OK, so the International Ice Hockey Federation's World Championship is, at best, the second most important hockey tournament going on right now (fans in Canada might argue that it's third behind the Stanley Cup Playoffs and junior hockey's Memorial Cup).
After all, the teams who've competed in Helsinki and Stockholm this month are comprised of players not competing for the Stanley Cup, either because their NHL teams are out of contention or because they weren't competing in the world's best hockey league in the first place. However, while the NHL has the prestige, the IIHF tournament is no less indicative of the excitement that hockey is capable of producing.
Four teams will play on Saturday at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki for the right to advance to Monday's final: Russia, Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Canada, home to more than half of the players in the NHL, is gone after losing to the Slovaks yesterday, while the U.S., home to 23 of the 30 NHL teams, was sent packing by the host Finns.
Naturally, no one expects these facts to be celebrated in the U.S. or in Canada, but it's worth appreciating the fact that few, if any, expected these four teams to be the ones left standing in the final days of the tournament. Not that anyone doubted that the Russians, Finns, Czechs and Slovaks could be the last four teams in the mix.
After all, with Russia led by the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin and the recently arrived Alexander Ovechkin, Finland being led by Red Wings center Valteri Filppula and Wild center Mikko Koivu, the Czechs getting five goals from Ales Hemsky of the Oilers, and Slovakia sending out a lineup that includes Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and San Jose Sharks center Michal Handzus, it's not like there aren't star NHL players on the ice. Between those four teams and the already-eliminated Canadians, Americans and Swedes, there was enough elite talent to make the result of the tournament impossible to predict with any kind of confidence.
And that's exactly how an international tournament should be.
Sure, hockey is Canada's national sport, and there will always be disappointment when Canada fails to win an international tournament, but tournaments where the same teams always win are no fun. That's why you won't see baseball or softball played in London this summer at the Olympics. Moreover, unless the injuries to the likes of Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard have more of an impact than we realize, this summer's Olympic men's basketball tournament will have all the suspense of an episode of Sesame Street.
On the other hand, whether it's the Olympics, the World Junior Championship, the World Championship, or a World Cup of Hockey if we're lucky enough to ever see another one, there will always be a sense that anything can happen.
In sports, is there anything better than that?
