By Mike Czajka
MLB season got you down? If you are chomping at the bit for professional hockey action and can’t wait for the NHL season to begin tune into the World Cup of Hockey which kicks off with the USA vs the Czech Republic on Saturday, Sept 17th.
The tournament features eight teams made up of predominately active NHL players playing for their respective home countries.
In a 21st Century twist to current world cup tournament formats used in baseball, basketball and soccer, hockey has added continental teams – Team North America and Team Europe. Team North America showcases young players, age 23 yrs. and under, representing the rising stars of North American talent in the NHL. And Team Europe is comprised of players whose birth countries are outside the four other National teams represented (Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic). The European team stand outs include Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa and Mats Zuccarello. All tournament games will take place in Toronto Canada where they haven’t seen a championship team since the Johnson administration. Who? Exactly!
Tournament Rules:
Teams are divided into two groups of four teams, Group A and Group B.
Teams will play each team in its own group in a round-robin format in Preliminary round competition.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
The top team from group A will play the second place team from Group B, and like versa, top team in Group B will play the second place team Group A.
The winners of the semi-finals will advance to a Best of Three finals where we anticipate Team Canada to be hoisting the trophy on their home ice.
Group A
Team USA
Team Canada
Team Czech Republic
Team Europe
Group B
Russia
Sweden
Finland
Team North America
Kandy’s top players to watch and predicted order of finish.
Team Canada (Far and away the favorite)
Goaltending – Carey Price, Braden Holtby
Defense – Shea Weber, Drew Doughty
Forwards – Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Steven Stamkos
Team Sweden
Goaltending – Henrik Lundqvist
Defense – Victor Hedman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Forwards – Henrik & Daniel Sedin, Nicklas Backstrom
Team USA
Goaltending – Jonathan Quick, Ben Bishop
Defense – Ryan Suter, Dustin Byfuglien, Jack Johnson
Forwards – Patrick Kane, Joe Pavelski, Ryan Kesler, David Backes
Team Russia
Goaltending – Andrei Vasilevskiy, Semyon Varlamov
Defense – Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov
Forwards – Alexander Ovechkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk
Team North America
Goaltending – Matt Murray
Defense – Connor McDavid. Seth Jones
Forwards – Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel
Team Finland
Goaltending – Tuukka Rask, Pekka Rinne
Defense – Olli Maata, Sami Vatanen
Forwards – Valtteri Filppula, Jussi Jokinen, Mikko Koivu
Team Europe
Goaltending – Jaroslav Halak, Frederik Andersen
Defense – Zdeno Chara, Mark Streit
Forwards – Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, Mats Zuccarello
Team Czech Republic
Goaltending – Petr Mrazek, Michal Neuvirth
Defense – Andrej Sustr, Roman Polak
Forwards – Ondrej Palat, David Krejci, Jakub Voracek, Marian Hossa