Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - The Womens hockey tourney format should be changed.

pylon · 02-14-2010, 03:16 AM

The current womens hockey format is just silly. You have only 3 countries that have a chance to medal. As much as I want Canada to win, watching that Slovakia debacle was kinda tough to watch.

The IOC denied the female ski jumpers the chance to compete siting the fact that there is an imbalance of qualified competitors and they didn't want a watered down, imbalanced result. Is the women's hockey tournament really any different? Even the mens tournament seems to be a 4 maybe 5 horse race, but at least there is somewhat more parity. I think a better format would be to have a 3 division system. Add a ninth team, and based on world rankings you could have a 3 team round robin division format:

You play each team twice, and the top 2 play a final game for their divisions medal.

1-3 for compete for gold. (Canada, Sweden, US)
4-6 for silver
7-9 for bronze

Until there is more parity it just seems to make more sense, and would be way more exciting. If Canada or the US win the silver, it seems to be as bad as finishing last to them anyway, your kinda just the first loser in that scenario. This way you have countries at least have a chance to walk away with something, and you don't see embarrasing blowouts like we saw tonight, and it would be much more exciting to see 4 games against more evenly matched rivals.

I fear if this goes on much longer in the women's division, they will drop the event, which is pretty unfair as well.

02-14-2010, 03:16 AM	#1
pylon Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Jul 2007 Exp:	The Womens hockey tourney format should be changed. The current womens hockey format is just silly. You have only 3 countries that have a chance to medal. As much as I want Canada to win, watching that Slovakia debacle was kinda tough to watch. The IOC denied the female ski jumpers the chance to compete siting the fact that there is an imbalance of qualified competitors and they didn't want a watered down, imbalanced result. Is the women's hockey tournament really any different? Even the mens tournament seems to be a 4 maybe 5 horse race, but at least there is somewhat more parity. I think a better format would be to have a 3 division system. Add a ninth team, and based on world rankings you could have a 3 team round robin division format: You play each team twice, and the top 2 play a final game for their divisions medal. 1-3 for compete for gold. (Canada, Sweden, US) 4-6 for silver 7-9 for bronze Until there is more parity it just seems to make more sense, and would be way more exciting. If Canada or the US win the silver, it seems to be as bad as finishing last to them anyway, your kinda just the first loser in that scenario. This way you have countries at least have a chance to walk away with something, and you don't see embarrasing blowouts like we saw tonight, and it would be much more exciting to see 4 games against more evenly matched rivals. I fear if this goes on much longer in the women's division, they will drop the event, which is pretty unfair as well.