2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada

[Drogo]

Hello Canadian hockey fans!

I want to discuss the upcoming World Championship in hockey that will take place in Canada this spring (though not in Toronto). Are you Canadians any interested in this tournament? Do you think more Canadians will be interested since now it's the first time it takes place outside Europe so it will be much closer both geographically and with the time. I would like to hear your opinions about this, and other comments about the tournament or hockey in general are also welcome.

Greetings,
Martin

[LFC4life]

I already got my tickets package for the games in Halifax :)

I also getting tickets to a pre-tournment game in Port Hawksbury when Norway meet Slovenia (hope Kopitar is playing).

I don't want to speak for all but from people around my area don't really follow it due to the NHL play-offs are running at the same time and in this tournment you have to play a number of nations outside the big 6 (or 7 as some would say) so really it starts to gain a bit more interest when Canada gets into about the QF part and has a chance to win.

I will be interested to see what Canadian players come because a lot of the time the best players avaible are simply burnt out from a long season and don't want to travel across the pond to play but now with it in Canada maybe a few of them would be willing to play since it is in Canada.

[Drogo]

Yes, hopefully we will se many good players in the tournament, since all the best players of the world of alla nations will have a short travel. And I think it will be much more fun to beat Canada on home ground :cool:

[LFC4life]

I can't wait to see some of the nations like Lativa, Norway, Slovenia and others play on the small ice surface because I am sure most of their players who play in Europe have not played on such sall ice surfaces.

[Drogo]

Shouldn't the games be played with international measurements?

[LFC4life]

Shouldn't the games be played with international measurements?

They never had before when the juniors were held in Halifax and Sydney so my assumption is that it will be the same for the World Hockey Championship.

[91TFC]

Shouldn't the games be played with international measurements?

It's going to probably be played on a small ice surface. It always depends who is hosting the competition. Olympics in 2002 Salt Lake, Utah, USA used a small ice surface. Olympics in 2006 Torino, Italy, used a large ice surface (I believe).

[devioustrevor]

It's an absolute joke it's taken 100 years for Hockey to come home.

I know they didn't want to step on the NHL's toes, but cities like Halifax, Quebec, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Regina (among others) are places where the tournament would be an absolute success without stepping on NHL toes.

Hell, I think there could be absolute magic holding a Gold Medal game in a legendary old arena like Maple Leaf Gardens. Is the Montreal Forum still standing and usable for hockey?

With this being the first World Championship ever played on Canadian soil I would expect every single Canadian that was available (-ie- out of the playoffs) to be available. If that happens the rest of the World might as well not even show up, if a distinctly underwhelming squad like last year's can win it, then the best talent available, and on home ice, would be a monster to deal with. It'll be funny trying to watch European defencemen try to stop guys like Rick Nash and Daniel Horton go towards the net with the puck.

[Drogo]

It's an absolute joke it's taken 100 years for Hockey to come home.

I know they didn't want to step on the NHL's toes, but cities like Halifax, Quebec, Hamilton, London, Kitchener, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Regina (among others) are places where the tournament would be an absolute success without stepping on NHL toes.

Hell, I think there could be absolute magic holding a Gold Medal game in a legendary old arena like Maple Leaf Gardens. Is the Montreal Forum still standing and usable for hockey?

With this being the first World Championship ever played on Canadian soil I would expect every single Canadian that was available (-ie- out of the playoffs) to be available. If that happens the rest of the World might as well not even show up, if a distinctly underwhelming squad like last year's can win it, then the best talent available, and on home ice, would be a monster to deal with. It'll be funny trying to watch European defencemen try to stop guys like Rick Nash and Daniel Horton go towards the net with the puck.

No problemo, Canada usually gets a good beating in tournamnets. Wasn't it Switzerland at the last olympics:D

[devioustrevor]

...and I remember a bunch of Swedes last year going on about Sweden had supplanted Canada in World Hockey's pecking order and how they were going to wipe the floor with Canada at last year's World Championships (though admittedly the Slovaks were worse with their boasts) and our team of mostly duffers won every single game and started throttling teams when the games counted most.

[Drogo]

Your squad had only NHL-players, while Sweden had only 1, and most other nations had few or no NHL-players as well.

[jpg75]

Your squad had only NHL-players, while Sweden had only 1, and most other nations had few or no NHL-players as well.

And your point is what exactly? It's the World Championships, it's a second tier tournament that no one takes seriously. Trash talking for this tournament is a waste of time....and we're not going to apologize for having more depth than other nations.

[jpg75]

No problemo, Canada usually gets a good beating in tournamnets. Wasn't it Switzerland at the last olympics:D

This usually shuts Swedes up - Belarus :p

[LFC4life]

...and I remember a bunch of Swedes last year going on about Sweden had supplanted Canada in World Hockey's pecking order and how they were going to wipe the floor with Canada at last year's World Championships (though admittedly the Slovaks were worse with their boasts) and our team of mostly duffers won every single game and started throttling teams when the games counted most.

Every time I think of the Slovak in this tournament I remember Rob Niedermayer goal where he tripped the goalie behind the net and scored and how mad the fans were (rightly so) and the camera showed after the game all the them crying.

I never thought people took it that serious.

[devioustrevor]

I could be wrong, but I think Hockey is the only sport that Slovakia has ever won a World Championship in.

The two nations of the former Czechoslovakia take their hockey almost as seriously as us Canadians.

[LFC4life]

I was not referring to the sport of hockey it-self, I meant the tournment.

[devioustrevor]

Well it is the World Championship and being in Europe they have had it on their doorstep for the past century. It's always been held at the same time as the NHL playoffs, so it has always been almost an afterthought in the general hockey consciousness here. In Europe there are a number of small nations each with their own league, I don't think they have anything near the scope of the NHL playoffs to contend for attention with the World Championships.

But perhaps I could be wrong, perhaps our Swedish friend who started the thread could chime in on this.

[Drogo]

Well, the World Championship isn't really huge at all in Sweden either, mostly because it is held every year and without the best players, as we know. In Sweden the World Championships however does not collide with the play-offs, since they end already in April.

[LFC4life]

I think we can agree for a lot of people they only take it serious when their nation wins :D

[91TFC]

It looks like we won't have to deal with AO.