themselves as the number 8 seed, something that was a rotating spot for years. They have the highest attended league in Europe, and I have family living there in two different areas and I can tell you, they love their hockey. I'm a Canadian, but we all need to get off of our high horse and acknowledge that either nation could beat us or another "big boy" on any given day. To say that they don't deserve to be there is absurd. All World Cups have stronger and weaker nations, and hockey can handle the top 8. To say that there are only 6 good nations is stupid. The olympics allows the top 12, although I would say that a top 8 format is better suited and would have much higher quality. I'm proud Canada made the Rugby World Cup, but really....we're minnows compared to the big fish in that sport.

Aside from the absolute insult to them, there's something else that stands out to me....hockey is a declining sport. The number of registered players have been on the decline in North America for years, so is this really the message that we want to send to the world? I live and breath the game, but it's expensive, predominately white (no insult intended, but fact), and a sport that has never had huge attention outside of a handful of countries. Why on earth the NHL would want to insult the number 7th and 8th countries by telling them that they're not good enough? Is that the way to breathe life into the sport, and to help grow it? We should be trying to make this tournament a big deal to North American fans AND european fans. Give the 9th-12th best countries a reason to improve. Declare the next World Cup to be held in Europe, etc.

I can't wait to see it, but really.....Bettman and the NHL ^%$# the bed on this one with the gimmick teams. What a farce.

 

[earlimus]

How does it show I know little about international hockey?

Outside of 1-2 fluke runs Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia etc. routinely finish at the bottom of these tournaments. They are never a threat at all to win and looking at the numbers they are clearly below the other 5 (6 I guess you have to include Czech but not sure for how much longer) teams.

But you are right that I don't care about crappy Euro leagues or crappy Euro players. If they get left out I couldn't care less.

This tournament has a lot more legitimacy and interest from me than the crap that is the World Championships even though that has "real" countries in it.

It may not be the Olympics but who cares we already have the Olympics. This tournament is much better with the U-23's and Europe than it would be with 2 3rd rate European teams in it.

With that train of thought, you can eliminate Canada from every single World Cup of team sports that there is aside from hockey.

We'd be out of the Rugby World Cup
The Fifa World Cup could be reduced to 8 teams
We'd be out of Fiba/Olympic basketball as we're ranked 26th (hell....why even play the tournament at...US dominates)
We're not top 5 baseball so goodbye Baseball Classic

Switzerland and Slovakia are very competitive, and while the NHL is by far the best league in the world with the best players, to say that all european teams and players are crappy is both ignorant and inacurate. All of the top leagues have some NHL quality players.

 

[BayStreetBully]

I'm a huge fan of best on best tournaments, and I was hoping that they brought the World Cup back. In an ideal world, I'd love to see both the World Cup and the Olympics. That's best on best every 2 years, and it would be great.

Having said that, I couldn't agree more about the absolute farce that Bettman has made of this tournament with the 2 gimmick teams. I'll still watch and get into it, however it's a joke for all of the reasons stated above by others.

Slovakia and Switzerland 100% deserve to be in this tournament (gimmick teams do NOT). Slovakia is an historic hockey nation and the Swiss have finally cemented themselves as the number 8 seed, something that was a rotating spot for years. They have the highest attended league in Europe, and I have family living there in two different areas and I can tell you, they love their hockey. I'm a Canadian, but we all need to get off of our high horse and acknowledge that either nation could beat us or another "big boy" on any given day. To say that they don't deserve to be there is absurd. All World Cups have stronger and weaker nations, and hockey can handle the top 8. To say that there are only 6 good nations is stupid. The olympics allows the top 12, although I would say that a top 8 format is better suited and would have much higher quality. I'm proud Canada made the Rugby World Cup, but really....we're minnows compared to the big fish in that sport.

