WC: Should Canada stop sending NHLers?

[Jonimaus]

Having a world cup as the only best on best tournament for ice hockey would be a disaster for the sport. I thought Canadians wanted more people to care about "their" sport (you know, so being the best at it actually ment something )? Well, the care for a hockey world cup in europe is close to none.

 

[JackSlater]

Having a world cup as the only best on best tournament for ice hockey would be a disaster for the sport. I thought Canadians wanted more people to care about "their" sport (you know, so being the best at it actually ment something )? Well, the care for a hockey world cup in europe is close to none.

Canadians generally want all players involved in Olympics and the World Cup.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

Having a world cup as the only best on best tournament for ice hockey would be a disaster for the sport. I thought Canadians wanted more people to care about "their" sport (you know, so being the best at it actually ment something )? Well, the care for a hockey world cup in europe is close to none.

I suppose the lack of interest for the the World cup in Europe amongst fans is that they don't need and certainly don't want any more proof that Canada is the best. The olympics on big ice in Europe was European fans last bastion of strength/hope in being able to think Canada was only the best in North America and on the ice they grew up with.With Canada dismantling that fantasy in front of their eyes I can only imagine that more Canadian victories in best on best tournaments is something they would rather not stomach if they can avoid it, hence the lack of interest.

So all this can be looked at two ways depending on who is looking at it.

 

[Jonimaus]

I suppose the lack of interest for the the World cup in Europe amongst fans is that they don't need and certainly don't want any more proof that Canada is the best. The olympics on big ice in Europe was European fans last bastion of strength/hope in being able to think Canada was only the best in North America and on the ice they grew up with.With Canada dismantling that fantasy in front of their eyes I can only imagine that more Canadian victories in best on best tournaments is something they would rather not stomach if they can avoid it, hence the lack of interest.

So all this can be looked at two ways depending on who is looking at it.

Wait what? Do you honestly think, that European fans unite against Canada? Swedish fans couldn't care less who wins if it's not Sweden. The olympic finals itself got little attention because of our injured team, so we (the people, not the players) didn't really think we would win, and thus didn't really care about it either. People couldn't care less about the hockey world cup because almost no one knows what it is. If they keep playing the world cup of hockey, in 8 years it might be popular, who knows.

It's not europe against canada, it's every country for themselves.

But again, the main reason: Out of the 6 really relevant countries, only Canada and Finland has it as their most popular sport. If Sweden would have high medal chance in world championship, but for whatever reason had terrible chances in the olympic best on best, the WHC would get higher ratings in Sweden. Football is the only sport that Swedes will watch regardless of anything, Handball and Hockey are the 2 that we'll watch when we're good, we've just always been pretty good at hockey.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

Wait what? Do you honestly think, that European fans unite against Canada? Swedish fans couldn't care less who wins if it's not Sweden. The olympic finals itself got little attention because of our injured team, so we (the people, not the players) didn't really think we would win, and thus didn't really care about it either. People couldn't care less about the hockey world cup because almost no one knows what it is. If they keep playing the world cup of hockey, in 8 years it might be popular, who knows.

It's not europe against canada, it's every country for themselves.

But again, the main reason: Out of the 6 really relevant countries, only Canada and Finland has it as their most popular sport. If Sweden would have high medal chance in world championship, but for whatever reason had terrible chances in the olympic best on best, the WHC would get higher ratings in Sweden. Football is the only sport that Swedes will watch regardless of anything, Handball and Hockey are the 2 that we'll watch when we're good, we've just always been pretty good at hockey.

Do you actually believe they don't care if Canada wins?

One look around here at fans on this site should convince you otherwise.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

Do you actually believe they don't care if Canada wins?

One look around here at fans on this site should convince you otherwise.

No more so than any other country.

Having a world cup as the only best on best tournament for ice hockey would be a disaster for the sport. I thought Canadians wanted more people to care about "their" sport (you know, so being the best at it actually ment something )? Well, the care for a hockey world cup in europe is close to none.

