10 Reasons to Watch the World Cup of Hockey

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – SEPTEMBER 09: WCH logo on the ice during Team Sweden ice practice ahead of the match between Sweden and Finland, september 9th, 2016 at Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden. (Photo by Nils Petter Nilsson/Ombrello/Getty Images)

The puck drops on the World Cup of Hockey on September 17th. Here are the 10 reasons you should be watching.

Hockey fans rejoice the World Cup of Hockey is back! The last World Cup took place way back in 2004 and was won (unsurprisingly) by Canada. This is only the third year of the tournament and it’s already drastically different from the first two. Firstly, all games are being held all in one place, Toronto Canada at the Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Secondly and slightly more controversially, this year will feature the creation of two new teams: Team Europe and Team North America. Team Europe consists of players from all teams who are not from Sweden, Finland, or the Czech Republic, all countries which have their own teams. Team North America is a combination of Team USA and Team Canada, but all the players on this team are under 23 years old. There have been several jokes about these teams mostly revolving around what national anthems they will play before the games, but they look to be exciting additions to the World Cup. Other teams include Team USA, Canada, and Russia.

Last week and over the weekend some pre-tournament games took place giving a preview of what we should look forward to for the rest of the series. It also saw the first two matchups of fierce rivals USA and Canada. If all that doesn’t convince you enough, here are 10 reasons you should be watching the World Cup of Hockey.

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