Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
I'm curious why people think the players will care less about this tournament than about the Olympics. Gretzky, Federov, Sundin, etc. played just as hard at the Canada/World Cups as they did at the Olympics.
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I think it's different now as the Canada Cup was at a time when Russians weren't playing in the NHL and beating them for hockey supremacy was very important to the players and the country. I felt the 1996 World Cup was somewhat exhibition quality myself. 2004 was that lockout year so it's hard to gauge but I generally don't believe this tournament means as much to a lot of the players compared to the NHL, Olympics, or World Championships.