Aside from the absolute insult to them, there's something else that stands out to me....hockey is a declining sport. The number of registered players have been on the decline in North America for years, so is this really the message that we want to send to the world? I live and breath the game, but it's expensive, predominately white (no insult intended, but fact), and a sport that has never had huge attention outside of a handful of countries. Why on earth the NHL would want to insult the number 7th and 8th countries by telling them that they're not good enough? Is that the way to breathe life into the sport, and to help grow it? We should be trying to make this tournament a big deal to North American fans AND european fans. Give the 9th-12th best countries a reason to improve. Declare the next World Cup to be held in Europe, etc.

I can't wait to see it, but really.....Bettman and the NHL ^%$# the bed on this one with the gimmick teams. What a farce.

Well said. I'd even like to see a 16 team World Cup. It becomes just as much about growth as is it about quality. You could still get quality hockey from the quarterfinals onwards. But more importantly, the World Cup becomes more of a festival of nations.

Having countries like France, Germany and Italy there provide the tournament with "name brand" countries that are golden in marketing. It's an intangible that a country like Slovakia or Denmark can't provide.

Even better if the World Cup allows for two Asian spots so Korea and Japan could participate. 2 North American countries, 12 European countries, 2 Asian countries. That has the potential to surpass the Olympics.

 

[JackSlater]

I would rather watch decent talent playing for U-23 and Europe than watch the crap teams put out by Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia etc.

I would rather watch Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Anze Kopitar than Milos Crapbag, Joni Pylon and Dieter Sieve any day of the week.

If they ran a legitimate international tournament then you would be able to see McDavid and Eichel on Canada and USA. Kopitar is the only elite player that gets to play due to this ridiculous format. Is Kopitar worth losing any sort of claim to being a legitimate international tournament? Not to me.

I am amused by the fake names you made though.

How does it show I know little about international hockey?

Outside of 1-2 fluke runs Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia etc. routinely finish at the bottom of these tournaments. They are never a threat at all to win and looking at the numbers they are clearly below the other 5 (6 I guess you have to include Czech but not sure for how much longer) teams.

Why should we expect the gimmick teams to finish anywhere other than last in their groups?

This tournament has a lot more legitimacy and interest from me than the crap that is the World Championships even though that has "real" countries in it.

Are you suggesting that Slovakia and Switzerland are not real countries? Do you believe that North American Under 24s and Rest of Europe are countries? I am confused.

It may not be the Olympics but who cares we already have the Olympics. This tournament is much better with the U-23's and Europe than it would be with 2 3rd rate European teams in it.

Yes, you must LOVE the all star game. None of those pesky second or third rate players there.

 

[Urbanskog]

Aside from the absolute insult to them, there's something else that stands out to me....hockey is a declining sport.

I agree with your post but this is not true. The worldwide number of registered players is higher than ever although the NHL seems to want to change that.

 

[moon*]

With that train of thought, you can eliminate Canada from every single World Cup of team sports that there is aside from hockey.

We'd be out of the Rugby World Cup
The Fifa World Cup could be reduced to 8 teams
We'd be out of Fiba/Olympic basketball as we're ranked 26th (hell....why even play the tournament at...US dominates)
We're not top 5 baseball so goodbye Baseball Classic

Switzerland and Slovakia are very competitive, and while the NHL is by far the best league in the world with the best players, to say that all european teams and players are crappy is both ignorant and inacurate. All of the top leagues have some NHL quality players.

Canada basically is eliminated from most World Cups on their own.

The WBC is a joke so who cares if Canada participates or not.

Soccer we are awful in so your plan doesn't change anything.

Basketball is an awful sport so I really don't care if we go or not and US will win anyways whether you allow 2, 10 or 100 teams. So not much of a change there.

Rugby is the only one I care about but really it isn't like we are doing much there anyways so our exclusion doesn't really change the tournament much. Maybe a two tier tournament is needed as the top 6-8 teams are so much better than the rest it is really all that competitive.

 

[moon*]

If they ran a legitimate international tournament then you would be able to see McDavid and Eichel on Canada and USA. Kopitar is the only elite player that gets to play due to this ridiculous format. Is Kopitar worth losing any sort of claim to being a legitimate international tournament? Not to me.

I am amused by the fake names you made though.

I doubt McDavid would make the Team Canada team and there are others that definitely would not.

