Many avid hockey fans in the area are probably counting down the days until the upcoming Bruins season. Don’t worry, I am too. However, as a lifelong hockey fan, I also remember the World Cup of Hockey tournament (formerly known as the Canada Cup) which was a very popular international tournament that began in 1976 and happened every three to five years after that until 1996, when it took an eight-year hiatus until 2004.
The event became rather prestigious and gained the height of its national attention in 2004, helped by the fact that the NHL was about to enter another lockout period. Fans were excited to see some of their favorite players in some capacity. Well this year, hockey fans should be very excited to see international play, and get some competitive, pre-NHL-season hockey. With all that being said, here are some of the favorites heading into the tournament.
The set up for the tournament is interesting—in a good way. As expected, there will be the usual contenders (Canada, Russia, USA, Sweden), but also there will be a team compiled of the best players aged 23 and under from both Canada and the USA: Team North America. Also in addition to the countries more well-known for being good at hockey (Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic) there will be a Team Europe, which is a team from the remaining countries in Europe that don’t have enough players to compile their own roster.
Now on to the favorites. As expected, Canada will be the favorite going into any international hockey tournament. It has been that way since the fall of the Soviet Union (OG Team Europe) and I don’t see it changing…ever. Canada simply pumps out too many talented hockey players, and in various aspects of the game. They have playmakers like Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux; prolific goal scorers like Steven Stamkos and Jamie Benn; and defensive forwards like Jonathan Toews and Patrice Bergeron. On the Blue Line they have a tremendous combination of physical play, defensive awareness, and offensive ability in guys like Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, and Brent Burns, just to name a few. And in goal they have three goaltenders that can win games on their own, regardless of the defense in front of them. Canada has the option of playing Carey Price (former Vezina Trophy winner and Olympic Gold Medalist), Braden Holtby (most recent Vezina Trophy winner), or Corey Crawford (former two-time Stanley Cup Champion). Overall, Canada has a deadly roster combination of talent in every area with no weaknesses.
There simply is nobody that has a roster like what the Canadians have. Team Russia is thin on the blue line, Team Sweden lacks offensive firepower, Team North America is inexperienced, and Team Europe is just not at the level of Canada. Team USA often finds a way to compete with Team Canada, purely on just the ability of the American team to grind and win puck battles. Ultimately, the depth of Canada usually shows and they find a way to beat USA. As much as I would love to see Team USA win, I just don’t know if it will happen. I will admit that this team is very good, but it’s essentially the same core that lost to Canada at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014, minus the addition of Johnny Gaudreau and the loss of Phil Kessel (who was one of the team’s best scorers in Sochi). The USA team certainly is talented, and could pull out an upset on Canada, but I have learned to not get my hopes up in that match up anymore. However, as hockey fans, we should definitely expect a fun ride all the way to the end; since this will lead us right into the NHL season, I am all for it and cannot wait.