They gave us "The best hockey country with population of only 5 million which about 80% don`t care about hockey" trophy.
That's a pretty weird trophy.
I wouldn`t be against it.
As for the thread question:
Most of European teams don`t do too well in this tournament. Only Russia and Sweden have a chance to medal unless something weird happens. There`s no reason for other countries to get excited over this tournament.
So you only watch sports where your nation wins? I watch basketball, and the only team based in Canada is horrible. I watch NFL, and there are almost no Canadians involved. Sometimes it's just about a love for the game.
This. Besides, junior sports are not a big deal in Europe. We don't have anything that compares to the NCAA system or the CHL in Canada.
Personally I've always found it a bit odd how people get so aggravated and hyped up over a tournament which basically involves kids.
18 and 19 year old men are not kids. Don't make it weird. We just like hockey, no matter who is playing.
We acknowledge Canada as centre of universe, we awe your perfection in every aspect as a nation.
Your lack of maturity astounds me. I hope you are 14 years old. If you are full-grown...just wow.
Bigger mystery is why Canadians like this tournament so much. Could it actually be because their team is successful in it
?
TSN has done a great job of marketing the tournament to the average fan. Guys like me have watched it from the beginning, but now it is a holiday tradition in Canada. Casual fans even get caught up in it. There is a lot of hype surrounding it, and it will continue to be watched, even if we do poorly (which will never happen again, because a lot of money and time goes into building these teams now). Back in the day, there was a smaller staff of scouts assembled and the team was quietly picked. Because of Canada's wealth of players, choices were often political (you have to take a French-speaking goalie and two d-men from the WHL, etc). Now, every pick is scrutinized. This is both bad and good, but it does usually mean the best players get to play.
First of all it's Sweden, not Sweeden.
Maybe the best way to make it more popular is to host it there more? Hard to blame anyone for not caring when the games are on in the middle of the night.
True, but I will say that when the games are held in Europe, one of my favorite things to do on a cold winter night is to get up at 4:00am in the morning, brew a pot of coffee, and enjoy a world junior game. No kidding, many of my Christmas holiday memories stem from this. It is something I have loved doing since I was very young, and is a tradition. A part of me wishes I could do it more often.
I think the main reason this is not bigger in Europe is because most of these players will never play in "our" league. For people in Canada and the US most of these players have just been or will be drafted. That is what makes it fun to watch these games for fans of these teams. Its a chance to watch prospects before they arrive at their NHL teams.
But why would a Swedish hockey fan that only follows Swedish hockey watch a match between Russia and Czech Republic? If you're not very interested in hockey its a just a match with a bunch of players you've never heard of. Ofcourse there's people in Europe that follow the NHL intensively but these are in the minority compared to the ones following the national leagues.
In short, I don't think its possible to create the same amount of interest in Europe as their is in Canada (when its not the home-nation playing).
This is possibly the best answer I have heard yet, and one I had not considered. Admittedly, I am pretty NHL-centered. I also have to admit that it is probably why I am not too interested in the Spengler Cup, which is on TV and held at the same time as the world juniors, but largely ignored by Canadian viewers like myself. I'll watch it if there is nothing else to do, but I don't make it a priority, let's put it that way.
Don't you get Finland is pretty unlikely to win any kind of competition. Still we watch. Unlike North Americans we don't only watch games where we'll win most of the time.
This is true, although I respect Finland a lot (my ancestors were Finns). They normally have iced great hockey teams at many different levels, and were really the first to play a North American style of hockey that I love so much.