Why should we expect the gimmick teams to finish anywhere other than last in their groups?

Because their rosters look better than Czech and maybe Finland.

Are you suggesting that Slovakia and Switzerland are not real countries? Do you believe that North American Under 24s and Rest of Europe are countries? I am confused.

No I am saying that Slovakia and Switzerland are real countries. What I was saying is that I don't care whether there are real countries or not in the tournament.

Yes, you must LOVE the all star game. None of those pesky second or third rate players there.

If they played 100% then yes I think it would be awesome but playing at about 10% effort means that good players or not it sucks. Alhthough I did enjoy this years version.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

I wouldn't call it a boycott but I don't plan on watching this nonsense.

I don't understand how you call it a World Cup and then exclude the vast majority of the hockey playing world.

Canada basically is eliminated from most World Cups on their own.

The WBC is a joke so who cares if Canada participates or not.

Soccer we are awful in so your plan doesn't change anything.

Basketball is an awful sport so I really don't care if we go or not and US will win anyways whether you allow 2, 10 or 100 teams. So not much of a change there.

Rugby is the only one I care about but really it isn't like we are doing much there anyways so our exclusion doesn't really change the tournament much. Maybe a two tier tournament is needed as the top 6-8 teams are so much better than the rest it is really all that competitive.

Canada has an entire roster of NBA players now. No other country has ever had that before so there's a chance Canada will continue to grow to compete with USA at that level.

 

[moon*]

ICanada has an entire roster of NBA players now. No other country has ever had that before so there's a chance Canada will continue to grow to compete with USA at that level.

The problem is that the entire roster of the US team is better than every single Canadian guy and the US could probably go 2 or 3 teams deep before you even get close to having a Canadian guy equal.

So its nice they can put an NBA guy at every spot on their roster but they are still light years behind the Americans and as we have seen plenty of other countries without the NBA guys as well.

 

[Wooren]

I would rather watch Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Anze Kopitar than Milos Crapbag, Joni Pylon and Dieter Sieve any day of the week.

You could have really save us from this arrogant comment.

Because their rosters look better than Czech and maybe Finland.

On paper
Russia >> Finland
On ice
Russia << Finland

Just because a team looks better on paper doesn't mean it is better on ice as well.

If they played 100% then yes I think it would be awesome but playing at about 10% effort means that good players or not it sucks. Alhthough I did enjoy this years version.

Slovakia and Switzerland would play 100%. I doubt the gimmick teams will. Especially team ''Europe'' which will include Slovaks and Swiss, who are surely bitter about not having their own team.

 

[JackSlater]

I doubt McDavid would make the Team Canada team and there are others that definitely would not.

McDavid would make the Canadian team, Eichel and Gaudreau and possibly more would make the American team. There isn't an elite player that would miss the tournament under a legitimate format other than Kopitar.

Because their rosters look better than Czech and maybe Finland.

Arguably yes. Do they have the same motivation though? Do they have history playing together in a common system? Nope.

No I am saying that Slovakia and Switzerland are real countries. What I was saying is that I don't care whether there are real countries or not in the tournament.

Time to learn how to use quotation marks then.

If they played 100% then yes I think it would be awesome but playing at about 10% effort means that good players or not it sucks. Alhthough I did enjoy this years version.

Who can guarantee the effort for some teams at this level? Players might play against their own home nations, while representing essentially nothing.

 

[ForumNamePending]

I don't see how people who just want to see "on paper" parity and the involvement of as many NHL stars as possible can be all that happy about this format either. Even with the tournament "inventing" teams and handicapping some countries there is still a significant gap between the talent on a team like Canada and the talent on the likes of Finland, Czech Rep. and Young-Stars.

We also currently have a situation where players like JT Miller, Jori Lehtera, Jannik Hansen, Andrej Sustr, Esa Lindell and Dmitry Kulikov will be skating a regular shift while potentially guys like Joe Thornton, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall, PK Subban, Brent Seabrook and Brent Burns sit at home.

Wouldn't those folks be happier if they just picked ~100 best forwards, ~50 best defencemen & ~20 best goalies and divided them up over 8 teams via a snake draft?

