http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr1703.htm WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY 2004 SCHEDULE European Pool (E): Czech Republic (CZE), Finland (FIN), Germany (GER), Sweden (SWE) North American Pool (NA): Canada (CAN), Russia (RUS), Slovakia (SVK), United States (USA) Mon., Aug. 30 Hartwall Arena, Helsinki CZE vs. FIN Tues., Aug. 31 Globe Arena, Stockholm GER vs. SWE Tues., Aug. 31 Bell Centre, Montreal CAN vs. USA Wed., Sept. 1 Globe Arena, Stockholm CZE vs. SWE Wed., Sept. 1 Bell Centre, Montreal CAN vs. SVK Thurs., Sept. 2 Cologne Arena, Cologne FIN vs. GER Thurs., Sept. 2 Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul USA vs. RUS Fri., Sept. 3 Sazka Arena, Prague GER vs. CZE Fri., Sept. 3 Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul USA vs SVK Sat., Sept. 4 Hartwall Arena, Helsinki SWE vs FIN Sat., Sept. 4 Air Canada Centre, Toronto CAN vs. RUS Sun., Sept. 5 Air Canada Centre, Toronto RUS vs SVK Mon., Sept. 6 QUARTERFINAL - Home Arena of E1 E1 vs. E4 Tues., Sept. 7 QUARTERFINAL - Home Arena of E2 E2 vs. E3 Tues., Sept. 7 QUARTERFINAL - Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul NA1 vs. NA4 or NA2 vs. NA3 Wed., Sept. 8 QUARTERFINAL - Air Canada Centre, Toronto NA1 vs. NA4 or NA2 vs. NA3 Fri., Sept. 10 SEMIFINAL - Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul Sat., Sept. 11 SEMIFINAL - Air Canada Centre, Toronto Tues., Sept. 14 CHAMPIONSHIP - Air Canada Centre, Toronto
September 4th, 2004 -- USA v. Russia. The countdown begins... Adam the website says that Team USA will play at least 2 exhibitions before the start of play....pretty early for an exhibition with the Maroon & Gold, of course, but what do you think the odds would be about having one of the exhibitions at Marriucci?
Pretty good, I'd say. They may want to have it at the X though...since almost 10,000 showed up to watch the Gophers spank the Italian junior national team at Mariucci. I'm sure an exhibition against the full US team would draw a huge crowd. I'd imagine local scalpers are licking their chops after hearing about the US vs. Russia game.
St. Paul is perfect as the Stateside venue. No practice at Mariucci, though; this is an NHL-size rink tournament. Yank boys take this tourney seriously. I'm already trying to figure out the line-up. G Boucher, Miller, Dunham, DiPietro? D Who knows? Berard, Poti, maybe guys like Hatcher, Miller and Gill on a smaller sheet. Obviously Rafalski. Is Leopold coming along? Will Leetch play? Suter must surely be done as is Housely who was pure class in SLC. F/C Maybe a reliance on vets here. Modano, Tkachuk, Weight. Drury. Rolston, Conroy, Gomez, York. Roenick, still? Guerin? If he's healthy. Marchant. Should be fun.
J.R.? Hell yes! If this is 1/2 the fun 1996 was, this tournament's been gone too long. A monkey wrench may be thrown into it with the labor situation (CBA expries the day after the final) but we'll worry about that in August 2004.
I'm glad the WC is back, but the St. Paul? Not that they shouldn't get a game, but all of them in US? blah.
Why not? St. Paul has the best arena in the NHL, and more importantly, it is the capital of a state whose people love and know hockey better than any other state in the nation (sorry Mich. and Mass.). I doubt you'll find a more hockey-minded crowd anywhere else in the US. Where else would crowds of 18,000 people fill up an NHL arena every year to watch high school hockey... Tickets will sell out in hours for the WC. Toronto, Montreal, Mpls./St. Paul, Helsinki, Stockholm...some of the world's greatest hockey cities. My guess as to why all of the US games are in St. Paul is that they likely don't want our players to have to travel all over the country in such a short span of time. It wouldn't make sense to have a game in St. Paul on a Thursday and then have to fly to Boston for a game on Friday when you don't have to. And we have to make it through to the quarters before any more US games are played in St. Paul, which might not happen...
I don't disagree with you, Adam. In fact, St. Paul is perfect. It's overdue. It's good to have Minnesota back in the thick of things, at the pro, collegiate and international level. But while Minnesotans may line up to watch high school games, Michigan and Massachusetts tend to produce the elite players. That can't be overlooked. That said, I'm happy to see things in Minny. Just remember that players from New England, New York and Michigan are Americans, too.
Does anyone remember how much media coverage the WC got in 96, because im drawing a blank. The world juniors get no coverage at all and I would hope the same wouldn't happen with the WC. This might be the only hockey we see in 04-05 - enjoy it!
The games (at least the ones in NA) were covered by Fox (who still had the NHL at the time) and what would become Fox Sports Net (the change happened a few months after the WC). I remember it getting covered pretty decently. I would thing the Mouse would be involved in coverage this time. Hopefully SportCenter and the like would take some time out of 55 minutes of NFL coverage per hour to pimp it a little bit.
As a reply to the guy who posted his thoughts on the American lineup, I give you my Canadian list of potentials: G: Brodeur, Giguere, Luongo, Roy, Turco, Theodore, etc. D: Pronger, McCabe, Jovanovski, Bouwmeester (if he progresses into the player everyone thinks he will become), Brewer, Redden, Phillips, Morris, Aucoin, etc F: LeCavalier, Thornton, Kariya, Bertuzzi, Gagne, Smyth, Iginla, Carter, Recchi, Nolan, Murray, Morrison, St. Louis, etc There's a lot of good young talent to choose from, and I think the WC will be a changing of the guard somewhat, as guys like Sakic, Yzerman, Shanahan, Lemieux, et al. give way to the new blood (bolstered by a few vets of course).
DiPietro is overrated. I sincerely hope that Leetch plays so that he and Poti (the best Ranger defensive pairing) can be put together. They would certainly be the best offensive-defense pairing in the tournament.