How was Germany selected to play?

[Jazz]

Here's your proof that the World Championship's rankings where used to determine the Canada Cup teams:

This was in the wake of Canada returning to the World Championships in 1976, the IIHF agreed to sponsor the particpation of....

...a competition for the "Canada Cup" should be played every four years on North American territory with the participation of Canada, the United States and the four strongest European national teams according to the last preceding world championship with the understanding that all the teams would be allowed to use their NHL professional players.

source: IIHF.COM
http://www.iihf.com/iihf/history/1975.htm

 

[jekoh]

the "Canada Cup" should be played... with the participation of Canada, the United States and

That's invitational.

the four strongest European national teams according to the last preceding world championship

That made sense, but clearly this method hasn't been used for this World Cup (which was the point), as Switzerland and Latvia finished ahead of Germany and Russia during the last preceding world championship.

 

[kjri]

That made sense, but clearly this method hasn't been used for this World Cup (which was the point), as Switzerland and Latvia finished ahead of Germany and Russia during the last preceding world championship.

In 1983 it was announced beforehand that the best team in 1983 Worlds, outside the big 5, will play in the Canada Cup 1984. In 2002 no-one knew that they were qualiffying for World Cup 2004.

 

[High flyin' Habs*]

Don't underestimate Germany.

Yeah like the germans can pull something out of theire sleeves :lol .

 

[Mountain Dude]

It's big 7 these days, since Slovakia joined the bunch.

And Germany would be the natural choise for 8th, they are the 8th best at the moment and have been for ages.

Its not the big 7 yet, as good as slovakia is, they don't even come close to getting most players in the NHL. Give em 10 years and maybe, but they aren't there yet.

 

[Mountain Dude]

the "big 6" is past....and as you can see below slovakia isn't even 7th
here's a 2004 IIHF world ranking
1 CAN
2 SWE
3 SVK
4 CZE
5 FIN
6 USA
7 RUS
8 GER

go slovakia go!!!

Well, thats for the World Championships, those numbers aren't exactly accurate for the best-on-best competitions.

I'm not disrespecting Slovakia yet, but they simply don't have the depth the big 6 have.

 

[uzziman]

the "big 6" is past....and as you can see below slovakia isn't even 7th
here's a 2004 IIHF world ranking
1 CAN
2 SWE
3 SVK
4 CZE
5 FIN
6 USA
7 RUS
8 GER

go slovakia go!!!

I'm not sure how they came up with these rankings, but they don't really make much sense. To say that Slovakia is better than the Czech's, Finns, Americans and Russians is rediculous

 

[Rob]

Its not the big 7 yet, as good as slovakia is, they don't even come close to getting most players in the NHL. Give em 10 years and maybe, but they aren't there yet.

Yes they are. Slovakia won the 2002 World Hockey Championships. International hockey fans now refer to it as the "big 7".

 

[Mountain Dude]

Yes they are. Slovakia won the 2002 World Hockey Championships. International hockey fans now refer to it as the "big 7".

Then how come they're getting tuned so bad?

They won the 2002 Championships because none of the big 6 actually get to dress the rosters they would like to.

 

[MS]

It's big 7. Slovakia can ice a full roster of NHL players, most of them above-average, has won major international tournaments, and has as skilled a top-6 forward group as anyone in the world. They're hurt by sub-par goaltending and a lack of depth on defense, but they're light-years ahead of the Germanys, Switzerlands and Belaruses of the world, who don't have any more than 2-3 NHL players each.

 

[Panopticon]

I think the Czechs and Slovaks have almost the same teams in the WC as they had in the WCh, while others have improved.

The teams who have improved since the WCH the most in my opinion are:

Canada
USA
Russia
Finland

Sweden is a bit as well, but not as much as those 4.

 

[kacz]

I've always considered Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Rep, Slovakia and Germany to be known as the "Elite 8".

All 8 teams deserved a chance to play in this years World Cup.

I also wouldn't mind seeing, there a World Cup 'B' played with the next best teams and seeing the champion of that tournament move up, while last place team in the big tournament goes down

 

[Rob]

Then how come they're getting tuned so bad?

They won the 2002 Championships because none of the big 6 actually get to dress the rosters they would like to.

Slovakia can't dress a full roster either. Like 'MS' said, Slovakia can ice a team with a full NHL roster, except for goaltending but they are both NHL draft picks. Slovakia has been in the semi-finals at the World Championships for the past 4 years. They are also a highly competitive team at the World Juniors and have never been in danger of being relegated.

All teams have had injuries in this tournament but Slovakia has had it really bad. 3 or their top 4 scorers are out. Handzus, Bondra, and Palffy.

It is the "Big 7".

 

[Hasbro]

My idea, instead of sending the German team, how about assemble a Team of non- Big 7 players?

 

[fisby]

Big7 ???
Slovakia - Canada 1-5
Slovakia - USA 1-3
Slovakia - Russia 2-5

 

[Sanderson]

Yeah, big 7. They won three medals in the last five World Championships, only Sweden managed to do that as well (four medals).

Just because you lose some games doesn't mean you are not on the same level. Canada hadn't won anything since 1997 until they won the Olympics, but they still were one of the top nations. Don't counting juniors, because it's a bit different there.


I don't think sending a mixture from different not-top7-nations would work. They never played with each other, they don't have the same mentality and there wouldn't be any kind of national pride. Playing in an "allstar-team" isn't like playing for your country.