You thought wrong. Being the best at it means a lot for Canada because it's Canada's #1 sport...the winning itself is sufficient. The amount of interest that, say, the Swedes have in hockey doesn't affect how Canadian's feel about Team Canada's results.

Are the Swedes' feelings about handball impacted by the fact that most people in North America probably think it's an elementary school game played at recess with a tennis ball against a brick wall?

 

[The Bad Guy*]

No more so than any other country.

I would strongly disagree with that based on comments I see all the time around here and on polls here in the international section when it is asked who fans most want to beat.

For a team based so far away from the European countries and with no natural historical animosity Canada sure does come up as the team they most want to beat the most a lot.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

No more so than any other country.



You thought wrong. Being the best at it means a lot for Canada because it's Canada's #1 sport...the winning itself is sufficient. The amount of interest that, say, the Swedes have in hockey doesn't affect how Canadian's feel about Team Canada's results.

Are the Swedes' feelings about handball impacted by the fact that most people in North America probably think it's an elementary school game played at recess with a tennis ball against a brick wall?

This I totally agree with.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

I would strongly disagree with that based on comments I see all the time around here and on polls here in the international section when it is asked who fans most want to beat.

For a team based so far away from the European countries and with no natural historical animosity Canada sure does come up as the team they most want to beat the most a lot.

Well you have a sample problem extending what people say on a board like this to a population of hockey fans...but even if we're the team they want to beat the most, that doesn't mean they necessarily care if we win. I might say I want Canada to beat the US or Russia the most...but that doesn't mean I care all that much if either team wins a tournament...obviously if we lose because they win I care...but that's more about Canada losing than any particular team winning.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

Well you have a sample problem extending what people say on a board like this to a population of hockey fans...but even if we're the team they want to beat the most, that doesn't mean they necessarily care if we win. I might say I want Canada to beat the US or Russia the most...but that doesn't mean I care all that much if either team wins a tournament...obviously if we lose because they win I care...but that's more about Canada losing than any particular team winning.

Yeah, could be.

I still think fans tend to hate losing to some teams more then others, it is just human nature in fans to hate particular teams for whatever reasons.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

Yeah, could be.

I still think fans tend to hate losing to some teams more then others, it is just human nature in fans to hate particular teams for whatever reasons.

Yeah, that's true. It's hard to say...particularly because Canada has done well at the Olympics recently

Thinking about WJC...which is a tournament that Canada has been bad at recently, I haven't taken too much annoyance about the country itself that Canada lost to...and they've been eliminated by US/Russia...I've been annoyed, but there's wasn't much 'bite' to it. LOL, and in Ufa I was pulling for the US to win after we lost to them. That's obviously a more minor tournament.

...honestly, I think there are two things going on (1) is that b/c these tournaments are so far apart (even WC - which isn't a major event for Canada) and involve changing casts, you don't build up a ton of hatred; and (2) more to the point, at least for North Americans, the NHL is the main point of competition (where the teams aren't national-based) so the national tournaments - even the Olympics - end up as an after thought.

...even with the Olympics - it's fun for 2 wks (and god knows i want the NHL to be going there) - but the heat of national pride/battle is quickly forgotten as people go back to cheering for their NHL teams.

 

[McPuritania]

Do you actually believe they don't care if Canada wins?

One look around here at fans on this site should convince you otherwise.

More euro fans are elated when Canada loses than when their own team wins. At least that's the way it seems here. It's impressive how happy euro fans get when we lose.

 

[mattihp]

More euro fans are elated when Canada loses than when their own team wins. At least that's the way it seems here. It's impressive how happy euro fans get when we lose.

That's a big load of Chicago Bull... Rodman style.

 

[JackSlater]

Yeah, could be.

I still think fans tend to hate losing to some teams more then others, it is just human nature in fans to hate particular teams for whatever reasons.

I think there is a significant difference between the typical poster here and the typical fan from that country. For example, I have little doubt that most Russian posters on this website prefer seeing Canada lose than any other country. I have also read numerous times from Russian posters that the Canadian hockey team is generally well regarded in Russia, and that the relationship is viewed mostly as a friendly rival.

