Not really...how can hockey that has the best players in the world playing each not be the highest level of hockey on the planet? Its quite simple really, when the competition is at its highest, so is the level the game is played at.
I don't really understand your take on the whole single elimination games. Is the FIFA World Cup a joke tournament because it has a similar format? No, it is the most prestigious sporting event on the planet. Or what about the NFL playoffs? If anything, one game elimination is what makes the Olympics so great, every game is magnified, one costly mistake can cost a country the tournament. You need to have your A game going, and you need to put out consistent efforts every game to win the gold, there is no freebies.
I actually agree with him. One game is a poor assessment of one team over another. Sometimes a team doesn't bring their A game or another team does a better job at shutting down another for one game. Heck, sometimes it's literally just luck (a goalie stands on his head for one game, puck luck, etc.). I mean, even the best teams in the NHL can't win 82 games in a row.
But in a seven game series, most aberrations even out. The hot goalie who was amazing one game falters the next. Or sometimes the deflections finally go your way. Or maybe the goalie who had one horrid game one starts to finds his way. Or the calls that were horrid one game are more consistent the next.
It's been quite clear over the years that Europeans come here for the money. Olympic Gold is where it's at. Look at how the Euros step up for Gold compared to the cup. Only Canadians care about Lord Stanley's Buffalo wings take out container. American's would try much harder too if it were all about the Bush Bowl or Lincoln cup. The NHL began marginalized and is working hard to keep it that way.
You know maybe if the Olympic's had a real playoff format instead of the stupid one game finals than it might become to mean more over here. But when a bunch of kids thrown together can go out and win it over established teams then the value of this gold your talking about really makes it feel like a copper cup.
The only thing that i can say was greater than winning the cup was 1972 summit series.Now that is called representing your country in a real playoff format series not the phony 1 game playoff win.
The incredibly short sample size of the Olympics goes against the "team" concept, for me. Just throw 20 guys together, play a few games, and it's over. Where's the journey and dynamics? I can't get emotionally invested in it. I enjoy watching the hockey but I forget about the Olympics results a week after they're over. The outcomes just don't feel significant with so little actual playing.
Totally depends on your nationality. For a Canadian winning the Olympic gold is not as big as winning the cup, because if you're on Team Canada it would be a disappointment not to win. If a Danish player would win gold it would be way bigger than winning the cup.
The Olympic Gold win by the US team in 1980 vs Russia was maybe one of the greatest sports victories in our country's history.
With that being said, a Stanley Cup for the city of Pittsburgh is far bigger for me than an olympic gold medal for the United States. A gold medal would be nice, and I'd be excited to watch the championship game, but championships for Pittsburgh in any sport interest me more than championships for the country at large.
Gold medal. 23 players win the cup every year, only 23 win a gold medal every four. the average NHL player has 15 + years to give the cup a run, whereas only the most elite have perhaps 4 tries at most to win a gold. On top of that you are representing your country in the second most high profile sporting event in the world.
However the general consensus here is probably right, players would choose a Stanley cup. But I'm willing to bet that if you polled those who have achieved both there is a bigger sense of accomplishment and pride that goes along with winning a gold medal than a cup.
Where I come from hockey Canada trumps everything. Everything.
Most people know the pride we take in calling hockey 'our sport', to be able to represent your country and showcase that you are the best in the world gives you something a cup can not. Also, most players good enough to be Olympians are only eligible to be a part of the team 2 times in their careers.
One thing about Marksu Näslunds decision there.
Nobody really cares about him in Sweden expect the fans of Modo.
Why do might ask?
Well because he sucks when playing for team Sweden so he has very little respect here and people laugh when he is compared to real players like Forsberg, Sundin and Lidström.
That really isn't relevant no matter how true it might or might not be.
For european players:
They want to play in the NHL.
They want to win the olympic gold.
Learn the difference.
This thread is rather enlightening actually. Clearly nobody posting in it has ever played in the NHL, but if the sentiment of European fans is anything like the players then the entire concept of "heartless euros" when it comes to the NHL kinda has some merit. My apologies to Don Cherry for thinking he was a total dip**** all these years, maybe he was right?
This thread is rather enlightening actually. Clearly nobody posting in it has ever played in the NHL, but if the sentiment of European fans is anything like the players then the entire concept of "heartless euros" when it comes to the NHL kinda has some merit. My apologies to Don Cherry for thinking he was a total dip**** all these years, maybe he was right?
For me, a Canadian, I would much rather see my team win the Cup over the gold and really not even close to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuhta
Olympic gold is a much bigger thing. Best against the best
I actually wonder how age plays a factor in this because prior to 1998 it wasn't the best against the best at all. So I grew up thinking that the Cup was really the battle between the best in the world (and I realize that's a bit ignorant now as there was plenty of skilled Europeans outside the NHL) while the Olympics was Canada's amateurs vs the USSR's best.
Players will always give the proper media lines about how representing your country is a great honour, and stuff like that. But the reality is, after slugging through an 80+ game schedule then atleast 16 games of playoffs, the travel, the practices, the ups, the downs, the media... I'm willing to bet that the feeling they get when their 24 hours with the Cup comes around surpasses gold in the Olympics, let alone raising the Cup for the first time.
Do any of you remember how ape-**** all of Canada went after we won in 2002? At the very least, most casual hockey fans would take an olympic gold over the cup and I'm sure when the time comes, some of that 2002 pride will start to bubble up again.
