Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
I think you might be thinking of the WHA.
Pretty much every professional league in the world began with players who worked other jobs. If the NHL was a joke in the beginning because of it, so was the English Premier League, the NFL, and Major League Baseball. And everything else.
The Olympics was for amateurs, until it wasn't in 1988. NHL players didn't go to the Olympics as some sort of promotion. They were professionals. They weren't invited, they weren't sent. It just didn't happen. Amateur teams were sent or a national team made up of amateurs was sent.
It would be cool though, in a cruel sort of way, to see footage of Gordie Howe giving it his all against some Italian college boys on an outdoor rink in 1956.
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yeah in 1988 all sporting bodies had to make a choice. Do we sent our pros? Soccer made it under 23. Baseball and Boxing did not at all. Basketball did with the Dream team in 1992. Hockey followed in 1998. Tennis sent their pros right away in 1998.
The NHL just feels it's costing too much. So they have to revisit this every 4 years while the other sports that do send their pros are ok with it.