From: MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: Re: Stanley Cup champs. vs. European cup winners?
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 12:35:15 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

In <C1FBxC.70v@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> gwalker@cayley.uwaterloo.ca writes:

> In article <1993Jan25.134715.27800@nntp.hut.fi>, f31922c@kaira.hut.fi (Asko Tapani Huumonen) writes:
> > In article <1993Jan22.100712.17091@abo.fi> MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF) writes:
> > >....A Finnish colleague of mine, Asko Huumonen, recently told me that a hockey
> > >version of basketball's "McDonald's Open" might be a good idea. What do you
> > >think? We could invite the Pittsburgh Penguins to play the top four teams of
> > >the European Cup or...[suggested teams and remainder of article deleted]
> > >MARCU$
> > 
> > Perhaps I should support the idea I brought to Marcus' head. If it is 
> > profitable to bring two teams to Europe for one pre-season exhibition game
> > there should be no financial obstacles for bringing one team to play three or
> > four games. If the Stanley Cup champions were not interested any team 
> > from NHL would be better than nothing.
> > [ stuff deleted ] 
> > There is no doubt at least some interest for this kind of tournament here in
> > Europe. Somehow I feel that most North American fans couldn't care less. Please
> > tell me how wrong I am.
> > 
> > Asko
> 
> Well, I'd be interested in watching such a tournament, but I don't think it'd
> get off the ground.  NHL players already play a gruelling 84-game schedule,
> plus ~10 exhibition games before it, and 0 to 28 playoff games after it.  The
> Stanley Cup champions would have to be close to the 28 playoff game level, as
> would the losing finalists, so the two best teams (yeah, I know that's
> debateable) would be the most tired.
> 
> Not to mention the Canada Cup every 3-4 years, the proposed Olympic "Dream
> Team", the all-star game and benefit games some teams play.  New tournaments
> are something the NHLPA is probably not very interested in.
> 
> Still, money makes the world go 'round, and as one reporter commented after
> the London exhibition games, these tournaments are not about hockey, they're
> about selling beer.  Molson's of Canada is becoming more imperialistic day-
> by-day, what with their recent agreement with Miller in the U.S.  It may yet
> happen, or something similiar.

A "World Club Championship" is of little interest. We're talking about
different "levels" of competition here, the Central Army Club from Moscow may
well have been the world's best hockey club, ever, but so what? They did
annihilate Montreal 6-1 in 1985, defeated the Isles 3-2 in 1980 and leapfrogged
over the Oilers in 1990(?) - all winners of the Stanley Cup that season. Moscow
also won the Soviet title ten years in a row, simply because Tikhonov (the
coach of the national team) insisted on having all the best Soviet players on
one team. No wonder the top two or three Soviet teams won every "Summit Series"
against NHL teams in North America from 1976 to 1990 - they did not have to
worry about "parity" or a draft system introduced to keep all teams in the
league happy. All this ensured that the Oilers and Isles never would have been
able to compete at the same level. Would there have been any point in having a 
"World Series" with the Stanley winners playing Central Army? They would have 
won simply because they could have got any Soviet player they wanted.
---
Today, the Soviets are gone and European hockey is being dominated by semipro
teams from Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Italy and Germany with the Russians
somehow hanging in there. Like it or not, these are all "minor league" teams as
the NHL can sign any European player in wants. So, I would be satisfied with
something slightly less "ambitious" than a World Series. Having the NHL
champions come over for a few exhibition games before the regular season begins
will do - for the moment at least.     
 
> -- 
> Greg Walker           "It's hard to work in groups when you're omnipotent" -- Q
> University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
> gwalker@cayley.uwaterloo.ca

MARCU$