World Cup: Best on Best: Canada is too good (solution?)

[Sky04]

Might as well given the amount of sore losers this tournament saying it's boring because Canada had it in the bag.

 

[major major]

I say split them three ways. Ontario could have a team of it's own, and then Quebec + Crosby, Mackinnon, Marchand and Killorn (Canada's top line), + Canada West per the OP.

I was opposed to having Team NA and Team Europe, but after seeing the level of competition in the earlier games, I changed my mind. Team Canada is getting too strong. They need to be split. And I'd be very fascinated to see which of the Canadian teams would do well. You know it would get huge ratings in Canada, and possibly elsewhere because the other clubs would have more of a chance.

 

[Analyst365]

Honestly. Just how much parity do the parity people need.

Eventually we'll just have to stop keeping score.

 

[Xokkeu]

Honestly. Just how much parity do the parity people need.

Eventually we'll just have to stop keeping score.

Any team that goes down by two goals shall be banished from playing the sport!

 

[Xokkeu]

I say split them three ways. Ontario could have a team of it's own, and then Quebec + Crosby, Mackinnon, Marchand and Killorn (Canada's top line), + Canada West per the OP.

I was opposed to having Team NA and Team Europe, but after seeing the level of competition in the earlier games, I changed my mind. Team Canada is getting too strong. They need to be split. And I'd be very fascinated to see which of the Canadian teams would do well. You know it would get huge ratings in Canada, and possibly elsewhere because the other clubs would have more of a chance.

Why would Europeans and Americans watch five Canadian teams?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Canada can have their "World Cup" but rename it Canada Cup again.

We stick with IIHF World Championships a tournament that actually means something.

How's that tournament mean anything?

Especially considering how many star players are still playing in the NHL post-season?

Stick with the IIHF World Championships, we're the defending champs for that tournament too.

 

[c9777666]

It's kinda tiresome seeing Canada win and win.

These tournaments were a lot more up in the air back in the day when Canada COULD be upset on occasion.

Torino 2006 seems like a lifetime ago.

 

[buttman*]

Golden era of Canadian hockey. With guys like Benn, Sequin, Hall, Subban, Reilly, Ekblad, McDavid, McKinnon etc. all waiting in the wings. Holtby won the Vezina and never played. Giroux led the NHL in scoring the last 5 years and was a scratch. Canada could have two teams and win first and second.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

People complain about gimmicks, then, some want to "fix" Canada's domination... with more gimmicks!

The only way to "fix" things (if things really need to be fixed) is for other countries to get better. The USA are getting better, Finland is getting better. Sweden is still good. Russia has declined. Many smaller countries have gotten much better.

These things take time. Canada is in the middle of a golden generation and will always be the favorite because we have the most depth and do not depend on 5-6 players to be healthy to field a team that can compete for gold. Other countries have to develop similar depth (which is unlikely) and invest in the sport like we do (which is even more unlikely). Finland does and for a 6M-people country, they are regularly having great results.

This is not rocket science. It is about the grassroot level and the organisation of the elite. The real question is: is hockey important enough outside of Canada for countries to invest the necessary resources in making their program better? If the answer is no, then, what has to be "fixed" is the global presence of hockey. That would be the real challenge. However, the NHL doesn't give a **** about that, let us be honest and an NHL sanctionned tournament will never be designed to grow the game, it is designed to maximized the NHL profits (hence the gimmicks).

Scandale du Jour knocked it out of the park again. There is nothing to fix about Canada's dominance. It sucks that international hockey isn't competitive anymore because Canada just obliterates every other country, but the only solution is indeed to grow the game elsewhere.

The two largest hockey nations population wise are USA and Russia. Hockey in the US is behind every major sport, while hockey in Russia is behind soccer in terms of popularity. That's not to mention the fact that hockey is a sport played mostly by white people with a relatively high income. That takes out more than half of the American population. Similarly, many Russians cannot afford to have their kids play hockey growing up. It's such an expensive sport, and the average Russian does not earn as much as the average Canadian.

Furthermore, the only teams that could give the Canadians a run for their money on a regular basis were the great Soviet teams. To reach that level, the Soviets trained incredibly hard 11 months per year together and they perfected their system by playing together outside of international competitions with the Red Army teams. No team or player would want to go through such an intense training almost every day of the year.

Hockey is just Canada's game now. It is what it is. I wish there was some challenge for Canada to win the international competitions, but it probably won't happen in this era.

 

[Xokkeu]

How's that tournament mean anything?

Especially considering how many star players are still playing in the NHL post-season?

