How did pro hockey affect Olympic hockey?

[Guest]

I don't know much about ice hockey, but I would guess that the success of the Canadian and U.S. teams is all the more impressive if one takes into account that (I'm assuming) the best of both countries are playing professional hockey in the NHL?? Am I correct in this assumption? How were Team Canada and Team USA affected?

[Mark Gordon]

Olympic Hockey = Pro Hockey

 

Originally, the Winter Olympics were intended for amateur athletes and NHL players were prohibited from participating. However, since 1998, the ban has been lifted and they have been playing, including in Vancouver. Every member of the Canadian and American teams were NHL players. All 10 of the other competing teams had NHL players, with NHL players being in the majority in 5 of those teams. Furthermore, all of the other competing nations also have their own professional national hockey leagues to draw on. Incidentally, 52% of all NHL players are Canadian.

 

http://redwings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=60748

[+ deej]

Originally, the Winter Olympics were intended for amateur athletes and NHL players were prohibited from participating.

However, since 1998, the ban has been lifted and they have been playing, including in Vancouver. Every member of the Canadian and American teams were NHL players. All 10 of the other competing teams had NHL players, with NHL players being in the majority in 5 of those teams. Furthermore, all of the other competing nations also have their own professional national hockey leagues to draw on. Incidentally, 52% of all NHL players are Canadian.

 

http://redwings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=60748

 

Actually, Soviet teams in the 80's were so heavily populated with pro hockey players (before it was kosher) that for several years the US (among others) refused to field a team. That's part of what made the "miracle on ice" such a miracle.

 

This is what caused rules changes to allow NHL players to play hockey in the olympics, pro tennis players to play olympic tennis, and NBA players to play olympic basketball.

 

Figure skating is not immune either. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union a number of skaters toured with American ice shows because they'd lost their support system and later competed in the Olympics.

 

The Olympics haven't been about amateurs for decades. Not for the money shot sports, anyway.

[Guest]

Originally, the Winter Olympics were intended for amateur athletes and NHL players were prohibited from participating. However, since 1998, the ban has been lifted and they have been playing, including in Vancouver. Every member of the Canadian and American teams were NHL players. All 10 of the other competing teams had NHL players, with NHL players being in the majority in 5 of those teams. Furthermore, all of the other competing nations also have their own professional national hockey leagues to draw on. Incidentally, 52% of all NHL players are Canadian

 

Well, I'm not surprised that most NHL players are Canadian, since I've lived most of my life in the U.S. (except elementary school), and I've never met a single person who's ever played a single ice hockey game in my life. So does the NHL season get suspended during the Winter Olympics? Do the teams consist of the best players from the NHL?

[+ purplekow]

The league has agreed (NHL) to suspend play for 2 weeks. Not much time for the teams to practice as teams but these guys are professionals.

[Guest]

The league has agreed (NHL) to suspend play for 2 weeks. Not much time for the teams to practice as teams but these guys are professionals.

 

That's good to hear. I think that the best of all countries should be able to participate. It would be silly if Canada and the U.S. had most of their best players unable to participate, while the Russians and Finns sent their best. If I recall correctly, though, Major League Baseball continued during prior summer olympics, so the U.S. and Canada weren't able to send their best players. Do I have that right, or am I having a quasi-senior moment on this?

[+ deej]

Baseball is no longer an Olympic medal sport.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_at_the_Summer_Olympics

[MsGuy]

MLB controls almost all of the best players in the world, not just in the U.S. and Canada. Commissioner-for-life Bud Selig states that it would be impossible to stuff a 162 game schedule into a season if MLB took a 2 week break for the Olympics. MLB prefers to promote the World Baseball Classic (played in the preseason) as an alternative venue for international competition. The Classic works sorta like the soccer World Cup. Meanwhile the IOC says it won't reinstate baseball unless MLB agrees to release the players to their home countries.

 

I've seen it suggested that MLB could cancel All Star week activities in Olympic years to make room but that idea seems to be a non-starter.

----

Believe it or not, the NHL commissioner is reported to be grumbling about the problems for NHL schedule caused by the release of players for the Olympics. Short sighted idiocy such as that is part of the reason the NHL has been unable to recover from the strike, IMO.

[Guest]

Baseball is no longer an Olympic medal sport.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_at_the_Summer_Olympics

 

Thanks for the link. It's interesting to hear the suspected reasons for eliminating it as an Olympic sport:

Speculation over reasons for removal of baseball and softball from the Olympic games include, but may not be limited to:

 

* The IOC's anger at American Major League Baseball "for refusing to suspend the season and allow Major League Baseball players to participate in the Olympics"[4][5]

 

* "Conspiring" by IOC President Jacques Rogge[6]

 

* The "domination of American women in softball"[7]

 

* "A lack of fan support"[7]

 

* The way Major League Baseball tests and punishes its players for drugs[5]

 

* The unpredictable length of baseball games[8]

 

* A pro-Europe bias of the IOC[9]

 

* An anti-American bias of the IOC[10]

 

Personally, I wouldn't be bothered if the U.S. refused to participate in the Olympics all together. The Olympic movement is so corrupt. It's all about the money. They pissed me off when they sued the "Gay Olympics." The corruption was also exposed in Canadian Gold Medalist Tewksbury's autobiography.