WJC: A bit overhyped perhaps?

[Everest]

Ya those Canada-Russia Challenge Series or whatever they're called now are terrible. It's just Dave Branch and the CHL selling out to make some extra cash. It's been going on for quite a few years now and Russia still isn't sending that strong of a team which usually makes it pretty uncompetitive hockey.

All it does is contribute to the breakdown of parity on the international jr level as far as I am concerned.

I'd like to see our top Canadian JR's tell the CHL to get stuffed and refuse to take part in these games.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Thanks. And that's my point. It's easy to say no one cares about an event they don't get an opportunity to see. It's growing in popularity in Sweden because it's finally being seen. I don't think the rest of the hockey world does a good enough job building this tournament.

Come on, it´s quite obvious that the growing popularity of the event is depending on the fact that Sweden actually is having great succes in the tourney recently. It´s one thing to get people to watch their junior kids play for medals an other thing to watch them killed by Canada. The WJC was televised in Slovakia for the first time last year and sure it had some ncie succes, the quarterfinal game against the US had like 500 000 viewers, which is some great numbers for 5,5 million people country, but what if Janus had let in 3 or 4 goals in the first period, how many people do you think would have finished watching the game? Very few. Or if we didn´t beat Finland, how many people would watch Slovakia to play kazakhstan in the RR? Not many again.

 

[Macman]

Yeah, I'd have to agree.
I think that a lot of Swedish hockey fans were surprised by the "entertaining" hockey, struggled for a better word.

It is a fast paced, open and optimistic type of hockey, fun to watch and leaves room for creative players and some lapses in the defence creates a lot of scoring opportunities.

Yup. The skill and passion of these kids blows me away every year. The speed and intensity. It's great. Like somebody else said, it's hard to go back to watching a routine NHL game after this tournament.

 

[Macman]

Come on, it´s quite obvious that the growing popularity of the event is depending on the fact that Sweden actually is having great succes in the tourney recently. It´s one thing to get people to watch their junior kids play for medals an other thing to watch them killed by Canada. The WJC was televised in Slovakia for the first time last year and sure it had some ncie succes, the quarterfinal game against the US had like 500 000 viewers, which is some great numbers for 5,5 million people country, but what if Janus had let in 3 or 4 goals in the first period, how many people do you think would have finished watching the game? Very few. Or if we didn´t beat Finland, how many people would watch Slovakia to play kazakhstan in the RR? Not many again.

Nothing grows in a vacuum and those Slovakian viewership numbers prove that.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

The WJC was on Eurosport 2, the last two years.

 

[cenas*]

They don't even show these games outside of Pejorative Sluredly priced pay channels in Finland, which is a shame.. I think many would watch atleast the Finn games.

Its not the pricing that makes these channels useless per se.. its the quality of the programming that goes on while these tournaments aren't on (majority of the year).

 

[Jussi]

They don't even show these games outside of Pejorative Sluredly priced pay channels in Finland, which is a shame.. I think many would watch atleast the Finn games.

Its not the pricing that makes these channels useless per se.. its the quality of the programming that goes on while these tournaments aren't on (majority of the year).

And the execution of the hockey broadcasts. MTV3=failing in sports productions since the 90's. Announcers, commentators, studio analysts... God forbid if they ever get the men's World Championships as well.

Though even if the games were on TSN, we'd still be at the host broadcaster's (aka TSN) mercy. Not every Team Finland game is necessarily broadcast here (though this year seems to be an exception).

 

[CaptBrannigan]

I guess I don't buy 100% into the "love", especially Canadian, because I have only really seen the great outpouring after they started winning. Like the Red Sox and Cowboys and Patriots it seems the "love" only comes after results for a great many.

To me the skill of the players (yes, even in Dec/Jan) puts the NHL games way up over WJC/CHL. imo, it's not as much overhyped (although it is that) as over commercialized. Seriously, a green jersey to honor a football team? And part of me just has a hard time getting geared up for a less than premium tournament (Ex: Fifa U20 WC). Factor in the different ice sheets/rules that all but two of the teams have to adjust to and I guess it comes down to a bunch of little things. It's not that I don't like or think it's "bad", I just don't care. It's basketball to me.

