Jump to content

2016 World Juniors Discussion Thread


dlbalr

Recommended Posts

There's a reason the tournament is hosted by canada, more than any other country. No one else dumb enough to be major league rates to see kids play. Hell, even quebecers balked at being the high ticket prices when it was in Montreal.

Could be...but I'm not saying other countries don't care about hockey, just about this tournament specifically. And hey, I'm not the only person to remark that Canada cares vastly more about this tourney than any other country, courtesy of TSN's decades-long promotion of it (and good for them for taking a non-entity and turning it into a big property in the domestic market). If that's changing, then that's a good thing, but the imbalance has long made me feel like we're trapped in the Tragically Hip song, 'Poets:'

Aiming at the archetypal father

Who says in such broad and tentative swipes,

'Why do you ever bother?'

OK, off for a lie-down now. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

There's a reason the tournament is hosted by canada, more than any other country. No one else dumb enough to be major league rates to see kids play. Hell, even quebecers balked at being the high ticket prices when it was in Montreal.

And they'll get to do so again next year. Ticket prices are already out and I think they're more expensive than last time. Clearly Hockey Canada didn't learn their lesson...or didn't care.

Could be...but I'm not saying other countries don't care about hockey, just about this tournament specifically. And hey, I'm not the only person to remark that Canada cares vastly more about this tourney than any other country, courtesy of TSN's decades-long promotion of it (and good for them for taking a non-entity and turning it into a big property in the domestic market). If that's changing, then that's a good thing, but the imbalance has long made me feel like we're trapped in the Tragically Hip song, 'Poets:'

The early TV ratings in Finland have been pretty good for the tournament.

Finland - Belarus: 1,389,000 unique viewers

Czechs - Russia: 666,000

Canada - USA: 613,000

That's not TSN numbers by any stretch but not half bad either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And they'll get to do so again next year. Ticket prices are already out and I think they're more expensive than last time. Clearly Hockey Canada didn't learn their lesson...or didn't care.

The early TV ratings in Finland have been pretty good for the tournament.

Finland - Belarus: 1,389,000 unique viewers

Czechs - Russia: 666,000

Canada - USA: 613,000

That's not TSN numbers by any stretch but not half bad either.

For a population of 5.4M ... that's more 25% of the country tuned into the Belarus game.

They're starved for free hockey coverage, though, both NHL and the Finnish elite league are pay TV only.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boy, Canada is frustrating to watch. Everyone wants to pass and they'd rather look good passing instead of scoring some dirty goals. There are no style points in this tournament. Virtanen has been a big disappointment so far. I know he was scuffling with Vancouver but I expected he'd be much more of an impact player than he has been so far.

Virtanen was a shitty top 10 pick. Guy was barely a ppg with calgary in the whl in his post draft season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Always liked Virtanen since he was rookie in WHL, when he was >ppg, was banging and crashing and was said to be one of, if not the fastest skater in his draft class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are some years where players loaned from the NHL play a huge role for Canada. This was not one of those as Virtanen was lousy once again, especially with two really dumb penalties on the same shift. Fortunately the coach was smart enough to leave him on the bench in the last couple of minutes.

Hicketts had plenty of time to clear that puck but panicked and that pretty much cost them the game as Finland scored on the 5-on-3. Hilariously he was voted one of Canada's top players for the tournament. But of course, those are selected by the coaches and Hicketts could do no wrong in Lowry's eyes.

Blackwood didn't help either. I've seen him way better than this, what a time to have an off game.

All that said, that was quite the entertaining game overall. Finland/Sweden should be a good semi-final on Monday as well. Laine/Puljujarvi are both very promising prospects, they're going early in the draft.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marner with his 2nd ppg... just in 3rd period and now 5-5 in wacky game.

:canada:

Two goals for Marner -- but also four minors. The Finns played well but undisciplined play really cost the Canadian team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a third period in the gold medal game. Started 1-0 Russia, wound up 3-3 with Russia tying it with seven seconds left. Kamenev, Russia's captain, got a misconduct for abuse of official (or something to that effect) after Finland took the lead late, got sent to the room by the refs, but didn't go and stayed on the bench instead. I wonder if there's a penalty for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...