NHL 2016 Cup Bracket - Canadian Free Since '93 - Page 6

On April 28 2016 01:15 mahrgell wrote:
Uhm... not so sure about international tournaments. There are a couple of issues right now with the ones existing.

Half the tourneys lack full rosters, because several leagues (mostly NHL) don't let their players (or at least only a few) play.
This kills any excitement. Like whenever one of the big nations loses, it is just "yeah, they only played with random dudes, all the good ones were at home". And the smaller hockey nations would probably love to see their "stars" to play for the national team amongst their local league players. But that won't happen most of the time.
Then there are like a ton of cups, championships and what not, pretty much like in Starcraft.
I really prefer the very clear cut system of footie. There is a continental championship every x(=4) years, there is a world cup every y(=4) years, there are qualifiers for those in between, and sometimes a friendly. That's it. And not this mess like in hockey.

Oh, and don't get me started on this nonsense like Worldcup of hockey or however it is called this autumn. Such retarded bullshit. Could have called it the NHL player nations championship or something like that. And the ads for it are even more retarded... Yeah, it is about the crest on the front. Sure thing bro. McJesus will be so proud to fight for Team North America against Team USA and Team Canada. And the Euro mix team of the remains... Beh. Leave me alone.

So in the end most of the international games are just failing because of the NHL not letting players play (and then making up their own donkey tourney).
In the end this leaves the Olympics as only relevant international tourney, and somehow I can't give a damn about team events at the Olympics. Probably because in many sports is just a random event with lower competition. And still I watch it, because it is the only somehow reasonable international hockey you can get.

Oh, and cheering order is: Germany(obv) > Czechia(proximity, Jagr bonus) > Finland/Sweden(likable nations) > other Euros(underdogs, proximity) > Canada(I'm forced to) > USA (being prefered only to russia can not really be called a preference) > Russia(sorry, don't like them)
But some individual players may change that.

Oh, and a last point against international games: They usually end up weird, because teams suddenly basically field 12 forwards, that would usually be a first (scoring) line on a club team. This somehow destroys the usual strategic structure of a team.
Or you have issues like a German team... Do you now field Kuhnhackl on your 3rd or 4th line, playing the same role as he does in the NHL and let him do what he does best? And have some DEL first liners play first line as well? Or do you now suddenly give a Kuhnhackl a completely different role by letting him play 1st, because he is probably among the most talented forwards(okay, we have Draisaitl)?

On April 29 2016 13:08 Blisse wrote:


I cheer for Germany because Klose has been fun to yell the last 12 years and because Germany has the most fun style to watch. Then Nederlands next for the same reason > England because of Rooney > Canada > underdogs > Portugal > Spain > USA

whoo Oshie