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Post by Eric - Washington GM on Apr 20, 2007 19:29:55 GMT -5
www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=204917&hubname=I'm a huge fan of this idea for Soccer, as I think it the the highest form of non-national club talent available. I don't know if it would work for hockey though. For a few reasons: The NHL's worst team can likely compete with other leagues best teams. Unlike Soccer where there are arguable 6-7 leagues which have teams with top end talent. There are different rules between the Hockey leagues. Unlike soccer where the genreal rules are similar. Scheduling is much tougher due to the lack of time between games. Where in Soccer most teams play every weekend with the odd chance of having a mid week game in certain months. The Season structure is completely different. The NHL as with most North American Sports follow a playoff system at the end of the season. While In European Soccer they have their playoffs take course throughout the entire season. Personally, I don't know which is better. I like them both because they both offer a different view. The NA style allows a team to ride a hot streak, while the European style you could make a case for that it elimantes a streaky team and usually gives the team with the talent the edge. I'd be interested to see how this would work out, but I don't think it would take off like is has in Soccer. In soccer it is a time that I look forward to every year. I don't know if I'd feel the same if it included NHL teams as well.
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Post by FincanSJGM on Apr 20, 2007 21:53:23 GMT -5
The Champions League format for the European Teams would be alright, but doenst something like this exist already? When I was in Sweden I remember watching a Swedish team taking on a Swiss team is some kind of game, maybe it was exhibition, maybe a tournament, but I remember being told by my Corridormate that the team was the Swedish Champion from the previous year. There were those games thoughout the year. I watched the hockey, but didnt follow closely what the purpose of the games were.
Anyway, the weakest NHL team would heavily outmatch the top European team, let alone the best NHL team. The reason why weaker national teams are sometimes able to beat stronger national teams is due to chemistry, those guys play together more often. That advantage would be taken away if they were up against a regular nhl team where players know their system and linemates. Anything could happen in a one-game playoff, but overall the NHL teams are gonna be far superior.
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