It would be excellent for hockey if the US were to win a gold medal, from the NHL's stand-point, unfortunately, I don't see that happening.
Do any of you remember how ape-**** all of Canada went after we won in 2002?
Yeah, it was nothing like a Stanley Cup victory in any of the 6 city's (We'll have to assume how Vancouver and Ottawa would react :p).
In Calgary it was nothing like the Red Mile just 2 years after when they almost won the cup. Or the White Avenue (or whatever it was called) in Edmonton with their recent Cup run. The riots in Vancouver during 1994. The riots in Montreal from well 1994-2009 :p. Could you imagine Toronto if they won? (We'll have to use our imagination :p).
Do any of you remember how ape-**** all of Canada went after we won in 2002? At the very least, most casual hockey fans would take an olympic gold over the cup and I'm sure when the time comes, some of that 2002 pride will start to bubble up again.
It would be excellent for hockey if the US were to win a gold medal, from the NHL's stand-point, unfortunately, I don't see that happening.
Of this there is no doubt. But is this about which is bigger to the players, and are the players anywhere close to just "casual fans"? No one around here can actually comment much on going through the process either way, and which one feels better. I would imagine the strength of the competition during the toughest matches has as much impact on the satisfaction of winning as anything (a player on a true Cinderella Cup winner might rank that higher than beating everyone 5-0 on the way to Olympic gold, for example).
I'll actually doubt that. As I mentioned before, the Red Mile had 60,000 some fans gather together to party (it was estimated that if they won the cup 100,000 would come out, that's a tenth of the city). While obviously being located in the city (well at least for ~half the games) had to do with that, but I think if you found those casual fans who just came out for the party if they could have the 02 Gold (if they still remember we won it) or the 04 Cup I'm sure all would go with the Cup.
I'll guess we (Canadians) can hope to see a celebration in Vancouver come February and really compare but even then the celebrations in Calgary will be but a blip compared to the Red Mile.
If the players have any heart and souls in there bodys, then playing for the national team is the biggest thing you can do… So Gold.
But the NHL (and any other sports that has the best league in USA/Canada, NBA, NFL and so on) has ****** up the national team.
I cannot honestly understand how people in USA/Canada can called themselves patriots and at the same time accept that their own leagues destroy the national teams. Because you cannot get around that NHL for a example has done that.
Look at sports that has the dominated league in Europe and other places in the world, like football / soccer, where all the clubs in the world release the player to national team, when ever they need them. Then the national team has become so much more than it has been in hockey, and that is really sad.
There is no heart and soul in a team that buy a place in a league, but it is heart and soul in a your country and therefore even in your national team. So I cannot understand how you can called yourself patriot and the same time be ok with this.
Why should you in USA/Canada, be so much different to the rest of the world, why should not you release the player in your league to the national team when they need them, when everybody else does it? There is no excuse for that, and you cannot be a patriot and at the same time be ok about this, at least not if you care about the sport.
I'll actually doubt that. As I mentioned before, the Red Mile had 60,000 some fans gather together to party (it was estimated that if they won the cup 100,000 would come out, that's a tenth of the city). While obviously being located in the city (well at least for ~half the games) had to do with that, but I think if you found those casual fans who just came out for the party if they could have the 02 Gold (if they still remember we won it) or the 04 Cup I'm sure all would go with the Cup.
I'll guess we (Canadians) can hope to see a celebration in Vancouver come February and really compare but even then the celebrations in Calgary will be but a blip compared to the Red Mile.
What I really meant to suggest is that it may be easier for non-hockey fans to rally around a national team no matter what the sport. Your point is well taken, but the turnout at those celebrations is probably as much of a commentary on the number of true hockey fans in those areas in particular, and not representative of an entire national population.
I'm not of the opinion that one SHOULD be viewed as more important than the other. Just saying, if we're talking in broad terms, the Olympics may be more important to more people, ESPECIALLY the casual fans. But among the much smaller cross-section that is the players, there may be a lot of pride winning gold for your country, but the length of the grind, the odds and difficulty winning, obstacles overcome, etc probably factor heavily into which one feels "better" winning. No doubt this differs greatly from group to group, year to year as a result.
edit: I understand the pressure to make pride in the national team (seem) more important. I mean, if we're sending people to supposedly fight and die for our countries, any group representing them should be held higher than a bunch of millionaires with cats, ducks, or buffalos on the front of their jerseys fighting over a silver cup, right? (/no sarcasm)
Yeah, it was nothing like a Stanley Cup victory in any of the 6 city's (We'll have to assume how Vancouver and Ottawa would react :p).
In Calgary it was nothing like the Red Mile just 2 years after when they almost won the cup. Or the White Avenue (or whatever it was called) in Edmonton with their recent Cup run. The riots in Vancouver during 1994. The riots in Montreal from well 1994-2009 :p. Could you imagine Toronto if they won? (We'll have to use our imagination :p).
Haha, I respect the shots taken at Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto .
And I also can see where you are coming from when you talk about the Red Mile, but I would also like to see what kind of turn-out there will be in Vancouver. We have never had an Olympics in Canada where we were icing the best team we could at the time, with all the NHL-players to really draw that crazy a crowd.
Either way, everyone will feel differently about this, in my opinion, as a player before and a fan now, I always dreamed of suiting up for Team Canada.
The only thing we do now is wait and see how big the party is in Vancouver (Although, I can assure you, nowhere near as many tops will be lost )
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