GDT: May 5 • Switzerland 3, Canada 2 (SO)

[frag2]

The ironic part is that our defense has been mostly fine and our goaltending has been okay. The forwards (our supposed huge edge over everyone else) are a sick joke.

Yep. The problem IMO is still coaching. Way too much emphasis on the "NA brand" of hockey...there are some that excel the larger ice [small, faster and shifty players] and then there are those that just can't adapt [the larger brutes one that emphasize a power game/size advantage approach]

Yzerman will have his work cut out for him come Sochi-does he just ice the "usuals" that may not be suited for the larger ice or does he comb thoroughly through the depth of Canadian forwards present.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

The 5 million is US only, I believe. You have to add another couple of millions in Canada.

Not if there are no Canadian team in the finals

Seriously Canada's love of hockey is overstated

Most people in Canada don't like hockey, they just cheer for whoever the media tells them to

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of love for the sport but it isn't as simple as saying "every year millions of Canadians watch the SCF"

The truth is that it depends who is playing

Remember that liking hockey is the "cool thing" here it means we get a lot of passengers who know nothing about the sport and simply do not care about it if their team isn't playing

 

[Fin9*]

Russia and Sweden are. Over here anyway.

The thing with Sweden, is that media and people always lose to Sweden but not really hate them.

But with Russia we think sometimes they are the big bullies on the playground that steals the little kids lunchmoney.

 

[Drij]

Not impressed with some of the players, they need to change up the lines.
They need to double shift Duchene more.

 

[TonsofPuppies*]

Not impressed with some of the players, they need to change up the lines.
They need to double shift Duchene more.

Giroux has been horrendous. Don't know what his issue is this season, even with the Flyers.

 

[Pominville Knows]

When it comes to the WC versus the Stanley Cup i just want to add that the teams in the WC are no worse than a NHL team. Often the lineups even in a north americans eyes is better in the WC.
I just think it's great hockey, but dont care nearly as much as during the olympics or the Stanley.

 

[markz*]

I actually like Stamkos a lot - but he was absolutely shut down tonight - Show's how good defense is the Key.

 

[frag2]

Giroux has been horrendous. Don't know what his issue is this season, even with the Flyers.

Maybe he's just not THAT good...good but not THAT good.

 

[Artemia]

When it comes to the WC versus the Stanley Cup i just want to add that the teams in the WC are no worse than a NHL team. Often the lineups even in a north americans eyes is better in the WC.
I just think it's great hockey, but dont care nearly as much as during the olympics or the Stanley.

Problem with olympic hockey is that it's being overshadowed by all the other sports. Except in perhaps canada.

Even in Sweden, skiing seems to get more attention than hockey during olympics.

 

[Drij]

Giroux has been horrendous. Don't know what his issue is this season, even with the Flyers.

He was overrated by HFBoards and really isn't that good.

 

[Drij]

I actually like Stamkos a lot - but he was absolutely shut down tonight - Show's how good defense is the Key.

Stamkos has never been that great at the WHC

 

[RorschachWJK]

I think both fans and players from NA really underestimates the difference between small and big ice. It's like tennis between gravel and grass. Not everyone is elite on both!

Maybe Canada and USA should choose players more on their ability to play on big ice, than stardom in NHL.
For instance Ryan Lasch was pretty good at the WC for USA last year, and he has been struggling in AHL this year.

Thinking on reflex that "our NHL'ers" can just beat everyone because they are stars in NHL is becoming naive since many European countries gets better and better and now actually know they have a chance.

Good points here.

 

[fredligh]

Canadian players and coaches simply don't take this tournament seriously. It might not be best on best but it's still good international hockey, it'd be even better if they'd show up once in awhile.

hahah, yeah sure. classic sore loser

 

[TonsofPuppies*]

Stamkos has never been that great at the WHC

Didn't he have 7 goals in 7 games as an 18 year old?

