Nahm’sayin?

World Cashgrab of Hockey

OpinionsTristan D’Amours — Published September 19, 2016

It’s not about the competition. I think it can be a legitimate thing. It’s not about the fact that the National Hockey League is involved—I mean, it was really just a matter of time before something like this would happen.

It’s the name—the World Cup—that really gets on my nerves.

The NHL decided to pick and choose who would participate in the tournament. Commissioner Gary Bettman and his hockey overlords even went as far as inventing countries—Team Europe, which is a continent, not a country, and Team North America which will feature Canadian and American players under the age of 23.

The purpose of a world cup is to have the world participate. There needs to be some type of qualifying in order to see countries that crave to qualify for these types of events. Look at any other World Cup in every other sport—they are all organized by international federations. This World Cup of Hockey is run by the NHL itself—a league that operates only in Canada and the United States.

What will happen during the next few days is really just a money-making scheme on the basis of making international hockey more ‘interesting.’ Philippe Cantin of La Presse rightfully called the competition in his Saturday column “La Coupe du marketing”—the marketing cup.

Call it Canada Cup, like the similar tournament that was held back in the day. You can even give it some other name to make it hip with the hockey fans. Just don’t soil the term “World Cup” with this invented, faux tournament that you falsely call the World Cup of Hockey.