Three months after the Beijing Olympics finals, the World Championships began in Finland. In hockey, unlike many other sports where the range is 2 to 4 years, world championships are played every year, and a global competition like the Olympics is no reason to miss the tournament.

The question of whether the World Cup will be held in the Olympic year is far from new and arises every four years. This season Finland got a massive hockey division that won the Olympic Games in February and now hosts the world championship. Also, St. Part of the 2023 World Cup, which is expected to be held in St. Petersburg, will be held in Tampere (second half in Riga).

But the debate over the eligibility of the World Cup in the Olympic year escalates further. So, Finnish basketball coach Henrik Detmann He stated that it is best to focus on the opinion of the consumer of the show, i.e. the fans.

“This will be over as soon as people vote with their feet and not come to hockey because of the Olympics. But holding the World Cup this year was necessary because after the pandemic there is a huge demand for it here.”– Quotes the words of Detmann Iltalehti.

But, as always, such a question quickly slips into the realm of money. It’s a lot of money to hold the World Cup, if not in the Olympic year and with the strongest squads.

“For national hockey federations, holding the World Championship each year is a strategically important moment. It’s a big deal, big money. That is why the World Cup is held every year, including the Olympic year, although the sports component of the tournament is constantly subject to great suspicion.– said the former coach of the Finnish national team Erkka Westerlund.

It is known that for the International Ice Hockey Federation the organization of the World Championship is very important, since the profit from this tournament allows to finance other unprofitable competitions.

“Of course they will get tired of it somewhere. But the Finns are still far from it. See how hockey tickets are selling out ” Added Detmann.

The same Westerlund coached the Finnish national team twice in the years when the World Cup coincided with the Olympics – it was in 2006 and 2014, when the Westerlund team knocked out the Russian team from the tournament at the home Olympics in Sochi.

“You know, if you ask the opinion of the players, a lot of people appreciate the World Cup, even though it has greatly extended the season. While the Olympics may have lost a lot of their charm during the pandemic, hockey players’ motivation looks good to me.said Westerlund.

At the same time, attracting the same players to both tournaments is an added challenge, and a long season still has serious drawbacks. Of these, the increased likelihood of injury and, as a result, a career ended too soon.

Previously, when NHL players participated in the Olympics, it was possible to call the Games unequivocally the number one tournament in which the strongest participated, now this is not the case at all. Surprisingly, there is no competition in which the strongest representatives of this sport will unite. The Olympics in Beijing and Pyeongchang turned out to be rather unpleasant in terms of spectacle and signage. The world championships are still tied to the NHL playoffs, and now very few well-known players have come to Finland from across the ocean: the main stars (Crosby, McDavid, Matthews, Laine) chose not to come to the national championship. teams, but the Russians have nowhere to go.

However, the Ice Hockey World Championship has remained more of a fan tournament than a sports tournament. The beer is flowing, especially after the long coronavirus restrictions, everyone is having fun and getting attention.

“I respect hockey’s ability to commercialize its activities. Without the World Cup, clubs could not be backed by solid money. But, nevertheless, the best of the best must compete. This is the essence of the national teams tournament”Westerlund summed it up.

It is not yet entirely possible to evaluate which tournament will be better and more interesting in 2022 – the Olympics or the World Cup. It’s hard for the Russians to do this because of the personal frustration of his dismissal from the national team. In Europe they will probably be happy that the arrival of Russian stars in the World Cup will greatly enhance the magnificence of the 2022 World Cup, but they cannot accept it for political reasons.

You will have to get used to the current realities, because in 2023 the Ice Hockey World Championship will be held without the Russian team and Tampere will be one of the host cities. All this may eventually destroy the sporting component of the World Cup, but if the NHL revives the World Cup as promised, the IIHF may come close to the need to thin the World Cup because the audience will no longer perceive it as a world cup. worthy event.

The current World Cup in Finland is not flawless in terms of participation. Yes, there are a cosmic number of bars near the stadiums that journalists do not have time to research to compile a guide for those who want it. Yes, the Finnish people missed hockey, and the victory at the Olympics only increased this interest, but there were very few sold out matches in the group stage. Even at the tournament’s hosts’ matches, especially in the central sectors, there were often empty seats covered by television cameras. In the early days of the World Cup, it even seemed that the spectators were not allowed to re-enter, as in Riga a year ago, but in fact everything is explained more simply: these are the most expensive tickets sold reluctantly, and finally, the organizers asked why on television the stands appear empty. They even had to make an explanation.

In addition to everything – the absence of NHL stars. No matter how good the Swiss are with the Danes, these teams will not gather spectators. But the organizing committee, of course, will not complain about this. Moreover, it is quite possible to expect high-profile conversations about how good this tournament was without the Russians.