Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Сочи 2014 (Winter Olympics Thread)
GarandMarine:
Like it isn't shut down normally during their regular season.
Method of Madness:
I dunno, I don't usually pay attention.
mustang6172:
--- Quote from: Method of Madness on 16 Feb 2014, 19:31 ---The NHL shut down entirely?
--- End quote ---
Yes. No NHL games until the players come back from the Olympics.
If MLB had swallowed their pride and done the same thing for the summer games, baseball would still be an Olympic sport.
Skewbrow:
--- Quote from: jwhouk on 16 Feb 2014, 05:54 ---The question will be what will happen in 2018 if the NHL decides not to shut down for the Pyeongyang Olympics.
--- End quote ---
The North American hockey fans are the only people that can really put any kind of pressure on the NHL. Because you're kinda paying for the show. Tell them that you want to see the stars in the Olympics.... Please.
--- Quote from: jwhouk on 16 Feb 2014, 17:43 ---So. It's setting up for a Canada-USA showdown in the semifinals, not for the Gold.
--- End quote ---
I guess the teams are placed into the play-off bracket according to a scheme that depends on the number of points earned in the preliminary round. Sweden became the #1 seed for winning all their first round games in regulation. US and Canada needed OT against Russia and Finland respectively, so they are second and third seeds (according to some tie-break rule, goals for/against difference?). Finland got the #4 spot for having earned the most points among the 2nd place teams in the three groups.
I'm not sure I like the format, where seeding at this point may depend on how badly you run up the score in one of those somewhat unappetizing mismatches. I guess an alternative would be to invite 16 teams, but then there would be even more mismatches. Narrowing down the field down to eight would make for an interesting tourney, but would make the pre-tourney qualifying rounds matter more, for behind the six usual suspects (USA, CAN, RUS, SWE, CZE, FIN) it would be a toss up. In WCs the Swiss and the Slovaks do well occasionally. To secure a few more sponsors you need to allow Germany a shot to be in, and give nations like Belarus, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Norway a shot at an upset. I doubt that the NHL would accept players going to play for their respective countries in the qualifying round games on top of the actual tournament. Consequently we get this format, where the real games begin when the top eight knock heads. They are pressed for time, so it's a `best of oneŽ play off (+ a bronze medal match).
ev4n:
Wow, Slovakia only scored 2 goals? That's pretty shocking given the offensive talent that country has produced over the years.
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