Stick with the IIHF World Championships, we're the defending champs for that tournament too.

It's the second most popular international hockey tournament in the world.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Parity gone wild.

Wild as in crazy.

 

[Tuoppi]

According to finnish sports magazine Urheilulehti it's the Detroit Red wings legacy and former Red wings coaches that brought Canada it's championships previous years.

 

[jj cale]

It's the second most popular international hockey tournament in the world.

And yet it is still a 2nd rate bum tournament.

Will be glad when/if Canada stops sending teams to that useless thing.

What a waste of our players time.

 

[thomasincanada]

Not really, it's the opposite. Ideas like this split-up thing are the equivalent of a boxer tying one of his hands behind his back to insult the opponent. "I can beat you without even using everything I got".

Agreed.. we Canadians pride ourselves on being humble but on hfboards all I ever see are threads on how we need to divide Canada's team up to be fair to the other countries.. pretty sure that is the opposite of humble.

The other countries will catch up.. We should just enjoy this run of dominance instead of acting like it will last forever.

 

[Xokkeu]

And yet it is still a 2nd rate bum tournament.

Will be glad when/if Canada stops sending teams to that useless thing.

What a waste of our players time.

Nobody forces them to go

 

[thomasincanada]

It's the second most popular international hockey tournament in the world.

Wouldn't that be the world juniors?

The World Championships is truly a meaningless tournament.. we can pretend otherwise if we want but the reality is most of the best players from all countries are off playing elsewhere at the time. To me it's about as relevant as the Spengler Cup.

The World Cup tournament has no real meaning either.. but at least it had most of the top players in it.

 

[Xokkeu]

Wouldn't that be the world juniors?

It's a meaningless tournament.. we can pretend otherwise if we want but the reality is most of the best players from all countries are off playing elsewhere at the time. To me it's about as relevant as the Spengler Cup.

The World Cup tournament has no real meaning either.. but at least it had most of the top players in it.

The worlds dwarf the world juniors in viewers.

 

[jj cale]

Nobody forces them to go

And hopefully we will wake up and stop going because there is no value in it.

Can't wait for that day, the sooner the better.

 

[Steveorama]

International sports tend to be cyclical. I predict things will turn over the next 10 years, and Hockey Canada will be back to its conferences on what needs to be done to make Canadian Hockey better again.

 

[thomasincanada]

International sports tend to be cyclical. I predict things will turn over the next 10 years, and Hockey Canada will be back to its conferences on what needs to be done to make Canadian Hockey better again.

Stop interrupting this thread with logic.

 

[thomasincanada]

The worlds dwarf the world juniors in viewers.

Fair enough.. It's hard for me to gauge since in Canada it's about 1/100th as popular as the world juniors.. But I will accept there are countries outside of Canada and they watch different stuff than us.

 

[gwh]

Fair enough.. It's hard for me to gauge since in Canada it's about 1/100th as popular as the world juniors.. But I will accept there are countries outside of Canada and they watch different stuff than us.

It was quite popular this year. The spring hockey season is very short in Canada.

More seriously: The national leagues (except NHL) are finished. IIHF worlds is the season ending event in Europe.

 

[Rocko604]

Other countries should get better. The end.

 

[DNA]

I think the only solution is to totally abandon best-on-best as we know it, at least until a time when it might be relevant again.

We have the World Juniors which is essentially best-on-best, but with an age stipulation that applies to ALL teams. There is the World Championships, which Europeans tend to love more than North Americans, but all countries are now equalized, as teams deep in the NHL playoffs haven't recognized borders for a long time.

The Olympics should adopt the Soccer/Football protocol of an Under-23 tournament. This means they can still continue meaningfully (with as little NHL impediment as possible) no matter where they are held - and the success of the North American team in this World Cup just bolsters this!

But IMO the World Cup of Hockey was a failure in all ways but one, and we know what that is...

 

[Xokkeu]

I think the only solution is to totally abandon best-on-best as we know it.

We have the World Juniors which is essentially best-on-best, but with an age stipulation that applies to ALL teams. There is the World Championships, which Europeans tend to love more than North Americans, but all countries are now equalized, as teams deep in the NHL playoffs haven't recognized borders for a long time.

The Olympics should adopt the Soccer/Football protocol of an Under-23 tournament. This means they can still continue meaningfully (with as little NHL impediment as possible) no matter where they are held - and the success of the North American team in this World Cup just bolsters this!

But IMO the World Cup of Hockey was a failure in all ways but one, and we know what that is...

The Olympics are never going to adopt the U23 model. That's like saying, hey you have this, your prime product. You should.... kill it.