IIHF WC.

[Asher]

There's no blame. The tournament does not deserve to be taken seriously.

The IIHF is a farce. Real hockey is played in North America: AHL, WHL, QMJHL, OHL, and the NHL. The best players come play here.

It's not a global game, and it shouldn't be. It's a Canadian game. You guys like it? Come over here and play the masters.

[ColdWizard]

Asher, Serb is trolling right? He's not seriously suggesting that the best players interrupt their careers (making a living and all that) to go participate in some "world championship" that didn't even want professional level talent for decades? If the IIHF wants to promote the sport globally (a laudable goal, I suppose) doesn't it need to make some concessions to the N.A. leagues if it wants their talent to have a better competition? I don't know a lot about hockey, I even had to look up what the IIHF was but it seems to be composed of a bunch of whiny euros.

[Asher]

The IIHF could even host the tournament in, say, July or August if they were serious.

The fact that they do it at the same time as the NHL playoffs (THE most important tournament in hockey) shows just how little they know.

[Flubber]

hhmmmm

This tourney is for second tier stars mainly-- Canada seems to be using it as a way to brin g on a lot of their young guns (with a sprikling of vets)-- For most countries it is not their best teams and EVERYONE knows that . The stronger the hockey nation, the less likely they are to have their best players there.

Serb-- If you want a showcase event like the soccer world cup, you need to hold something special every 4 years or so. As it stands, the NHL economics are not that stellar so season interruptions EVERY year are probably not feasible.

All that said, I will watch a little here and there as timezones and schedules allow. To date I have only caught some highlights that showed Stamkos and Giordano doing well...

[Asher]

Bourque is also doing very well.

[Serb]

Canada 1
Swiss 4

[Asher]

So now you see how silly the tournament is. Finally.

[Serb]

Swiss were good, you were bad. That happens at the group stage (though it's the first time when you lost to the Swiss at WC, but they did kick your arses at Olympics previously).
That game actually means nothing. But Swiss were good. Really good.

[Asher]

All the more reason the tournament is a joke. Don't know why you can't see this.

[ColdWizard]

He's just excited to see Ovechkin play without Luongo around to stymie him.

[notyoueither]

Bullsh!t.
Look at the soccer. Every soccer WC is an event of the planetary scale. And it's WC what make soccer so popular worldwide. Hockey is a much better sport and it NEEDS such BIG international contests.
NHL is just a bunch of selfish motherf*ckers and moneybags who do not give a sh!t about popularization of the sport.

FIFA holds the WC once every four years, and they hold it well clear of the league schedules in Europe and most of the rest of the world.

The problem with the IIHF is they are not serious about accomodating legitimate concerns of the most important league in the world. From player transfers to the timing of the WC, the IIHF demonstrates that they want to compete with the NHL rather than compliment them.

It is as if FIFA thought it would be a good idea to try to undermine UEFA. They don't, obviously. Rather they pump European football up and that goes a long way to make football the large sporting power that it is.

[Fake Boris]

Hey Serb, if the WC matters that much, how come no Russian player has left his NHL team to play there?

[BlackCat]

Denmark Slovakia 6 - 0

[ColdWizard]

Does Denmark have any players in the NHL?

[notyoueither]

There's a few coming along now.