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World cup is better than Olympics

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No it's not. Olympics is on the world stage there's more at stake. This tourney is great for hockey fans but it doesn't replace the Olympics. In the Olympics people who don't normally watch hockey will tune in. Who's tuning into this besides hockey fans?
 
There is more to hockey than just the quality of play and entertainment value. There's also the authenticity and integrity of the actual competition, which matters just as much. Without it, the importance of the purpose that they are playing for and the importance of the eventual outcome becomes completely compromised. If you can just fold bad teams together to make good teams, then what is the point and meaning behind winning in the first place?

It's a farce, and will remain so until they get rid of the frankenstein monster teams. Perhaps a farce that can still function in a lesser role as an entertaining and enjoyable curiosity (fulfilling what-if hypotheticals), but a farce nonetheless.

You could hypothetically rig matchups so that you end up with a more entertaining product as well, but that doesn't make for a more worthwhile competition.
 
USA losing has turned this tournament into a potential nightmare for NHL HQ. If USA loses to Canada they are essentially eliminated. NHL would pretty much lose the entire American market and TV ratings would tank.
 
varsaku said:
USA losing has turned this tournament into a potential nightmare for NHL HQ. If USA loses to Canada they are essentially eliminated. NHL would pretty much lose the entire American market and TV ratings would tank.
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To be fair, the American market really doesn't care right now. Hardly anybody but the most hardcore hockey fans knows this tournament is happening and even less know the format.
 
!

Just to remind everyone defending Olympic hockey, South Korea will be playing in the next Olympics.

South.
Freaking.
Korea.

Did they even know what hockey was in South Korea 5 years ago?

South Korea participating in Olympic hockey is a bigger joke than World Cup. I'd rather watch Team NA u23 vs. Team Europe than South Korea getting destroyed by every real hockey country.

Also, I don't understand this "pre-season tourney" argument. In the Olympics the teams don't even get time to prepare well and try out different lineups, chemistry etc. The entire tournament is so rushed.

World Cup is better than Olympics.

And I'm EUROPEAN! So much for that "Europeans don't care about World Cup" argument.
 
Am I the only one who can't seem to get my excitement up?

Before big tournaments/SC playoffs etc, I have butterflies and my excitement goes way up.

I don't feel that now.
 
I disagree, the Olympics as far as meaning the most representing Country against Country will always trump a gimmicky tournament, even one as enjoyable as this.

Go Team North America!
 
So I made an informal survey of interest here on HF Boards, just to judge the interest among hard core fans. None of the sub-forums seem that interested, even Toronto where the WC is actually held seem to dredge up more than a tepid response, ditto all the other Canadian teams. US teams seem to have even less interest, and the most common comment seem to be, 'Torts sucks eggs' and 'I hope XXX doesn't get hurt.'

Swedish media is more interested in domestic league soccer and the start of SHL (and of course Zlatan :sarcasm:). Maybe Finnish/Russian/rest of Europe fans can chime in on how well it's covered? Globe & Mail leads with it, ditto the Sun papers and the other provincial papers. I assume other Canadian media is the same?

Even espn has only two pieces on it, after scrolling through lots and lots of NFL, some MBL and I believe College football? Freaking Manchester U's loss is more prominent and is bigger than the US hockey team getting spanked. Yeah, this will end well, even if only regarded as a cash grab, much less growing the game in non-Canada.
 
mjlee said:
So I made an informal survey of interest here on HF Boards, just to judge the interest among hard core fans. None of the sub-forums seem that interested, even Toronto where the WC is actually held seem to dredge up more than a tepid response, ditto all the other Canadian teams. US teams seem to have even less interest, and the most common comment seem to be, 'Torts sucks eggs' and 'I hope XXX doesn't get hurt.'

Swedish media is more interested in domestic league soccer and the start of SHL (and of course Zlatan :sarcasm:). Maybe Finnish/Russian/rest of Europe fans can chime in on how well it's covered? Globe & Mail leads with it, ditto the Sun papers and the other provincial papers. I assume other Canadian media is the same?

Even espn has only two pieces on it, after scrolling through lots and lots of NFL, some MBL and I believe College football? Freaking Manchester U's loss is more prominent and is bigger than the US hockey team getting spanked. Yeah, this will end well, even if only regarded as a cash grab, much less growing the game in non-Canada.
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Apparently you didn't hear: the criteria for success is ticket sales sold and kids on HFboards getting to see fantasy teams. I suspect this will be a rousing success.
 
Cogsbreakaway said:
Am I the only one who can't seem to get my excitement up?

Before big tournaments/SC playoffs etc, I have butterflies and my excitement goes way up.

I don't feel that now.
Click to expand...

This is really boring. I tuned in for one period last night and Canada was up 5-0 or 6-0 or something and I did something else. This needs to be on Olympic ice with countries repping instead of "Europe", "North America" and all this. I'd like "North America" to win the event, but in the end hockey fans are losing.
 
BuckyDornster said:
This is really boring. I tuned in for one period last night and Canada was up 5-0 or 6-0 or something and I did something else. This needs to be on Olympic ice with countries repping instead of "Europe", "North America" and all this. I'd like "North America" to win the event, but in the end hockey fans are losing.
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The Olympics were pretty boring also IMO proving that making the tournament nations only is no guarantee of it being more entertaining - Canada is just too strong. The best idea may be to replace the tournament with a NA vs Europe match, that should be pretty competitive.
 