 

[3 Minute Minor]

The problem is that the entire roster of the US team is better than every single Canadian guy and the US could probably go 2 or 3 teams deep before you even get close to having a Canadian guy equal.

So its nice they can put an NBA guy at every spot on their roster but they are still light years behind the Americans and as we have seen plenty of other countries without the NBA guys as well.

People always make this argument and there's so many things wrong with it lol

A) Canada already has an NBA player that would likely be taken on the US Olympic roster right now in Andrew Wiggins
B) US couldn't go 2 or 3 teams deep before you even get close to having a Canadian guy equal lmao obviously you'd be surprise by how ugly those rosters get after the A team is picked. Hell some of the reserves are comical for USA.
C) They're not light years behind the Americans. In fact at the FIBA Americans U16 tournament in 2015, Canada led USA for 3 of 4 quarters in the gold medal game. From that Canadian team, there are 3 kids now playing at Montverde academy in Florida, a team widely considered #1 in the nation. 2 of those kids are considered #1 & top 10 in the nation for their age group.
D) Canada is actually ranked #3 in the world for youth basketball right now. Those youth are just starting to get their feet wet in the NBA and more are arriving soon.


If everyone applied your horrible attitude towards hockey back in the day, we wouldn't have the likes of Sweden, USA, Finland, etc. able to compete at the international level with Canada now.

 

[Xokkeu]

People always make this argument and there's so many things wrong with it lol

A) Canada already has an NBA player that would likely be taken on the US Olympic roster right now in Andrew Wiggins
B) US couldn't go 2 or 3 teams deep before you even get close to having a Canadian guy equal lmao obviously you'd be surprise by how ugly those rosters get after the A team is picked. Hell some of the reserves are comical for USA.
C) They're not light years behind the Americans. In fact at the FIBA Americans U16 tournament in 2015, Canada led USA for 3 of 4 quarters in the gold medal game. From that Canadian team, there are 3 kids now playing at Montverde academy in Florida, a team widely considered #1 in the nation. 2 of those kids are considered #1 & top 10 in the nation for their age group.
D) Canada is actually ranked #3 in the world for youth basketball right now. Those youth are just starting to get their feet wet in the NBA and more are arriving soon.


If everyone applied your horrible attitude towards hockey back in the day, we wouldn't have the likes of Sweden, USA, Finland, etc. able to compete at the international level with Canada now.

Andrew Wiggins wouldn't make Team USA sorry. He could maybe make a World Cup roster, but for now he's behind guys like Lebron, George, Leonard, Thompson among others.

Not entirely sure how the reserves of team USA are comical considering they just won the last World Cup by an average of 20 points every game.

 

[xxxx]

McDavid called it a cool dynamic, and Ekblad said you don't want to take them lightly. That's about the best thing they can say about the World Cup?

There's obviously more they've said about it, I'm not gonna bring it though. It's quite a waste of time. The truth is obvious but I guess we will be seeing this for some time to come - silly and ridiculous questioning of players' interest.

so then you would rather just watch a gimmick than an actual international tournament. You must love all star weekend lmao

A gimmick, lmao. Players obviously don't feel that way so it's not a gimmick, sorry. If Finland or Russia win this tournament it will be possibly the biggest win in their history.

 

[tade]

There's obviously more they've said about it, I'm not gonna bring it though. It's quite a waste of time. The truth is obvious but I guess we will be seeing this for some time to come - silly and ridiculous questioning of players' interest.



A gimmick, lmao. Players obviously don't feel that way so it's not a gimmick, sorry. If Finland or Russia win this tournament it will be possibly the biggest win in their history.

This thread gets more and more funny. You can't be serious here, right?! Not even close, couldn't be compared with Olympics win for Finland or Russia. Olympic tournament is about 10 times more important for them.

 

[xxxx]

Arguably yes. Do they have the same motivation though? Do they have history playing together in a common system? Nope.

The motivation seems to be there, I guess we'll see. I don't think the game-style and strategy of Team Canada and Team USA is really that much different and some of these players have played together internationally or they play together in the NHL.