 

[McCrosby]

This has probably already been said, but it is exciting because it is pretty much the only chance we'll get to see these prospects play on live t.v. Also because they aren't professional and don't really have solid defensive systems and such in place due to not being together too long it makes for intense exciting hockey.

It is kind of like UFC usually the lighter guys aren't as good of fighters as the heavier guys and would most likely lose if they were fighting in a higher weight class, but the lower classes are more fun to watch IMO. Basically just because the WJ's aren't as good as NHLer's doesn't mean watching their hockey is less exciting.

 

[bigtimehockeyfan]

World Juniors are underhyped. One of the best sports tourney's in the world...when playing in Canada with huge crowds.

 

[buddahsmoka1]

This has probably already been said, but it is exciting because it is pretty much the only chance we'll get to see these prospects play on live t.v. Also because they aren't professional and don't really have solid defensive systems and such in place due to not being together too long it makes for intense exciting hockey.

It is kind of like UFC usually the lighter guys aren't as good of fighters as the heavier guys and would most likely lose if they were fighting in a higher weight class, but the lower classes are more fun to watch IMO. Basically just because the WJ's aren't as good as NHLer's doesn't mean watching their hockey is less exciting.

Do you not get a local channel to cover your local junior league? Shaw channel over here in BC covers I think about 20-25 WHL games a year.

 

[Chileiceman]

Do you not get a local channel to cover your local junior league? Shaw channel over here in BC covers I think about 20-25 WHL games a year.

The only Junior hockey I get to see are Windsor Spitfire games and whatever they show on Sportsnet, which isn't much.

 

[Habsfunk]

the tournament is absolutely overhyped. tsn's hyperbole is ridiculous. they obviously do a fine job is marketing this and making us all believe its the greatest thing ever.

i love the tournament, but it doesn't get exciting until the elimination games. win or go home. that's when it gets fun. i can't get too excited about seeing canada crush latvia on boxing day.

its become quite a platform for pierre maguire to scream at us and make up new phrases that are incoherent. (for instance...."compete level"? this is not only grammatically incorrect, it just doesn't make any sense. and now everyone is using this phrase).

I completely agree with you, and I'm glad someone else hates the term "compete level."

As to the person that called me a separatist - I'm an anglo-Montrealer who's lived 10 years in Toronto and now lives in BC.

 

[boris4c]

I'd say the WJC is definitely overhyped by the broadcasters such as TSN, but it doesn't change the fact that it is quite an exciting tournament and that I'm looking forward to it every single year.

The reasons why it's exciting is first and foremost because the featured players have not been hit by fame and money just yet, and are therefore leaving their heart on the ice. It's hard to imagine a 30 year old NHL player from Slovakia, being paid 5 million a year, leaving his heart on the ice whilst playing for the Carolina Hurricanes (not any player in particular, just an example). They are also full of energy and the speed is incredible, and as someone said, it is hard to go back to regular NHL games after watching the WJCs for a couple weeks.

Nonetheless, most players at the WJC will never see the NHL or will only have extremely short stints in this very same league. Sometimes, even the best players from a certain edition don't live up to their expectations, and I have dozens of examples just off the top of my head.

TSN is without a doubt giving this tournament an importance that it does not deserve, without me taking anything away from it.

 

[HockeyAddict]

Is this tournament overhyped by TSN? Perhaps. But without TSN, this tournament would not be as popular with Canadians and probably would not have become the X-mas tradition that it has. Some of our best hockey moments ( i.e moments that made Canadians jump off their seats and gave us pride in our nation ) in the last decade have come from this tournament. It certainly is more hyped now than it was maybe 15 years ago but the TSN hype doesn't seem worse now than say 3-4 years ago and hopefully they don't try to hype it more in upcoming years.

 

[joe89]

Thanks. And that's my point. It's easy to say no one cares about an event they don't get an opportunity to see. It's growing in popularity in Sweden because it's finally being seen. I don't think the rest of the hockey world does a good enough job building this tournament.

