The FIFA World Cup shows us exactly how an International Hockey tournament should be. 32 teams from all around the world compete for one prize. Not the best 32 teams, but 32 teams, going throuhg rigourous qualifying through groups designated by continent, because there are currently 209 countries recognized by FIFA. The IIHF on the other hand, as of their last ranking update, has 49, separated into 6 divisions. Championship, Division I A, Division I B, Division II A, Division II B and Division III.

Having six divisions is fine, as they work the same way they do in football, where the winner of each division gets relegated, and last place gets relegated, and the rankings are determined by a country’s performance by the last four IIHF World Championships, and the last Winter Olympics.

But this also leads to the first thing that is broken, as only 12 teams qualify for the Winter Olympics,w ith the top 9 teams in the IIHF rankings getting automatic qualification. Meaning that you will see those same 9 teams participating in every Winter Olympics. The last 3 spots are determined by a series of tournaments. Starting from a 4 team tournament with countries ranked 30 to 33.

The winner advancing to another tournament consisting of three groups of three, and the countries involved being ranked 19th to 29th, plus the winner of the first tournament. Then, the winners of the three groups, go on to play in ANOTHER tournament, consisting of three groups of three again, but with the countries ranked 10th to 18th, plus the three group winners from the second tournament, with the three group winners of the final tournament, advancing to the Winter Olympics. So it takes THREE tournaments, just to determine three qualifying spots in the Winter Olympics, meaning that if you have a bad IIHF World Championship one year, your chances of making the Olympics are slim and none.

The second thing that is broken, is that the Olympics is the major tournament for International Ice Hockey. Now I agree, the Winter Olympics without Ice Hockey wouldn’t be the same, but they play football (or soccer if you’re in the US or New Zealand) in the Olympics too! The rules of football at the Summer Olympics is that players must be the age of 23 or under, with each country allowed to have three players aged 24 or over in their squads, meaning that the teams are more equal, and the best countries in the world, don’t necessarily win the Gold Medal.

Hockey needs a tournament of it’s own. They have the IIHF World Championships, but that is split up, with no opportunity for the lower-ranked countries to play against the best in the world, meaning they have little opportunity to expose themselves to the best players in the world. A tournament where the lower ranked teams play the best in the world, would not only give those lower ranked more exposure against the top countries, but also grow the sport of Hockey around the world, uncover hidden talent, and who knows, you might even see an upset or two.

Now if only there was a Hockey version of the FIFA World Cup. Somewhere where minnows can play and challenge the absolute best. A Hockey World Cup if you will..

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/tretiak-world-cup-hockey-set-comeback-2016-214335953.html (Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

That’s right. The World Cup of Hockey is set to return in 2016! Is this the savior for International Hockey? Will Hockey finally have a stand-alone tournament ready to capitvae audiences all around the world like the FIFA World Cup does every four years? Well no.

It seems the World Cup of Hockey is nothing more than a money grab by the NHL, and to deter it’s players from playing Hockey from participating at the Winter Olympics. The World Cup of Hockey will consist of 8 countries, with 6 of those countries already secured (United States, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Finland and the Czech Republic), with the 2 remaining teams to be determined by how many NHLers they have, as well as their IIHF ranking.

This concept doesn’t really add much to the world of International Hockey, as this is just an 8-team tournament to be held every two years before the NHL season. If the World Cup of Hockey became a 24 or 32-country tournament, similar to the FIFA World Cup, then maybe it will have some merit, but until then, International Hockey won’t mean as much as it really deserves to be.

You can follow me on Twitter if you like, it’s @ThatDamnDoubleC. Or you can e-mail me at thatdamndoublec@hotmail.com. 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVS3WNt7yRU[/youtube]

It’s been awhile friends. But, unfortunately, that’s the cruel mistress known as life. More work, means less time to write blogs and post for this very website, but that all changes! Whilst, every hockey blogger, reporter and columnist goes on vacation for two months, I plan to be here, providing material for your viewing pleasure. Because we sure have missed a lot haven’t we?

The LA Kings won the Stanley Cup, defeating the New York Hockey Rangers in 5 games. Rich Peverley’s career is in Jeopardy after suffering heart problems during a Dallas Stars/Columbus Blue Jackets matchup. Team Canada won Olympic Gold defeating Team Sweden in the final. Team USA gave up to not even win bronze. Sidney Crosby won the Hart, Scott Hartnell got traded to CBJ, Patrice Bergeron is your NHL 15 Cover guy.. so so much.

There’s a bright side to all this though. The draft is coming up, and then Free Agency.. which will add excitement for the next few weeks.. and before you know it the new season is here, and the circle of hockey life begins again for another year.

I apologize there hasn’t been much content recently, but some things you can’t control and things put on the back burner. But never fear hockey fans. We will be here more regularly in your lives before too long.

When Martin St. Louis was traded to the New York Rangers, another member of what is quickly becoming a bit of a rare breed in the National Hockey League had left. The breed of one franchise players.

That elusive hunt for that Stanley Cup, franchises becoming younger, or just not finding a line to play on anymore, is leading to more and more players playing for a second franchise, in order to find successes in the twilight of their careers.

Daniel Alfredsson was an Ottawa Senator since the 1995-96 season. The role model for playing for one franchise your entire career. Then in the off-season of 2013.. Alfie did the unthinkable. He left the Senators and joined the Red Wings. What was the reason you ask? Why would he leave the club he had played for his entire career? One shot at the Stanley Cup. The same reason long-time Ray Bourque left the Boston Bruins to join the Colorado Avalanche. Sure, Bourque got his Cup, but Alfredsson unfortunately will not have the same achievement, as the Red Wings were eliminated in the playoffs by Bourque’s old team, the Boston Bruins.