Cogsbreakaway said:
Am I the only one who can't seem to get my excitement up?

Before big tournaments/SC playoffs etc, I have butterflies and my excitement goes way up.

I don't feel that now.
Click to expand...

I'm quite the same - I'm interested to see how Finland fares, but if things go badly, I won't really care that much. It's a fun tournament, but something is just lacking.
 
Decent article om WC v Olympics. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/kelly-canada-enables-an-nhl-whose-world-cup-runneth-over-with-delusion/article31938572/

I also dug through some old HF threads and you realise the difference between the Olympics and the WC. A meaningless group game, Canada-Austria generated 3 threads, eg 3000 posts. Not to mention the discussion on Canada's Olympic roster. which reached part 22 before it was over. We're on thread 3 for the WC - and no screaming matches for and against MSL or Subban. And can anyone forget the truly epic US-Russia GDT which not only was played at four in the morning on the west coast, and still generated 7 threads before it was over. Man that's a great thread to read through now.

So much passion and yelling, the mods must have had a glorious time :laugh: compared to what's happening now.

Hahaha, just checked out the GDT for the announcement of Canada's Olympic squad which is hilarious with people losing their minds.
 
mjlee said:
Maybe Finnish/Russian/rest of Europe fans can chime in on how well it's covered?
Click to expand...

Well, to be honest it's long way down from the IIHF World Championships... Now that there's Finland match coming most sites lead with it, but it's simply nowhere near the "Skoda Cup" coverage and buzz. Though I think if we do well, there will be more hype.
 
When they play on the (big ice), the Olympics is super boring. 2014 games, was some of the most boring hockey, I have ever watched.
 
For all those people out there who say the NHL should have less teams, this tournament is why there shouldn't be. Every team has 20 solid defensive players and elite goalies.

The goal average might be 4.00
 
damacles1156 said:
When they play on the (big ice), the Olympics is super boring. 2014 games, was some of the most boring hockey, I have ever watched.
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Depends which country you're from/rooting for. We Finns enjoyed it mostly, despite being depleted by injuries. Canadians of course disliked 2006 tournament where as it's one of the most fondest hockey memory Finns have(except for the final maybe).
 
mjlee said:
So I made an informal survey of interest here on HF Boards, just to judge the interest among hard core fans. None of the sub-forums seem that interested, even Toronto where the WC is actually held seem to dredge up more than a tepid response, ditto all the other Canadian teams. US teams seem to have even less interest, and the most common comment seem to be, 'Torts sucks eggs' and 'I hope XXX doesn't get hurt.'

Swedish media is more interested in domestic league soccer and the start of SHL (and of course Zlatan :sarcasm:). Maybe Finnish/Russian/rest of Europe fans can chime in on how well it's covered? Globe & Mail leads with it, ditto the Sun papers and the other provincial papers. I assume other Canadian media is the same?

Even espn has only two pieces on it, after scrolling through lots and lots of NFL, some MBL and I believe College football? Freaking Manchester U's loss is more prominent and is bigger than the US hockey team getting spanked. Yeah, this will end well, even if only regarded as a cash grab, much less growing the game in non-Canada.
Click to expand...

Nobody in America knows what this is and it's an after thought on ESPN. As you noted the English premier league, that ESPN doesn't even own the rights to!, is getting more press than ESPN.
 
World cup is a gimmick by NHL to make bigger sales for NHL in North American markets. Olympian gold medal is the most respected form of a trophy to any athlete in the world. Even Canadian hockey players will support that. There is no comparison and you guys really should stop arguing nonsense. It would be extremely funny to see team Europe trap all the way to world championship. Obviously not gonna happen since team Canada, but what a funny picture it would make to see Bettman's face when he sees euro trash Marian Gaborik score winning goal against Carey Price in overtime.

World cup is a tournament set up with only one meaning: Make more cash to owners of NHL. That's it. This is a very stupid thread.
 
I don't like the Olympics because of the big ice and the IOC. Without NHL players, it was a pretty worthless tournament. Only since 1998 has it had any meaning.

Canada Cups were always the real deal, and the World Cup is the continuation of that heritage.

I don't generally care about national team hockey, but if it's like this where it's the best players, the best rules, and the players are playing to win for real. It's the second biggest cup awarded this season.

I don't usually have a favourite team in national team tournaments, so I'm just watching for the hockey. And the bonus teams make the level of play better than the Olympics. There are more teams with a legitimate chance to win the tournament. I find myself pulling for Team Europe, and North America.
 
Zakkk said:
Just to remind everyone defending Olympic hockey, South Korea will be playing in the next Olympics.

South.
Freaking.
Korea.

Did they even know what hockey was in South Korea 5 years ago?

South Korea participating in Olympic hockey is a bigger joke than World Cup. I'd rather watch Team NA u23 vs. Team Europe than South Korea getting destroyed by every real hockey country.

Also, I don't understand this "pre-season tourney" argument. In the Olympics the teams don't even get time to prepare well and try out different lineups, chemistry etc. The entire tournament is so rushed.

World Cup is better than Olympics.

And I'm EUROPEAN! So much for that "Europeans don't care about World Cup" argument.
Click to expand...


As I lived in South. Freaking. Korea - more than five years ago, yes. They know what it is, they even have ice rinks and everything. it helps develop/promote the game.
 
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