Canada has "rigged, kidnapped and bought the Wjc"

Snauen

Registered User
Dec 27, 2017
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Link above. It's in Swedish (google translate) and the view of a Swedish journalist in a main media outlet. In short the article says that "Hockey Canada" has kidnapped, bought and rigged the wjc tournament. It started in the 1980's , began to have an effect in the Lindros-era in the 90s up til now. Canada the host of 11 wjc tournaments since 2003. Three in a row 2021-23 , difficult to find anything like it in any other global sport.. Hockey Canada Earns ALOT of money on domestic and foreign hockey-talents (that get nothing from participating). Lots of economic figures/numbers in the article. Fasel and Putin and Hockey-Canada in the same corruption boat. This is from the article, not necessarily my (Snauen the threadstarter) view. I think there could be an intresting discussion here about it though. / Regards
 

MXD

Original #4
Oct 27, 2005
50,799
16,540

Link above. It's in Swedish (google translate) and the view of a Swedish journalist in a main media outlet. In short the article says that "Hockey Canada" has kidnapped, bought and rigged the wjc tournament. It started in the 1980's , began to have an effect in the Lindros-era in the 90s up til now. Canada the host of 11 wjc tournaments since 2003. Three in a row 2021-23 , difficult to find anything like it in any other global sport.. Hockey Canada Earns ALOT of money on domestic and foreign hockey-talents (that get nothing from participating). Lots of economic figures/numbers in the article. Fasel and Putin and Hockey-Canada in the same corruption boat. This is from the article, not necessarily my (Snauen the threadstarter) view. I think there could be an intresting discussion here about it though. / Regards
That's about as original as Nickelback's 5th album.

And I say that as someone who thought the current WJC looked and sounded way, way too Canadian in the corniest way imaginable.
 
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MeHateHe

Registered User
Dec 24, 2006
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Where’s my eyeroll emoji?

Canada hosts it regularly because of money, yeah. We have more cities where more people shell out more coin to see more games. At the 2019 tournament, all the non-Canada games in Victoria were packed (just a 7,000 seat rink, but still). The tournament is popular here, to the point that TSN is essentially the host broadcaster everywhere. If more countries in Europe showed more of an interest it would be over there more often. I may not be a fan of global capitalism but that’s the world we live in.
 

Golden_Jet

Registered User
Sep 21, 2005
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IIHF likes making more money. Did the “journalist “ think of that in the article.
Did the article mention Canadians boosted the numbers in Sweden, with 3500 fans travelling.

Stopped reading when comparing with Putin.
 
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LEAFANFORLIFE23

Registered User
Jun 17, 2010
45,604
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If that were true they'd be playing for, and winning gold literallyevery year but they don't as this year proves.
 
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NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
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1704465889289.jpeg
 

WarriorofTime

Registered User
Jul 3, 2010
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It's over-dramatic and not that serious, but not necessarily wrong.

At the same time, nobody else wants it. Even my fellow NHL fans I talk a lot of hockey with in the States simply don't care, they don't even know USA is playing for Gold today.

Hockey Canada is more or less in charge of international hockey. The World Under-17 Challenge is a Hockey Canada event (not IIHF), the Gretzky-Hlinka Tournament is a Hockey Canada event (not IIHF, although it's a Czechoslovakian legacy from when it started, so it's "technically" a collaborative effort with Czech and Slovak federations), the World Junior A Challenge is a Hockey Canada event (not IIHF).

That leaves the IIHF Under-18 (where Canada makes sure loudly that everyone knows they don't care about it), the IIHF Under-20 (not a Hockey Canada event but may as well be), the IIHF World Championship and the Olympics.

To be honest, Hockey Canada should use its influence to get Russia back in (which it wants, Canada-Russia is a big draw whether Russia is good or bad). Back in the day, if countries took issue with another country, they boycotted themselves (Western countries at Moscow Olympics, Canada from IIHF due to shamateurs). To me, if a country like Finland refuses to play against Russia, they can forfeit if their principles are so strong. I'd have a lot more respect for that rather than see them be rewarded with a Bronze Medal because they artificially took away a team that might beat them. If Canada pressed on the IIHF hard enough, they could likely end that ban. It's gone on long enough. Across generations, Canada-Russia, USA-Russia and Canada-USA games are always far more interesting than other matchups.
 
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DeltaSwede

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Jun 15, 2011
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The only bad thing about it being hosted in Canada a lot is the time difference for us in Europe. Other than that there is nothing to say really.

