anezthes
Registered User
- Mar 20, 2014
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Exactly. And like Stammer's joke on Twitter - what anthem are they supposed to play if they win? ...
2016 World Cup of Hockey discussion
- Thread starter AngelDuck
- Start date
Exactly. And like Stammer's joke on Twitter - what anthem are they supposed to play if they win? ...
2faded
Registered User
I guess the only issue I would have with the tournament is that it would replace the Olympics. But, is that even confirmed or just speculation at this point?
As far as the teams I couldn't care less. It's hockey. I like watching hockey so it should be fun to watch. What else do you want? You country doesn't have a chance to be win a tournament and now you have to root for Europe instead of just your country? Okay... Quit making it so personal. Just enjoy the sport. It will still be fun to watch.
Is team Europe not going to make sweet plays? If team Europe starts kicking ass and playing some exciting hockey will you not be entertained because it's Europe and not Switzerland?
As far as the teams I couldn't care less. It's hockey. I like watching hockey so it should be fun to watch. What else do you want? You country doesn't have a chance to be win a tournament and now you have to root for Europe instead of just your country? Okay... Quit making it so personal. Just enjoy the sport. It will still be fun to watch.
Is team Europe not going to make sweet plays? If team Europe starts kicking ass and playing some exciting hockey will you not be entertained because it's Europe and not Switzerland?
Paul4587
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- Jan 26, 2006
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I still want to know what national anthem they play if Team Europe wins? Or if the U23 team wins? It seems completely wrong to have Canadian's and Americans competing together at a so called best on best international event dubbed the "World Cup of Hockey"
Fun fact, in the 1984 Canada Cup Canada had Gretzky, Bourque, Anderson, Coffey, Messier, Sutter, Fuhr, Yzerman who were all under 23. Imagine splitting them off from the main Canadian roster then. What a joke.
I love the idea of an actual World Cup. With 8+ nations competing in a best on best format. But this isn't an actual world cup. Two teams with no national identities are competing and have the chance to knock out actual playing nations in the process.
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2faded
Registered User
I guess the NHL ****ed up naming it the "World Cup". They brought national pride into it which only upsets people apparently.
Paul4587
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- Jan 26, 2006
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The Olympics aren't 100% out but from the sounds of it the chances the NHL sends players in the 2018 Olympics is less than 1%.
In regards to your second point, yes it's still hockey and hockey is still fun to watch. The point is that the NHL is implementing something that could have had a proper structure with 8 international teams yet they have gone ahead and created two gimmicks, shafting two very capable hockey playing nations at the same time. It's a matter of principle. There's a reason that so many of the hockey community are not happy about it.
2faded
Registered User
Guess I'm in the minority but I just don't care. I am curious who selects the teams though. If it's the NHL and they are going to pick an NHL player for Team Europe over someone who may be a better choice from a euro league then that's a little lame.
If Slovakia was given USA:s spot in the tournament and the U.S. players could only play on team 'left over' while the other players get to represent their country, something tells me you would feel different. It would have made a lot more sense to have eight gimmic teams instead of calling this an international tournament.
Imagine an international tournament with Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Denmark and the Buffalo Sabres. Does that make sense?
Yes it's still gonna be a fun tournament and I'm gonna watch, but I feel for people from Slovakia and Switzerland. People there enjoy hockey and they have solid enough national teams. The casual Slovak or Swizz fan isn't going to tune into this tournament. I'm not even sure the casual Swedish fan will. The casual audicence is the biggest and thus the most important in terms of generating revenue and growing the sport.
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A team from Europe could always use the EU's anthem, which is the instrumental version of "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven, I believe, as a national anthem.
Like I said before, the ideal thing and by far the best thing would have been to just include Slovakia and Switzerland but I could see for only this first tournament including a team from Europe instead of Switzerland in order to get more NHL stars and since it was announced with no time for qualifiers or anything. Again, it wouldn't be ideal at all, but Europe makes more sense as a team and keeps it more in the realm of legitimate competition than a Young North American team does.
Also, just for the record, I'm well aware that Switzerland is not a member of the EU.
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The Midnight Burrito
True Fan
Not me, wouldn't give crap one. I don't care about this tournament, probably won't watch, and I tend to root against team USA anyway. American NHL players tend to be dick heads.
2faded
Registered User
I'm not going to lie and act like it wouldn't bother me at all if USA was excluded, but 100% I would still watch and would root for whatever team the Americans went to. I wouldn't be like "That's not Team USA, I'm not rooting for that team!".
Hell, I might root for the young team anyways this tournament. Every Olympics really good players get left off Team USA and Team Canada maybe because another player is equally as good but has more experience. I'd love to see how they perform against Canada and USA >23 team.
Hell, I might root for the young team anyways this tournament. Every Olympics really good players get left off Team USA and Team Canada maybe because another player is equally as good but has more experience. I'd love to see how they perform against Canada and USA >23 team.
salsa man
SALSA
Hv71
Registered User
Just a joke of a tournament that most people i talked to that like Hockey here in Europe sees it the same way, I want the best for the Olympics this tournament i could not care less and then they make a NA and EU team to just one big joke.
I don't know about the U23 team's anthem, but for the Team Europe I think Beethoven's Ode an die Freude would do just fine.
I actually think that Team Europe is a good idea, but only if they would've added Slovakia in the tournament and left out Team U23.
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