10 Reasons to Watch the World Cup of Hockey

MONTREAL, QC – SEPTEMBER 11: Jack Eichel

5. The Players

One of the best parts of the World Cup is the chance to see NHL players from various teams come together to play for their countries. It’s one of the rare times as a fan where team loyalty can be put aside and you can root for any player or country you choose. It also gives the players themselves a chance to shake things up and try new combinations of lines. Just look at the history of success for Team Canada and newly budding Team North America to see what happens when strong new players are put together in the right way.

Europe is interesting to watch in terms of players because unlike many of the other teams these guys have not had the luxury of playing together internationally. That leads to people like New York Ranger Mats Zuccarello from Norway playing together with Boston Bruin Zdeno Chara from Slovakia and L.A. King Anze Kopitar from Slovenia.  The Europeans need to find their footing before the games officially begin. They had a rocky start against the other hodgepodge team, Team North America in both of their early games.

Another team to keep an eye on is Russia who has a few members of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) joining the players from the NHL.

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