The Failure of International Hockey

In my last article, "Which Direction Should The NHL Go?", I mentioned that if the NHL expanded to Europe, hockey would be taking a step towards making it the No. 2 sport behind soccer; that the Stanley Cup would acquire increased prestige as an international trophy; and that the NHL champion would be more truly a world champion than the champions of MLB, the NFL, and the NBA.

All that is true but much more has to happen before hockey is truly the number two sport in the world.  The base is still too narrow and it highlights international hockey's most notable failure.

Let's go back to 1972 after the Canada-Soviet series which was the trigger that has led to the state of international hockey today. Back then, there were two hockey superpowers, Canada and the USSR, and four lesser great powers: Sweden, Finland, the United States, and Czechoslovakia, soon to be bisected into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Seven hockey hotbeds.

Nearly 40 years later, the situation is still the same. The big seven still dominate international hockey. The only change is that the five lesser powers are now virtually equal with the two former superpowers. But no new countries have joined them.

Instead each world championship, Olympics or Canada/World Cup, is filled out with one to five "B-level" teams who with the rare exceptional upset thrown in, are quickly beaten up by the others, and then placed in the regulation round while the "big seven" start the real tournament in the playoffs.

Most of these games in the tournament are boring, mismatched blow-outs.

If hockey is truly to be the number two sport in the world, this situation has to change.  The "big seven" must find a way to raise the level of the game in other countries if hockey is to develop internationally.

So far, the only country that seems to have made any progress towards an upper level of play is Switzerland and it is still far below the level of the "big seven".

But the potential is enormous. At the "B-level" languish a large group of countries including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Italy, Norway, Latvia, and Japan.

Other countries that are infected with ice and snow for part of the year and who have yet to make any significant appearance in international hockey include Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, North Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium, and China.

And yet for nearly 40 years, there has been no significant step to broadening international hockey's base. The situation is similar to that of the NHL in the southern United States. More people play hockey there than before, but not enough to make a big splash.

Even more lamentable is international women's hockey, which is virtually a two-team tournament each time.

The place to start is in childhood. Leagues and facilities have to be developed in these countries so that interest in hockey develops at a grass roots level. Credible officials and coaches from the "big seven" have to be sent to oversee development.

Right now, the best countries to begin raising the level of play are those in the first group, who have some development, but need to be taken to a higher level. 

A moderate short-term goal should be the creation of a "big 12" group with a long-term goal of 16. 

There is enormous potential for international hockey's development. Who will make it happen?