IIHF World Hockey Championships

The IIHF rips guys like Crosby who don't go to the Worlds. What a load of shit.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/international/article/811614--hockey-federation-takes-shot-at-sidney-crosby-for-skipping-worlds

 

It's a consolation tournament for the NHLers whose teams didn't make the playoffs and who still want to keep playing. It's also a good developmental tourney for guys like Eberle and Duchene.

I don't know, I get more excited about the Spengler Cup than the WHC

And I think players should just bow out by saying they have an "upper body injury". End of story.

 

It's the IIHF. What do you expect from those clowns. NIce to see that Hockey Canada stood up for Sid.

 

That is a piece of garbage. No other way to describe that. Typical IIHF, though, unfortunately.

 

There's no reason to have an annual world championship, especially not one that coincides with the world's top league's playoffs. Then again, there's no reason for the NHL season to extend into June, or for teams to play six months to eliminate fewer than half of the teams.

 

As much as we in North America rag on it, the WHC is the European Stanley Cup. It's not that there's no reason to have the tourney, it's that probably Canada or the US shouldn't field teams.

And the NHL plays six months, the same as the NBA or MLB. It's called the regular season.

Half the teams (minus one) don't make the playoffs. What's wrong with that?

 

There's no reason to have the tournament in the same year the Winter Olympics are held, whether or not Canada and the U.S. choose to participate, other than it's a cash grab for the IIHF.

 

Just for shits and giggles, Hockey Canada should announce that the winner of this tournament, if not Canada, will be considered the second-tier world champion of 2010.

 

Mr F,

In Canada and the U.S. it's not the third most important tournament (in the grand scheme of things). It might be the fourth, after world juniors, which is getting more traction in the hard hockey culture there. I suspect over the long run the WC might end up fifth in the U.S., with the Memorial Cup gaining some interest if/when more U.S.-based teams are incorporated into the respective junior loops. Personally, I'd be more interested in the Quebec peewee tournament than the WC, no offence to the guys contesting it.

o-<

 

If someone doesn't want to watch or doesn't put much stock in it, that's their loss. It's still the World Championships. Whether they should have one in an Olympic year is another issue for another post. At least now we see what the Olympics could look like in 2014.

At least Russia sent its top guys: Ovechkin, Semin, Malkin, Gonchar, etc. They deserve to win.

To Sea Bass, Messier was the one responsible for putting together the team, just like Yzerman was at the Olympics. Obviously, he didn't do a very good job of recruiting. So, yeah, I blame him just as much.