 

[Jonimaus]

I would strongly disagree with that based on comments I see all the time around here and on polls here in the international section when it is asked who fans most want to beat.

For a team based so far away from the European countries and with no natural historical animosity Canada sure does come up as the team they most want to beat the most a lot.

This forum is not the norm for people in Europe. The polar opposit actually. We're the hardcore "european fans" who stays up at night to watch NHL. We're the fans who actually knows what the players names are. You go to the average European hockey fan and many of them will have no clue who Crosby is.

Most of my casual friends often cheer for canada because "they are pretty good right?".

Are the Swedes' feelings about handball impacted by the fact that most people in North America probably think it's an elementary school game played at recess with a tennis ball against a brick wall?

Considering Handballs international competeition is as great, or greater than hockey (meaning more relevant countries, it's very popular in many european countries), it's not a fair comparison. But if we were one of maybe 2 countries only good, it'd be like floorball, where even though we usually dominate and crush every country except maybe Finland it's still not a sport that gets note-worthy attention.

The "dislike" for Canada on this forum is 99,9999999% because you are like what, 85% of this forum? If Russia had majority it'd be them people were mostly against, or Sweden if we had it etc. You get the idea. But what you need to understand, this forum is not real life, the 30 swedes you got posting on this forum does not represent the other 9 million.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

I think there is a significant difference between the typical poster here and the typical fan from that country. For example, I have little doubt that most Russian posters on this website prefer seeing Canada lose than any other country. I have also read numerous times from Russian posters that the Canadian hockey team is generally well regarded in Russia, and that the relationship is viewed mostly as a friendly rival.

Yeah, I was referring to hard core fans not casual ones.


To casual fans they don't normally have any hardcore hate towards another team unless there is a political/historical motivation for it.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

That's a big load of Chicago Bull... Rodman style.

Again, I think what he is talking about are hardcore fans and I would certainly agree with him, at least around these parts it seems to hold water.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

This forum is not the norm for people in Europe. The polar opposit actually. We're the hardcore "european fans" who stays up at night to watch NHL. We're the fans who actually knows what the players names are. You go to the average European hockey fan and many of them will have no clue who Crosby is.

Most of my casual friends often cheer for canada because "they are pretty good right?".



Considering Handballs international competeition is as great, or greater than hockey (meaning more relevant countries, it's very popular in many european countries), it's not a fair comparison. But if we were one of maybe 2 countries only good, it'd be like floorball, where even though we usually dominate and crush every country except maybe Finland it's still not a sport that gets note-worthy attention.

The "dislike" for Canada on this forum is 99,9999999% because you are like what, 85% of this forum? If Russia had majority it'd be them people were mostly against, or Sweden if we had it etc. You get the idea. But what you need to understand, this forum is not real life, the 30 swedes you got posting on this forum does not represent the other 9 million.

I agree this forum is not the norm for people in europe, but I think this forum would be the norm for hardcore hockey fans in europe.

 

[Jonimaus]

I agree this forum is not the norm for people in europe, but I think this forum would be the norm for hardcore hockey fans in europe.

Well, if we take Sweden as an example, most "hardcore fans" does not really care about the national team too much, nor do they follow NHL. So it would have been better to phrase it hardcore NHL fans.

The only time I can remember Swedish hockey fans being united against Canada was after one of the junior tournaments some years ago.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

Well, if we take Sweden as an example, most "hardcore fans" does not really care about the national team too much, nor do they follow NHL. So it would have been better to phrase it hardcore NHL fans.

The only time I can remember Swedish hockey fans being united against Canada was after one of the junior tournaments some years ago.

What junior tournament would that be?

 

[Jonimaus]

What junior tournament would that be?

The one where Canadians thought Markström was diving but you won't find a single swede to agree with you. It divided us for a while.

 

[The Bad Guy*]

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[McPuritania]

That's a big load of Chicago Bull... Rodman style.

Again, I think what he is talking about are hardcore fans and I would certainly agree with him, at least around these parts it seems to hold water.

Yep.

More euro fans are elated when Canada loses than when their own team wins. At least that's the way it seems here. It's impressive how happy euro fans get when we lose.