Is there a competitiveness problem with the World Juniors?

[admiralcadillac]

The tournament should be even bigger.
In the middle of each bracket you would get a higher quantity of competitive matchups.
At the extreme ends you get 34-0 games.
I want to see Canada shred Somalia. I want to see how Singapore does against Nigeria.
I want it all.

The « Miracle in Mogadishu » does have a nice ring to it

 

[BigBadBoar]

I enjoy the tournament as it is currently structured. and that includes the two banned teams staying banned for the immediate future.

Agree with all of Your points.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

I think it’s too weak without Russia. When there are so few good teams getting rid of one of them hurts a lot. Bring them back for the sake of competitiveness.

No.

Happy to take them back when they deserve it. Not the time.

 

[MeHateHe]

I do believe there was an agenda here. But it wasn't about being grumpy or old. More about a certain banned nation and how it now sucks without them.

Maybe I'm being all crazy though.lol

I was originally, perhaps too charitably, thinking this was the usual complaint about the tournament just having too many teams. The passage of time has proved you right, of course. The Russia stans are stanning Russia. Maybe we need to have a stickied thread where people can come rehash the same argument over and over and over andoverandoverandoverandover.

Me, I like competition. I would like to have all the best teams at the tournament. But given that my family came to Canada from Mariupol, I think Russia can spend from now until hell gets a hockey team in the sin bin.

 

[krutovsdonut]

if you don't like the blowout games just don't watch the blowout games. they're not hard to spot.

international competition like this is huge for fringe nations trying to get their foot in the door. look at the canadian men in the soccer world cup. canada never had a chance to win and were so far out of their league just being there that they blew a huge chunk of the canada soccer governing body annual budget on plane tickets and hotel rooms causing a funding crisis. but it was a massive boost to soccer in canada.

I think there are currently nine relevant hockey playing countries:

* Canada
* The U.S
* Russia
* Sweden
* Finland
* Czechia
* Slovakia
* Switzerland
* Germany

We all know of the issues with Russia. The Czechs and Slovaks have experienced a resurgence, which is great. Germany is on the rise, which is also good. The Swiss are in a bit of a lull IMO. It would be great if a 10th country could rise and be competitive year in, year out though.

latvia should be on that list.

it was not long ago that switzerland and germany were guaranteed walkovers at the wjc. the level of competition is improving.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Yes, Gord Miller has been pushing for years to have the lower div qualification tournament happen the same year as the WJC so that the winning country doesn’t age out all the players that got them there. Your idea of the team that is going down actually getting a chance to play for their spot is good as well.

agree with this.

Without Russia any hockey competition automatically becomes a joke.

disagree. russia has been a joke at the wjc for years. they are badly coached and prepared and the players are selfish and undisciplined so the team chronically underperforms relative to their talent. i just cannot respect or get behind that team. i'd much rather see a scrappy underdog play hard disciplined hockey and win a bronze than a lazy disorganized mess of wasted talent accidentally live up to its potential and win the gold once every 20 years. it actually beats me how anyone could cheer for russian international hockey in general. it has not been relevant since the soviet machine unravelled. all that individual talent and a huge population and they can't get organized to beat countries a fraction of their size. kind of a pattern with russia generally, really, when you think about it.

 

[garbageteam]

The teams are fine (when Russia is back). Obviously one of Norway or Latvia wouldn't be here, there usually is only one truly rump team which is OK, and they occasionally pull off a relegation upset win against the less terrible team.

The round robins provide a decent way for some teams to tweak their lineups before the real games begin in the elimination rounds. I don't think I'd want Canada to roll the practice lines right out against Sweden off the bat.

 

[Czechboy]

Asked and answered..

Summary:

It's always been lopsided... ALWAYS. This isn't soccer.

More good hockey nations the better the tournament is.

Also, some people think it is unfair Russia has been banned and let the kids play. Others think Russia should be banned.

Good talk!