…Well, nobody except for Canadian hockey fans. Nobody in the world really cares about the World Junior Hockey Championship that wrapped up last night in Ottawa with the predictable finish of Canada taking the Gold. It’s a tournament with well-enough intentions but how much coverage should we really be giving a tournament that is dominated by the same team every year and routinely features blow outs of the 15-0 variety?
Canada has now won five World Junior in a row and they’ll be hard pressed to lose any of the next three. It’s common knowledge that Canadians are grown and raised to love hockey and it makes sense that they can put together the best teams in the world because of that. It’s like the States in any basketball tournament – the real story is when they lose, not when they win. Most countries will produce one or two gifted youngsters, Canada will always produce a team of them (whether they all pan out in the NHL remains to seen, though).
Then, there’s this unfair advantage: Including this year’s tournament in Ottawa, three of the next four tournaments will be held in Canada. Further, the one being held out of Canada (in 2011), will be held in Buffalo, minutes away from the border. How does an international tournament stay in one country for three of four years? I’ll tell you why: Nobody cares. In fact, nobody even bid to host the tournament next year so it was automatically awarded to Regina.
That really goes to show how much this event means to everyone who isn’t Canadian. So next time you hear a Canadian hockey fan get worked up about the Juniors, give them a big “NOBODY CARES,†for me; it’s well deserved.