Some Random Thoughts from a Canadian at the WJC

[Firewagon]

We are in Sweden's equivalent of Huntsville.
Sweden always seems to host the tourney in two remote towns/cities.

Attendance at Finland v. Czech tonight: 300.
Number of Canadians at the game: 100.
Capacity of the rink: 7-9G

The Sweden v. Russia semi did not sell out.
There were about 20 Russians there.

We've seen one Slovak family, and about 20 Czechs.

The Czechs were planning to drive straight home after the 5v6 game tonight.
It took them more than 24 hours to drive here for the tournament.

Tomorrow's final will be Russia's forwards against Canada's D and Price.
Canada's forwards don't seem to trust each other. Extremely hesitant.
The Russian forwards are flying, but their defense is suspect.

Mikko Lehtonen looked big, fast and showed great hands all tournament long.

Frolik scored a hat trick tonight. For some reason, the Czech team was playing him every other shift for the first two periods.

Backstrom wasn't with Bergfors for most of the tourney.
IMO, when they are together, they are both more effective.
They finally got some significant even strength time together in the semi, but not PP. Backstrom's wingers don't use Backstrom. It's pretty frustrating to watch.

Hjalmarson (sp?) looked good on the Swedish D, despite one gaff in the US game.

Some rumours here that the bottom 2 (Germany and Belarus) will actually get to stay in the WJC, and the format will be expanded to 12 teams for Czech next year. It was disappointing that the Slovaks otherwise wouldn't qualify for the Czech tourney. Denmark and Kazhakstan are standing to be promoted. IMO, 12 teams would provide for too many lopsided games.

Thank you Sweden for being gracious hosts. We've had a great time.

Things are pretty expensive in Sweden.
A 1.5 L pop is about C$5.

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[EbencoyE]

I hope you weren't expecting very big attendance. Junior hockey is not of very much importance in the eyes of European hockey fans. Infact, Canada is probably the only country that puts so much importance on it which might explain why they produce such great junior talent.

Canadian talent seems to be rushed into the spotlight whereas Europeans I think allow themselves to develop over many years. (Though Russia would be an exception here as well. Which probably also explains why Russia is a traditionally good team at the WJCs)

I believe attendances for the U-18 tournament averaged about 200-300 last year. (Which was held in Angelholm, Halmstad) So poor attendance for the WJC was to be expected. Actually attendance is probably alot better than it should be. Sweden did an excellent job of marketing it though so it generated some additional interest than it normally would have.

Hope you are enjoying yourself though. I would love to be there. (I would also love to just be able to watch it on TV... but meh...) Have fun watching some more hockey.

 

[Jazz]

I hope you weren't expecting very big attendance. Junior hockey is not of very much importance in the eyes of European hockey fans. Infact, Canada is probably the only country that puts so much importance on it which might explain why they produce such great junior talent.

That is correct - Age restricted events do not draw well in Europe for most sports.

There is a reason why the IIHF awards Canada the U20s every 3rd year - Canada is the only place that really cares about the event (and hence $$$ for the IIHF).

That is why, any talk of pulling the pros out of the Olympics and making it some sort of U23/U22 event will simply kill Olypmic hockey. It will only get marginally more support than the current U20s do worldwide (except Canada - and they are not going to give Canada every 3rd Olypmics ...)

To the thread starter - I'm glad you enjoyed your time there. I went to every game last year here in Vancouver, but would love to try it outside Canada one year.

 

[lilooet*]

We are in Sweden's equivalent of Huntsville.
Sweden always seems to host the tourney in two remote towns/cities.

Attendance at Finland v. Czech tonight: 300.
Number of Canadians at the game: 100.
Capacity of the rink: 7-9G

The Sweden v. Russia semi did not sell out.
There were about 20 Russians there.

We've seen one Slovak family, and about 20 Czechs.

The Czechs were planning to drive straight home after the 5v6 game tonight.
It took them more than 24 hours to drive here for the tournament.

Tomorrow's final will be Russia's forwards against Canada's D and Price.
Canada's forwards don't seem to trust each other. Extremely hesitant.
The Russian forwards are flying, but their defense is suspect.

Mikko Lehtonen looked big, fast and showed great hands all tournament long.

Frolik scored a hat trick tonight. For some reason, the Czech team was playing him every other shift for the first two periods.

Backstrom wasn't with Bergfors for most of the tourney.
IMO, when they are together, they are both more effective.
They finally got some significant even strength time together in the semi, but not PP. Backstrom's wingers don't use Backstrom. It's pretty frustrating to watch.

Hjalmarson (sp?) looked good on the Swedish D, despite one gaff in the US game.

Some rumours here that the bottom 2 (Germany and Belarus) will actually get to stay in the WJC, and the format will be expanded to 12 teams for Czech next year. It was disappointing that the Slovaks otherwise wouldn't qualify for the Czech tourney. Denmark and Kazhakstan are standing to be promoted. IMO, 12 teams would provide for too many lopsided games.

Thank you Sweden for being gracious hosts. We've had a great time.

Things are pretty expensive in Sweden.
A 1.5 L pop is about C$5.

thanks for the post. Hope you've had/are having a wonderful time. I'd kill to be in your shoes this week.

 

[Hackett]

I hope you weren't expecting very big attendance. Junior hockey is not of very much importance in the eyes of European hockey fans. Infact, Canada is probably the only country that puts so much importance on it which might explain why they produce such great junior talent.

Canadian talent seems to be rushed into the spotlight whereas Europeans I think allow themselves to develop over many years. (Though Russia would be an exception here as well. Which probably also explains why Russia is a traditionally good team at the WJCs)

I believe attendances for the U-18 tournament averaged about 200-300 last year. (Which was held in Angelholm, Halmstad) So poor attendance for the WJC was to be expected. Actually attendance is probably alot better than it should be. Sweden did an excellent job of marketing it though so it generated some additional interest than it normally would have.

Hope you are enjoying yourself though. I would love to be there. (I would also love to just be able to watch it on TV... but meh...) Have fun watching some more hockey.

Pierre McGuire was saying that this tourney was being held in northern sweden to increase exposure for their new building.

He also went to say that this part of sweden is not into hockey as much as the swedes in the south are.

is this true?

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Pierre McGuire was saying that this tourney was being held in northern sweden to increase exposure for their new building.

He also went to say that this part of sweden is not into hockey as much as the swedes in the south are.

is this true?

If Pierre said it it must be true.

 

[Bloggins]

The attendance had been downright sad at all the games.