Hockey reigns supreme in Canada. I was in attendance for the Semis and it's really impressive that so many Canadians made the trip over. Met a lot of nice people as well still around even after Canada is eliminated.
 

WarriorofTime

Registered User
Jul 3, 2010
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I don't understand why this tournament isn't more popular. Typically, it's high scoring and a little more intense [definitely feel it missing with the Russians not there however].
Youth sports aren't popular in Europe. Superfans may keep an eye on it, but the Real Madrid Academy Team, for instance, isn't going to have an independent fanbase separate and apart from the top team the way Michigan Football, or even the London Knights, do.

In the U.S., hockey isn't big enough outside of the NHL generally, and NCAA Hockey and Junior Hockey aren't very mainstream. It also directly conflicts with the College Football Playoff (which is only expanding and thus likely to draw more collective attention). It also doesn't help that the only way to watch in the U.S. is NHL Network, which is only available with Cable (and not YouTube TV) and Fubo, with no other streaming options. I have cable and NHL Network requires an extra "sport package" on top of the ridiculous amounts cable already charges.
 

KeyserSoze81

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Mar 1, 2007
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Rochester, NY
I don't understand why this tournament isn't more popular. Typically, it's high scoring and a little more intense [definitely feel it missing with the Russians not there however].
It's a bunch of transient kids, a step above a draft combine in terms of rooting interests. The hockey is great, but do people really care if Finland's 18-19 year olds are better than Sweden's 18-19 year olds in a short form tournament?

As NHL fans who obsess over draft picks, it is amazing. The hockey is fast and intense, and we get to see prospects in ultra competitive situations. But as a group, we are several standard deviations away from the average hockey fan (itself a fringe sport).
 

DeltaSwede

Registered User
Jun 15, 2011
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Gbg
Maybe if other nations bought tickets when they host and watched on TV in higher numbers they would get the tournament more often.
You're right, but since I posted last I've reflected a little more on the topic.

When it's hosted in North America it's tough to even catch a game for us euros when games start at 2 to 5 in the morning our time. Those years I might catch a period and that's coming from a die hard who looks forward to Christmas because of the world juniors.

I really hope future tournaments show more respect to that. Do games HAVE to start at prime time local time? Can't they start a little earlier so we can have game starts at like midnight at least?
 

Fixed to Ruin

Come wit it now!
Feb 28, 2007
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You're right, but since I posted last I've reflected a little more on the topic.

When it's hosted in North America it's tough to even catch a game for us euros when games start at 2 to 5 in the morning our time. Those years I might catch a period and that's coming from a die hard who looks forward to Christmas because of the world juniors.

I really hope future tournaments show more respect to that. Do games HAVE to start at prime time local time? Can't they start a little earlier so we can have game starts at like midnight at least?

I agree with this. No reason they cant schedule a Finland/Sweden game for example at a time that is more favorable for viewers in Europe. Also the semi finals and finals are typically on a Thursday/Friday. Perhaps a Saturday/Sunday semi-final and final would allow for games to be played in the afternoon in North America without having the ticket buying audience at work during the day.

I'll admit i didn't watch any of the games that started at 4 am for me for this year's tournament.
 

WarriorofTime

Registered User
Jul 3, 2010
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16,906
You're right, but since I posted last I've reflected a little more on the topic.

When it's hosted in North America it's tough to even catch a game for us euros when games start at 2 to 5 in the morning our time. Those years I might catch a period and that's coming from a die hard who looks forward to Christmas because of the world juniors.

I really hope future tournaments show more respect to that. Do games HAVE to start at prime time local time? Can't they start a little earlier so we can have game starts at like midnight at least?
There is no great way to do it, the most suitable between Europe/North America is basically like what the Gold Medal Game is, 7:30 pm in Sweden/1:30 pm in New York/Toronto... which is 10:30 am in Los Angeles/Vancouver. But that's still not ideal as everyone in North America is still at work when the game is played and most people can't just dip out to watch a game. They push UEFA Champions Leagues games pretty late into the night in Europe to capture a larger portion of the audience in the Americas, but it's still pretty late, they can just count on the domestic audience staying up late to watch (I think games will often start at like 9 pm local time).

That's basically what we face with the IIHF World Championship every year with early games that conflict with the workday, I guess we can follow along the score but it's hard to watch. And that's always the last timeslot, so the earlier games most people just don't have a chance. USA played Slovakia at like 4:30 am in my time zone (one hour after New York).
 

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