 

[RorschachWJK]

WC Final: One match, often on at prime time for Europeans played in the weekend when people are of work.
Stanley Cup final: Up to 7 matches, most matches played during weekdays and often in the middle of the night.

I think many Europeans would prefer to watch a deciding match in the Stanley Cup finals over a WC final (if it wasn't their country in the final) but time difference makes that impossible for many.

No. There is extremely little interest in the Stanley Cup finals here. KHL draws more I think.

 

[Hasa92]

All our leagues are over. KHL SML, NLA Finish league, German Czechs .... for us, europeans, these are the World Championships !! (without some NHL players ... )

This.

Also people who usually don't watch hockey in Finland, watch this tournament, especially if Finland is playing well.

Also most people value this tournament not just over NHL put over their own hometown club team. And not just hockey club fans, a lot of other sport fans do this as well.

 

[markz*]

Didn't he have 7 goals in 7 games as an 18 year old?

Yep And tied Jason Spezza with the Tournament lead!

 

[torero]

Another point between Stanely cup and WC are time !! NHL games take place between 1AM to 5 AM CET !!
No surprise europeans watch more the WC

 

[Pominville Knows]

Problem with olympic hockey is that it's being overshadowed by all the other sports. Except in perhaps canada.

Even in Sweden, skiing seems to get more attention than hockey during olympics.

Highly questionable if we're talking Team Sweden in a final. Skiing is always about medals during each event, hockey has preliminary games which may not be as sexy when no medal is being awarded. Here is a link to viewer numbers from 2006 and it's actually a cakewalk for hockey, even the non-final games.

http://www.tvbloggen.com/archives/148

 

[Hasa92]

No. There is extremely little interest in the Stanley Cup finals here. KHL draws more I think.

Well Viasat stopped streaming KHL games on tv because of small audience and NHL is still running strong there. But yes most people would still choose IIHF over SC-Finals even if both would be shown at a good time & from free channels.

In Finland i would rank hockey leagues/ tournaments by popularity like this:

1. Olympics
2. IIHF WC
3. Sm-liiga (our elite league)
4. Mestis (our 2nd best league)
5. NHL.

And those are pretty much what people in Finland care about, i mean KHL is respected and all but people really don't watch it, iv'e never seen an KHL team fan in here.

 

[InjuredChoker]

Didn't he have 7 goals in 7 games as an 18 year old?

9 games. Had turned 19.

Not bad imo.

But that was in smaller rink iirc.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Congrats to the Swiss, they always give us trouble.

I worry about our Canadian players ability to adapt to the big ice, I don't particularly care about the WC, but we need to have all our guys ready to go on the big ice for Sochi or it'll be Turin 2.0.

 

[jcbio11]

I know but I meant people always talked about the elite top7 in hockey. I just think that they should be regarded as within a new elite top8 (they have been 8'th for some time, but they were not regarded on the same level as the top7).

No. I am sorry. But not until they medal.

No other country other than the top 7 has won a medal at the World Championships in modern hockey (in fact, it's since 1953 unless I am mistaken).

If the Swiss want to be considered top 7, they need to be able to win a medal.

 

[UglyStupidAds]

A lot of criticism of Ruff but this tournament is usually about getting the guys to gel by the elimination round. As long as they improve I'm not worried about this shaky performance.

 

[ForumNamePending]

Highly questionable if we're talking Team Sweden in a final. Skiing is always about medals during each event, hockey has preliminary games which may not be as sexy when no medal is being awarded. Here is a link to viewer numbers from 2006 and it's actually a cakewalk for hockey, even the non-final games.

http://www.tvbloggen.com/archives/148

Per this wikipedia article referencing Nielsen data, it appears in Sweden the Olympic Hockey final, with over 3.5 million people watching, had the highest single broadcast viewership for any sporting even in 2006.

Obviously a bit old but I was curious and it was the first thing I could find online.

Whoops... Looks like you snuck in your own link just as I quoted you.