Team North America and Team Europe shine in renewed tournament
The World Cup of Hockey took place in Toronto this September for the first time in 12 years. The two-week best-on-best tournament included a preliminary round with eight teams. The top two teams from each group faced off in the semi-finals and the winners of those games then competed in a best-of-three final.
Although these tournaments aren’t as suspenseful nowadays thanks to Team Canada’s domination in the sport, viewers were given the pleasant surprise of seeing the most unlikely team, Team Europe, giving Canada a run for their money in the finals. This was Team Europe’s first and perhaps only shot of winning an international title.
“…the sole purpose of bringing back the World Cup of Hockey was to grow the game internationally…”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman claimed that the sole purpose of bringing back the World Cup of Hockey was to grow the game internationally, and if this was the NHL’s only intention, then the World Cup was definitely a success. However, many critics accused it of just being a money-grab marketing gimmick.
Perhaps the biggest success of the World Cup of Hockey was the creation of Team North America, comprised of players age 23 and under, and Team Europe, comprised of players from European countries that did not qualify for the tournament. This allowed the tournament to be more competitive because it created more talented teams, rather than replacing them with the seventh and eighth ranked countries, Switzerland and Slovakia. The disappointing part is that these two teams have a very uncertain future.
Team North America provided arguably the most entertaining games of the tournament in the preliminary round with their speed, skill, and the way they played the game as though they had nothing to lose. The fan base for North America was incredibly large. Kids and adults were spotted wearing Team North America’s Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews jerseys all over the city of Toronto. It is a shame that they narrowly missed out on facing Team Canada in the semifinal round.
“Team Europe was expected to be the worst team in the tournament.”
Team Europe was expected to be the worst team in the tournament. Instead, they came together and ended up next to Canada in the finals. The tournament was especially successful in growing the fan base overseas. Fans in countries like France or Austria, who have never really had the chance to cheer on their team on an international stage, got to watch Team Europe break all expectations.
The location definitely added to the success of the tournament. There aren’t may hockey markets quite like Toronto, which is home to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Stanley Cup, and one of the NHL’s most profiting franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fans from around the world came to Toronto to see the tournament and the city, which also set up a fan village in the Distillery District that proved to be a huge attraction.
With the next World Cup of Hockey rumoured to be taking place in 2020, there is a lot of work to do if the renewed tournament wants to continue to be successful or even come close to rivalling the Olympics. However, it was a successful tournament in the fact that it grew the fan base, provided some of the most entertaining hockey ever seen, and changed some of the critics minds to get them on board.
Photo courtesy of the Hockey Hall of Fame.