That's not the full story though, the Swedish team hasn't been competitive until recently. We had the Forsberg-Naslund era and the Sedins and now we got a young talented group again. A lot of years in between as you see, the difference now though is that it has lasted a couple of years. Canada on the other hand always got a stacked team, they could have several teams every year and that product is second to none. You need big names to market it, which Sweden now got plenty to choose from with Markström, Tedenby, MSP, Adam Larsson etc. All well-known in the SEL and highly touted. That's my .02 of the raising popularity.

 

[themightyquinn]

It is too much. It is overkill. It is embarassing that TSN puts so much stock in it while other countries shrug their shoulders over it. It only gets elevated to this level because it's something Canada is good at. And if TSN loves the Junior program so much, why has it ignored the CHL for years? Why don't they show CHL games on TSN the rest of the year?

The level of overkill is almost enough to make a real Canadian cheer for any other country to win just so they stop with the craziness.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

I watched last year's semi final against Russia earlier today, and I remembered that game as something incredibly intense with a lot of action. Turns out that the level of hockey played that day was pretty poor. It's the drama that made it look so good.

 

[boris4c]

Some people have stated that they would like to see the WJC at the Olympics every four (4) years but that would not make any sense, even mathematically.

For instance, a player was 17 years old during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino and did not make the team because he wasn't considered good enough to play... while at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver he's already 21 and therefore too old to play under the rules.

If WJC were held every four years, then every other generation of players would not have the chance to play. The biggest gap you can have for such tournaments with an age limit is two years, like it is done for European football (soccer) Championships.

 

[optimus2861]

I watched last year's semi final against Russia earlier today, and I remembered that game as something incredibly intense with a lot of action. Turns out that the level of hockey played that day was pretty poor. It's the drama that made it look so good.

I find that's true of watching almost any sport after the fact, though. When you remove the emotion, the not knowing who's going to win or how this play's going to turn out, the game itself just becomes.. blah. Ever tried watching the supposed "greatest game ever" between the Habs and Red Army from 75, for instance?

 

[Paxton Fettel]

I find that's true of watching almost any sport after the fact, though. When you remove the emotion, the not knowing who's going to win or how this play's going to turn out, the game itself just becomes.. blah. Ever tried watching the supposed "greatest game ever" between the Habs and Red Army from 75, for instance?

To be honest I'm used to watching a lot of old games, for instance the previous Olympic tournaments, and it's great hockey. These juniors are too young for the most part and most of them will never be very good players.

 

[SirJordanStaal11*]

The hockey is really sloppy. I'd rather watch a good NHL game between two teams who play good, disciplined, hockey, but it can still be exciting sometimes.


For anyone who prefers it to NHL hockey, I really don't understand them.

 

[EbencoyE]

The WJCs are extremely exciting are you kidding? And your comparing the WCs to this? The WCs is a damn joke. This tournament is filled with top prospects and top draftees. The WCs is filled with career AHLers (or other non NHL leagues) and a handful of decent NHL players.

and those "career AHLers" would destroy any of these junior teams, whats your point?

just because a player doesn't play in the NHL they aren't good? could you be any more arrogant?

 

[octopi]

I love the world Juniors, but there really isn't a lot of serious competition, and the announcers/analysts often come off as very disparaging towards some/all of the European teams, seem to get this "Holier than thou" attitude. When the 2005 Russian team was being juvenille and taunting a bit, they were immature showboats with no respect for the game(I was frankly, surprised that noone suggested executions). When Canada had some players doing similar either last year or previous, it was because they were passionate young players but maybe should tone it down a little.

 

[Hipfan]

The hockey is really sloppy. I'd rather watch a good NHL game between two teams who play good, disciplined, hockey, but it can still be exciting sometimes.


For anyone who prefers it to NHL hockey, I really don't understand them.

I have to disagree: this WJC hockey is the best of the best in their age bracket - while some of these players don't go on to NHL careers, a LOT of them will go on to become captains and integral players in the NHL for years to come. In an NHL game, no one team has all first rounders; however, this hockey is exactly that - blue chip prospects top to bottom. We just don't see that in the NHL these days and because of it there's very few good, disciplined NHL games out there today.

Unlike some NHL'ers who just don't deserve one cent of what they're making, these guys are playing for nothing more than pride and do a damn good job at it.