Hockey: Curing the Summertime Blues

I know many of you already know this, but two years ago Gary Bettman withdrew the NHL and its players from participating in the World Cup of Hockey, an event that is played every second summer between winter Olympic years.

At the time, I didn't really care. It was during the NHL season, and there were far better stories and highlights that caught my eye. Now, I can't help but sit here and cross off days on my calendar until October.

Sure, many people see July 1 in Canada as a national holiday, but I see it as being a utopia for hockey fans: free-agency day. This is the day where the hockey panel on TSN take control of the network from 11 a.m. until about 6p.m., giving us rabid fans up-to-date notice on who's going where, for how long, and for how much.

Sadly, this year's version will be played out with very few big names. Wade Redden, Brian Campbell, Mats Sundin, Jaromir Jagr and Marian Hossa are among the big names of the UFA market. 

At the same time, there isn't much of an interest because none of these players have come off the strongest of years (with the exception of Hossa's playoff run).

Which brings me back to the World Cup of Hockey.

Imagine an international event that puts the top eight countries in the world in a two-week tournament to determine hockey supremacy. Many would believe that's the reason there is the World Championships every spring, but in that scenario many of the best players on all teams are still participating in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The last WCH was in 2004, the summer before the lockout kicked into effect. I remember watching Canada and Finland play neck-and-neck at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and when Shane Doan scored that goal to make it 2-1, the place went wild. Even though I was at home watching on CBC, I felt obligated to scream as loud as they did.

Seeing Canada suit up in the throwback 1920 Winnipeg Falcons jerseys was really something. Some of my friends were somewhat confused. Why are they wearing yellow? Are all their last names "Canada"? That's so funny.

In the 2004 edition of the tournament, the two pools were named the "North American" and "European" pools. Canada, U.S., Russia and Slovakia played in the first pool, while Germany, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic occupied the second pool.

I would suggest that the entire tournament be played here, however I'm sure there are some hockey-starved fans on the other side of the globe as well.

Altogether, if Gary Bettman wants to get fans and the media back onto his side, he would open up this tournament again. It would feature elite NHL players and the best that the European leagues have to offer as well.

Finally, at least one country will have bragging rights to who is number one in the world.

All we need now is a better-looking trophy.

*Picture taken from www.nytimes.com*