[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

From that standpoint I would agree, but as it stands now there's probably only 8 countries that can ice a competitive team consistently: Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Switzerland. So 6 teams was a lowball on my part.

I just feel bad for the "throwaway" teams like Belarus, Denmark, Latvia, and Germany who come to the tournament and win 0 games and lose by 5 or 6 goals every games. It can't be much fun for those kids, can it? It's not fun as a fan watching it.

But I guess it's not a huge deal, I don't watch the powerhouse vs underdog games anyways.

I'm sure most of the kids would prefer a story about playing against a bunch of future NHLers in a tournament than winning a gold in a game against Austria.