Vincent Lecavalier was worshipped in Tampa. He has a children’s hospital named after him, but now he finds his playing time in Philadelphia after his contract was bought out by the Lightning. Tim Thomas left the Boston Bruins to take a year off, was traded to the New York Islanders during that year, didn’t play a game for the franchise, and has since had stints in Florida and currently, Dallas.

Speaking of Dallas, Mike Modano was the definition of a franchise player. He was drafted first overall by the Minnesota North Stars, and when they relocated to Dallas, became it’s star player, and has become the first player in Dallas Stars history to have his number nine jersey retired to the rafters. But even he, wasn’t a one franchise player. Modano played his final season in the red and white of Detroit.

Many players have been one franchise players however. Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom both spent twenty years plus, and several Stanley Cup winning seasons in Detroit. Joe Sakic was a one franchise player, even though technically he played for two, as the Quebec Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche. Sakic is still involved with the franchise, as he is currently the Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations.

Martin Brodeur is still a one franchise player at the New Jersey Devils, but it seems he may be playing elsewhere after this season. Shane Doan started his career at the Winnipeg Jets before they relocated to Phoenix and became the Coyotes. He could soon be apart of another name change, as Phoenix becomes the Arizona Coyotes from next season.

The one franchise player seems to be becoming more of a rarity than seasons past. Franchise players like Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews may have only played for one franchise now, but who knows where they’ll be when they hit the twilight of their careers. Will they, along with many others in the National Hockey League stay a one franchise player? Only time will tell.

I have a Twitter for some unknown reason, it’s @ThatDamnDoubleC.  Also, go visit BoredWrestlingFan.com, as we’re like brothers or something. You like the little icon in the top left corner where the title of this blog is? I found that here.

Welcome to the Penalty Kill. Providing you with some news that you may or may not have missed, whilst you kill off that time.

Brian Rafalski’s return to hockey is short-lived, after he was released by the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, after just three games played. Rafalski, who hadn’t played since January 18 with a sore back, scored one assist during his tenure. [SOURCE]

Ben Scrivens band the Edmonton Oilers broke several records, in their game against the San Jose Sharks. Scrivens had a 59-save shutout, breaking the previous best of 54, held by Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes. 59 is also the most amount of shots the Oilers have ever faced in one game, beating the 53 shots the New York Rangers had, on March 17, 1993. [SOURCE]

The ECHL will be one team down, as the San Francisco Bulls folded mid-season. The San Jose Sharks affiliate team in the ECHL, were hoping to find new ownership, but now the franchise has ceased, after playing it’s first game in October of 2012. All the players on the Bulls roster will now have to either find new teams to play for, or be sent back to their NHL/AHL team. For the record, San Francisco won their last game 3-2 in a shootout against the Stockton Thunder. [SOURCE]

Phoenix be gone! They will be renamed the Arizona Coyotes, from the 2014-15 season. It has been known for some time that the renaming was coming, as it was announced on August 6, 2013 that they would become the Arizona Coyotes, due to the franchise no longer playing games in Phoenix, instead playing in the Jobing.com arena in Glendale. This will mean that if Shane Doan stays as a member of the Coyotes roster for next season, he will have technically played for three different franchises, yet play for the same franchise at the same time. [SOURCE]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgXg0J6WXc[/youtube]

On April 19, 2011 NBC Sports, agreed to a ten-year deal with the NHL to have the rights to broadcast the League on their various networks (NBC and Versus, which later became the NBC Sports Network), worth nearly 2 billion dollars.

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TSN and CBC currently have the majority share in the TV rights deal in Canada, with the deal expiring at the end of this season.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eALDhCjpa-U[/youtube]

On November 26, 2013, Rogers Communications secured the TV rights in deal for Canada in a 12-year, 5.2 billion dollar deal with the NHL for exclusive rights. This means that not only is the joint partnership between TSN and CBC over, TSN are completely out of the equation, only getting Jets and Canadiens games through TSN Regional networks. Rogers were good enough to allow CBC to retain it’s Hockey Night In Canada, which includes Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry, on Saturday Nights, but many feel that it could only last 4 of the 12 years in the deal, which could see a tradition that started on television in 1952, come to an end.

So what does this mean?

For Sportsnet, it means they are the #1 player now when it comes to Hockey on television in Canada, since they held the rights from 1998-2002. They control hockey media in Canada as you know it.

For TSN, well they’ll still probably continue to provide the same expert analysis that they’ve done when they’ve had the rights. Don’t expect too many to jump off the TSN boat for the Rogers sunshine.

For CBC, after four years, a 61 year tradition could very much say goodbye. Rogers have full control over HNIC, and CBC don’t make any revenue from it either, as that goes to Rogers.

Big deals seem to be the thing for Gary Bettman these days. Ten years for NBC with the US TV rights, Twelve years for Rogers with the Canadian TV rights, the CBA between the owners and the players is for ten years starting January 9 2013. This TV rights deal is huge. Like massively huge. For so much to head to just one network, as opposed to the NFL/NBA/MLB going to a series of networks.

This is only a brief summary of what happened, as it’s been over a week since the news was announced, but just remember one thing my Canadian friends. It doesn’t matter who broadcasts it, the hockey will still be there. Until the next lockout that is.

I have a Twitter for some unknown reason, it’s @ThatDamnDoubleC.  Also, go visit BoredWrestlingFan.com, as we’re like brothers or something. You like the little icon in the top left corner where the title of this blog is? I found that here.