10 Reasons to Watch the World Cup of Hockey

TURIN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 26: Ville Nieminen

3. The World Cup May Replace the Olympics Someday

The NHL doesn’t like the Winter Olympics for good reasons. They have to stop their games mid-season and send the players elsewhere to play which costs them money and can be nerve wrecking if a player happen to get hurt while playing for their country. The NHL has not officially stated yet whether or not players will be allowed to play in the 2018 games in Pyongyang, South Korea. The World Cup has started the conversation once again of what is worthwhile for everyone and whether these new games would be enough.

There is no doubt the players love playing for their countries and that is enough of reason to watch these games alone. But it will be interesting to compare the World Cup with the Olympics, especially considering the new teams. Playing for Team Europe doesn’t instill quite the same amount of pride as say playing for Denmark or Slovakia. The World Cup is still in its infancy though so watching the games now gets you in on the ground floor of what could become a much larger event in the near future. Let’s just hope we won’t have to wait around another twelve years until the next one.

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