Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
I don't begrudge the cash grab because, like you say, everything they do is a cash grab. It's a business and I'm willing to be cash-grabbed all the time and I'm fine with that, but...
This whole thing seems kind of pointless, or maybe frivolous, or something. It just doesn't seem like a serious tournament to anyone. Obviously I could be way off on that because I don't know what the participants are thinking, but that's just the vibe I get from it.
The Olympics are only a year and a half away and that's what (I think) most fans believe really counts.
It's sort of like the World Cup is an exhibition game, and the Olympics are the Stanley Cup Final.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoJetsGo
Like the All-star game?
I'm all for hockey in September. I'll watch for sure.
But this has a much closer feel to the trivial nature of the all-star game than it does the Olympics.
A young team with Canadians playing against Canada... best on best without our country's best players...
I'm sure it's going to be fun, but I can see how a lot of people are likening it to that of the World Championships rather than the actual Olympics.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
Point is, after all this angry rambling, that the World Cup seems lame, because of the Olympics. If there are no NHL players in the Olympics in two years, then a World Cup in 2020 will be a big deal.
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Everyone's entitled to decide for themselves if they're excited, but projecting these feelings onto the players and predicting an All-Star game level of intensity "'cause Olympics" if way off base.
This isn't the first time this type of event has taken place in the era of NHL players going to the Olympics. There was a World Cup in 2004, 2 years after the Salt Lake games and 2 years before Torino. And to judge the level of intensity and care, jump to 1:23:00 of this and watch the last minute of the final game: