IIHF World Championships

[SteveF]

Re: IIHF World Championships

you can tell no one cares about a tournament when finland wins

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Suomi!!!!

What are you doing in Houghton? Interviewing for an assistant coach position?

[joecct]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Suomi!!!!

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

why would they?

Exactly. It's a yearly tournament that means very little, except for maybe being one of the requirements for the Triple Gold Club (which means somewhat little). It's during the NHL playoffs so most countries don't have their best players. It's nearly always in Europe (2008 was in Canada. Quick name the last time it was not in Europe before that? Yes it was 1962! Good answer!) so nobody in North America cares. And of course, it's under IIHF rules, which in the Olympics with the best players is awesome, but at the WC's with a bunch of scrubs it sucks.

Now if the IIHF had some sense and made the World Championships an every 4 years tournament in between Olympics (effectively replacing the World Cup) and had the sense to work with the NHL and Hockey Canada and USA Hockey to make this thing a big deal. But the IIHF and the NHL don't get along too greatly and the Euro countries that control the IIHF really don't like the NHL, Hockey Canada, nor USA Hockey. So yeah that ain't happening. Also, the TV money apparently is a big deal to the IIHF so that's why they won't stop playing it yearly (even during Olympic years).

Now if USA Hockey wanted to bid the problem with the Marriucci/Ralph is that they're different sized rinks, they got no problem going to North American rinks (the WJCs and the 2008 WCs showed that) it's just one venue having a bigger rink than the other creates problems. What about the Kohl Center and the Marriucci? International sized rinks, both 10k+ capacity, both good hockey markets, both near Canada, more importantly both available. That would work.

[AFHockeyFan]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Represent your country, which, back in the day, used to be a big thing.

Now for a different tack.....

Should USA Hockey put a bid to host the WC and use the Ralph and Mariucci as the host sites with the semis and finals at the Ralph?

I would go, even if I had to stay in the Motel 6 in Fargo. I don't care that we suck every year by sending our wanna be's and has beens. I just love the idea of international hockey tournaments and can't wait every four years for the Olympics. I just hate that there is so much bad blood between the IIHF and USA Hockey, to the point that USA Hockey basically blows off the tournament every year and treats it as a series of scrimmages.

Maybe its just jealousy over the IIHF not being able to sell their sport in the most lucrative market, and the fact that they just can't (or won't) compete with the NHL Playoffs. Every write-up on the IIHF website takes a poke at the US in some fashion (maybe the Swiss are still bitter about us pointing out how much Nazi-confiscated Jewish money they still hold or how they treated interned US airmen during WWII!). And this whole "Triple Gold" thing is a joke. There are only two significant trophies in an international hockey player's career--Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup. Most of them don't seem to care too much, or seem to be trying too hard for a World Championship goldl, unless they're 39 years old and don't have a contract for next season.

But if I was running the US bid, I'd put the four groups in Minny (minimum two Scandinavian teams), Detroit, Philly and Boston, qualifying rounds in New York and Chicago and the quarters, semis and championship in DC. Relegation group would be played in Fort Wayne or Sheboygan. But we'll have to wait until at least 2017, with Finland/Sweden, Belarus and the Czechs hosting the next three, and the US not even bidding on 2016.
But there's always hope. In the end, that was about all this year's team had.

[joecct]

Re: IIHF World Championships

why would they?

Represent your country, which, back in the day, used to be a big thing.

Now for a different tack.....

Should USA Hockey put a bid to host the WC and use the Ralph and Mariucci as the host sites with the semis and finals at the Ralph?

[SteveF]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Wonderous part of the World Championships, nobody wants to play.

why would they?

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

It's a shame we couldn't get Quick or Miller to sign up for this thing. Even a drunk Jeff Frazee might not suck as much.

Wonderous part of the World Championships, nobody wants to play.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

You mean he had not payed his $30 to U$AHockey???

Unlike college football players, college hockey players don't get paid until they leave school without getting jobs.

[joecct]

If I remember, Miele wasn't allowed to play the first three games.
It had something to do with not being registered.

You mean he had not payed his $30 to U$AHockey???

[First Time, Long Time]

Between him and Blake Wheeler playing keep away with his own linemates, it was easy to see why they lost. In positives Miele's play is making Scott Gordon look like a bigger idiot for scratching him.

If I remember, Miele wasn't allowed to play the first three games.
It had something to do with not being registered.

[Kepler]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Had no idea that one of the sites was Kosice. That's right down the road from the jerkwater town the Slovak side of my family spent ten generations in. It's essentially the Wisconsin of Central Europe: healthy cows, strong alcohol, and stout women.

[collegehcky2]

Well, that and he's a 35 year old who has never held down a starting job.

Between him and Blake Wheeler playing keep away with his own linemates, it was easy to see why they lost. In positives Miele's play is making Scott Gordon look like a bigger idiot for scratching him.

[bronconick]

Re: IIHF World Championships

He's a better goalie that a lot of people think he is. However, 2006 will always, always hang over his head.

Well, that and he's a 35 year old who has never held down a starting job.

[cF[Authentic]]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Conklin picks up where he left off in the shootout, giving up four in a period and a half. And we're back to Montoysieve. US down 4-2 to Canada's JV.
With a decent backstop, this team might have had a shot at a medal. But maybe Ryan Miller was just too tired.

Miele is having a great tournament. Wonder why he didn't play the first three games.

It's a shame we couldn't get Quick or Miller to sign up for this thing. Even a drunk Jeff Frazee might not suck as much.