The closer we get to this tournament the angrier I am about it. The NHL had a chance to embrace the international hockey community and create an event that would have made everyone happy but pretty much spat in their faces.
Hockey fans have the opportunity to watch top players play competitive games thousands of times a year within league play. What we don't have the opportunity to see very often is best-on-best international hockey. Many of the best tournaments in the world of sports feature teams that have little to no chance of winning but upsets that occur often make for the most entertaining and compelling story lines in those tournaments. I would much, much rather watch the character that a team like Latvia and their fans brings to a tournament than some random, "all-star" team thrown together that represents nothing and which nobody cares about.
As a die hard fan of US hockey I'm furious that the NHL has likely denied me the opportunity to ever see some of these young upcoming stars play with the vets I've been following for years. I would be thrilled to see Kane, who's in his absolute prime right now, play on a line with exciting young players like Gaudreau and Eichel. It saddens me that this tournament may have been the only opportunity to ever see that happen. The NHL is on the path to completely ruin years of interest and investment I've put into following these players.
What scares me the most in all this is that the days of best-on-best Olympics may very well be over and the NHL, with it's idiotic and disrespectful ideas, may hold all the cards going forward. With what they've chosen to do with this tournament that may very well mean the end of best-on-best international hockey. If this fear of mine comes to be realized in future years then the NHL has made an enemy of this hockey fan for good.
If I believed there were some legitimate way to undermine this tournament I would back it actively and completely. Unfortunately I can't see a scenario where people in the greater Toronto area don't pack the stadiums and buy merchandise. I'll just have to hope that somehow those responsible for making decisions going forward listen to the complaints and realize that they can still make their money and grow the game without resorting to gimmicks and ignoring the international hockey community's input. It didn't need to be this way and doesn't need to be going forward.
Hockey fans have the opportunity to watch top players play competitive games thousands of times a year within league play. What we don't have the opportunity to see very often is best-on-best international hockey. Many of the best tournaments in the world of sports feature teams that have little to no chance of winning but upsets that occur often make for the most entertaining and compelling story lines in those tournaments. I would much, much rather watch the character that a team like Latvia and their fans brings to a tournament than some random, "all-star" team thrown together that represents nothing and which nobody cares about.
As a die hard fan of US hockey I'm furious that the NHL has likely denied me the opportunity to ever see some of these young upcoming stars play with the vets I've been following for years. I would be thrilled to see Kane, who's in his absolute prime right now, play on a line with exciting young players like Gaudreau and Eichel. It saddens me that this tournament may have been the only opportunity to ever see that happen. The NHL is on the path to completely ruin years of interest and investment I've put into following these players.
What scares me the most in all this is that the days of best-on-best Olympics may very well be over and the NHL, with it's idiotic and disrespectful ideas, may hold all the cards going forward. With what they've chosen to do with this tournament that may very well mean the end of best-on-best international hockey. If this fear of mine comes to be realized in future years then the NHL has made an enemy of this hockey fan for good.
If I believed there were some legitimate way to undermine this tournament I would back it actively and completely. Unfortunately I can't see a scenario where people in the greater Toronto area don't pack the stadiums and buy merchandise. I'll just have to hope that somehow those responsible for making decisions going forward listen to the complaints and realize that they can still make their money and grow the game without resorting to gimmicks and ignoring the international hockey community's input. It didn't need to be this way and doesn't need to be going forward.
This is very good description. I won't boycott it this time, although those who's ideas were Team Europe and NA U23 should be kicked out from sports forever, but if in 2020. they f****d it up again with this artifical teams, no way I am gonna watch a second.
