IIFH - Should be called the European Hockey Association

[Mountain Dude]

They don't want the NHLers to play because that will give the Euros less chance to win, and the Europeans will still have lots of players to cheer for.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=101065

It might not be important to Europe, but it sure is hell is important to Canadians.

Click to read more...

 

[wilka91*]

1-What? It will give Euros less chance to win? Doesn't make sense.

2-I'm a European and I hate what Fasel said because in my opinion if a best-on-best Olympic tournament is played outside North America, Canada and the US have almost no chances of winning. That's why I want all the best in Torino!

 

[Mountain Dude]

1-What? It will give Euros less chance to win? Doesn't make sense.

2-I'm a European and I hate what Fasel said because in my opinion if a best-on-best Olympic tournament is played outside North America, Canada and the US have almost no chances of winning. That's why I want all the best in Torino!

1 - If the Euros play their best non - NHLers they'll likely win, Canada has very players that keep going after they don't make the NHL. And if all NHL players play, the North Americans will have the better odds, because all of their best players play in the NHL.

2 - What the hell are you talking about?

 

[wilka91*]

1 - If the Euros play their best non - NHLers they'll likely win, Canada has very players that keep going after they don't make the NHL. And if all NHL players play, the North Americans will have the better odds, because all of their best players play in the NHL.

I know. But your first sentence is awkward.

You should have said : They don't want the NHLers to play because that WOULD give the Euros less chance to win.

 

[Mountain Dude]

I know. But your first sentence is awkward.

You should have said : They don't want the NHLers to play because that WOULD give the Euros less chance to win.

Yeah, my bad.

 

[Fredrik]

They don't want the NHLers to play because that will give the Euros less chance to win, and the Europeans will still have lots of players to cheer for.

Where do you read anything about your absurd idea that the IIHF don't want NHLers to play in the Olympics? It's the NHL that don't want this.

It might not be important to Europe, but it sure is hell is important to Canadians.

The Olympics is the single most important tournament for Europeans. It is obviously not important to North Americans.

If you really think the Olympics is important then you should try to force the NHL to join the IIHF. This way the NHL must make room for the Olympics.

 

[Mountain Dude]

Where do you read anything about your absurd idea that the IIHF don't want NHLers to play in the Olympics? It's the NHL that don't want this.



The Olympics is the single most important tournament for Europeans. It is obviously not important to North Americans.

If you really think the Olympics is important then you should try to force the NHL to join the IIHF. This way the NHL must make room for the Olympics.

It was the IIHF that placed the time limit on the NHL players not being allowed to play in the Olympics, not the other way around.

The IIHF has, and always will cater to the Europeans.

And also, the Olympics has been the most important for Canadians since 1998. So I don't know where you're getting that from.

 

[stv11]

You're overreacting. The article just says that Fasel thinks the tournament will be great even if there's no NHL players. Did you expect him to say that the tournament will suck and fans shouldn't care about it ? The IIHF has tickets to sell !

And about the IIHF being more an european than a world wide federation, it may looks like this, but the only reason is the lack of interest from the north american for international hockey, but the IIHF would welcome more participation from them. As a proof, I don't remember Canada (or the US) being a serious candidate to host a world championship tournament before Canada's successfull bid for 2008.

 

[Mountain Dude]

You're overreacting. The article just says that Fasel thinks the tournament will be great even if there's no NHL players. Did you expect him to say that the tournament will suck and fans shouldn't care about it ? The IIHF has tickets to sell !

And about the IIHF being more an european than a world wide federation, it may looks like this, but the only reason is the lack of interest from the north american for international hockey, but the IIHF would welcome more participation from them. As a proof, I don't remember Canada (or the US) being a serious candidate to host a world championship tournament before Canada's successfull bid for 2008.

There might be a lack of interest from the States, but every true Canadian loves seeing Team Canada play at any opportunity.

 

[stv11]

"Lack of interest for international hockey" was a bad choice of words.

The problem is the way national federation are set up. In Europe, a country's federation manages both the national team and the professional league, whereas in North America, the NHL is totally independant from Hockey Canada or USA Hockey. It's obvious that the european set up is more IIHF-friendly, as a national federation can arrange its league schedule to fit with IIHF events, whereas Hockey Canada doesn't have a word to say (can I say that in english ?) about the NHL schedule.

I have read many interviews of René Fasel, and I can safely say that he's not biased toward any country.

 

[wilka91*]

It's the NHL and Canada that never wanted NHLers at the Worlds and Olympics in the first place!

Without the NHL, we would have real World Champs every year like any other normal sport. But it turns out the NHL and Canada care EXCLUSIVELY about their money!

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

They don't want the NHLers to play because that will give the Euros less chance to win, and the Europeans will still have lots of players to cheer for.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=101065

It might not be important to Europe, but it sure is hell is important to Canadians.

You need a great deal of help.

You were able to read a lenghty article and somehow draw conclusions that aren't hinted at anywhere in it.

:bonk:

 

[Jussi]

The problem is the way national federation are set up. In Europe, a country's federation manages both the national team and the professional league, whereas in North America, the NHL is totally independant from Hockey Canada or USA Hockey. It's obvious that the european set up is more IIHF-friendly, as a national federation can arrange its league schedule to fit with IIHF events, whereas Hockey Canada doesn't have a word to say (can I say that in english ?) about the NHL schedule.

Finland's SM-Liiga is also independent of the Finnish hockey federation.

 

[stv11]

I know, and that's the case in Germany as well, but I took the easy way to explain my opinion

 

[BCCHL inactive]

It was the IIHF that placed the time limit on the NHL players not being allowed to play in the Olympics, not the other way around.

The issue is that if the NHL loses the entire 04/05 season, Gary Bettman and the owners do not want to shut the league down for two weeks during the 05/06 season, thus they would not send NHL players to the Olympics. Whether or not that happens, if the NHL were to decide a year from today that they do want to take part at Torino 2006, the IIHF would welcome that with open arms.

As for the IIHF catering to European countries, it only appears that way because out of the top hockey nations, North America has two member nations: Canada and the USA, while Europe has many more nations to worry about.