Who can guarantee the effort for some teams at this level?

People won't believe till they see it, but I believe the effort will absolutely be there from all the teams, including Team Europe and Team NA. I strongly believe it will be one of the greatest, most intense and exciting hockey tournaments ever.

Players might play against their own home nations, while representing essentially nothing.

Only themselves.

 

[JackSlater]

A gimmick, lmao. Players obviously don't feel that way so it's not a gimmick, sorry. If Finland or Russia win this tournament it will be possibly the biggest win in their history.

Everyone knows its a gimmick. The players could even enjoy the gimmick in some cases, but that has no bearing on whether or not it is a gimmick.

The motivation seems to be there, I guess we'll see. I don't think the game-style and strategy of Team Canada and Team USA is really that much different and some of these players have played together internationally or they play together in the NHL.

The Canadian and American players aren't used to playing on teams that are in the lower rung of talent for their tournament. Teams in that level usually need to adopt a different strategy in order to be successful. This team is in the lower rung, and they likely don't have a strategy to cope with that. The European leftovers will be used to it, but the different countries have different methods for dealing with it to mask their lack of talent. Likely they will both struggle. Not that it matters though.

People won't believe till they see it, but I believe the effort will absolutely be there from all the teams, including Team Europe and Team NA. I strongly believe it will be one of the greatest, most intense and exciting hockey tournaments ever.

Only themselves.

Oh I believe that you personally hope that the effort will be there. I don't expect to see them loafing on the ice or anything. If you honestly think that the Canadian or American players, for instance, will be as motivated to play against their own country as they would be while playing for their own country, then good luck to you in life.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Andrew Wiggins wouldn't make Team USA sorry. He could maybe make a World Cup roster, but for now he's behind guys like Lebron, George, Leonard, Thompson among others.

Not entirely sure how the reserves of team USA are comical considering they just won the last World Cup by an average of 20 points every game.

Sure he would. Most of the guys you just listed don't even play the same position as him. Team USA always takes guys that they think will be big players for them in the future. I remember Anthony Davis in 2012 and Emeka Okafor in 2004 for example. I could totally see them bringing along a kid like Ben Simmons or Jabari Parker to these 2016 Olympics.

Mason Plumlee was on the 2014 World Cup Roster... Mason Plumlee. Tristan Thompson could take Mason Plumlees spot and be an upgrade lol

 

[xxxx]

This thread gets more and more funny. You can't be serious here, right?! Not even close, couldn't be compared with Olympics win for Finland or Russia. Olympic tournament is about 10 times more important for them.

The truth is that you would certainly find posters from both countries here who would disagree with you.

 

[Slush]

I'll be watching as much as I can. Hopefully every game. Hockey is Hockey. It will be fun.

 

[jekoh]

I could totally see them bringing along a kid like Ben Simmons or Jabari Parker to these 2016 Olympics.

You could totally see the US select two guys who are not even part of their prliminary roster, including one who plays for Australia?

 

[Garbage Goal]

I'm not going to watch, but admittedly I'm someone who also doesn't watch Olympic hockey.

This is different though. I just flat-out don't have interest in Olympic hockey simply because I don't care about national competitions and because the talent disparity is so huge between the top teams and bottom teams.

With this, it's just a stupid idea with a nonsensical setup. I don't get why there needs to be more than one international competition in the first place, but then they go and make the setup for the teams so insane and nonsensical that it's laughable and completely disingenuous to the whole point of international competitions. Funny thing is that this is a pretty common opinion amongst educated hockey fans, yet plenty of people plan to watch it anyways. I don't get why you would support (which watching it is) something you think is being done incorrectly or why people hate-watch things, but I have to think that there's a lot of people who are going to watch it despite feeling one or both of those ways.

 

[xxxx]

If you honestly think that the Canadian or American players, for instance, will be as motivated to play against their own country as they would be while playing for their own country, then good luck to you in life.

I honestly think they will play their best against everyone.

 

[Puckstop40]

Fans of hockey today are just no fun. Everything sucks and is a gimmick. So much cynicism.