Yardbarker
x
What you need to know ahead of the World Cup of Hockey
The World Cup of Hockey begins Sept. 17 in Toronto. Keith Beaty/Getty Images

What you need to know ahead of the World Cup of Hockey

The main focus of the sports world is understandably shifting heavily toward the Summer Olympics. However, there is another major international event that is coming on the heels of the games down in Rio.

Normally around this time of year, there is little NHL news outside of a couple late free agency signings. This year is the exception with the World Cup of Hockey kicking off in Toronto, just ahead of the opening of the next NHL season. The eight-team tournament featuring hockey's preeminent stars is scheduled from Sept. 17 through Oct. 1, but there is plenty of buzz ahead of the two-week fête.

Excitement over the return of the WCH started months ago but picked up steam back in May with the announcement of the finalized 23-man rosters.

Then there was a bit of hoopla over the NHLers who were left off the rosters, which made for some good banter on “hockey Twitter” — especially when All-Star Game MVP John Scott’s proclamation that he would form an “All-Snub Team” after Pittsburgh Penguin Phil Kessel was not selected to Team USA.

There was speculation that Kessel might be added to the roster after Tampa Bay Lightning winger Ryan Callahan would no longer be participating, but reports that he had hand surgery following the Penguins’ Stanley Cup Final win has put those rumors to rest.

The announcement over coverage of the WCH on ESPN broke through just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. (It probably didn’t garner quite as many headlines as it occurred just ahead of the free agent market opening and in the middle of Shea Weber-P.K. Subban trade mania.) But it is buzz-worthy nonetheless given the fractured relationship that ESPN and the NHL have had over the last several years, not to mention constant criticism from fans that the network has a habit of sweeping hockey under rug. Yahoo Sports explained in a piece at the end of June:

One of the biggest storylines from the revival of the World Cup of Hockey is the revival of the NHL’s relationship with ESPN.  
It’s not always been the smoothest relationship: The lowball offer that led the NHL to cast its lot with Comcast and NBC; the lack of coverage through the years because it wasn’t an ESPN rights property; and, going back a few years, the way hockey was shoved aside for flavor-of-the-minute things like poker tournaments, irking fans.

Per the Yahoo article, ESPN announced via press release that Barry Melrose, Steve Levy, John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes will be calling the games for ESPN’s telecast. The network will also bring in Hall of Famers Brett Hull and Chris Chelios for studio analysis to work with John Saunders and Adnan Virk, with Linda Cohn providing feature coverage for the tournament and Leah Hextall serving as ice-level reporter. No word yet on how ESPN’s writing team will be covering the action.

Of course, there has been criticism of the tournament in the couple of months leading up to the festivities at Air Canada Centre. Negatively charged squabbles have peppered the blogosphere, dissecting everything from the way each team’s jerseys look to the way the teams have been put together. One blogger in particular argued that the setup of Team USA — being the youngster team that Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel will play for — and Team Europe — consisting of players from a amalgamation of countries — makes the tournament more of a showcase and less of an international tournament, concluding that therefore fewer fans will watch.

Whether the insistence on watching an international tournament outweighs fans’ itch for hockey coverage to get underway is still up for debate.

In the spirit of counting down the days to the big event, there is a digital clock outside of Air Canada Centre ticking down the seconds — yes, the seconds — until opening puck drop in September.

The schedule of events starts with round-robin play on Sept. 17, and the preliminary round kicks off on Sept. 20 starting with face-offs between Team Finland and Team Sweden followed by Team Europe versus Team Canada. The single-elimination semifinal round will start on Sept. 24.

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

+

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.