A Guide To The World Junior Championships For The Casual Hockey Fan
I think it’s happening. Thanks to social media and a tv deal with the NHL Network, the secret about the World Junior Championships is making its way outside of the hockey world. Carl is a HUGE sports guys. Follows everything, but hockey is definitely his 4th sport. It appears that the WJC is making enough noise this year that he put down his beef and closed out fangraphs for a minute to ask WHAT THE FUCK IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT ON THE INTERNET
He’s right, there is a TON of passionate content out there on the internet around this tournament. Hockey twitter is LOUD this time of year. The games being on during the day, people being home from school/work, the NHL being on break, baseball news trickling at best, and Bowl season hasn’t really truly begun yet. There’s room for WJC to make a splash on twitter.
Here are the reasons why we love, the hockey community, love it so much:
1) Anyone who is anyone in the NHL plays in this tournament as an 18 year old:
Sidney Crosby? Yep
Alex Ovechkin? You betcha
Those two started to hate each other as teenagers in this very tournament
(PS: Fuck Crosby for saying Canada’s rival is Russia. America is your rival, bitch boy)
I think the tournament REALLY started making waves with Chicago’s future stars, Toews and Kane. They went head to head in 2007 and the game went to a shoot out. Jonathan Toews was TJ Oshie in this tournament before TJ Oshie. Earned the name “Captain Canada”.
2) Get Your Scout On
Most of the players participating in the tournament have been drafted or will be drafted at the top of the next draft. For hockey fans, they already know most of the names participating, but unlike football and basketball, most of the players haven’t been on TV very much because it can be hard to find college games, European games, US Junior and Canadian Major Junior games on your cable package. It’s an opportunity to watch YOUR team’s best prospect against the very best of their peer group for the first an only time before they make the leap to pro hockey. Imagine if you had seen all of Zion Williamson highlights on youtube, but the only chance you got to see him play in game action was a two week stretch right after Christmas. The entire country would be tuned in for that. That’s what hockey people do for this tournament. This year, Jack Hughes of Team USA is our Zion Williamson.
3) Good Ole Fashion Jingoism
You better BELIEVE people get hyped up for the Red, White, and Blue.
When USA hockey has Canada or Russia on the schedule:
Our guys > Your guys.
Our culture > your culture.
Western Democracy > Putin Autocrat.
Tribalism at it’s finest played out on a sheet of ice that is 200 feet long.
I’ve said this in blogs before but the WJC really is like March Madness for hockey fans, but the difference is that the entire country is rooting for the same team.
Those three things combined makes the WJC must-see TV for anyone who cares about sports and hockey even just a little. It’s the best players in the world and the guys who will end up defining the NHL for the next 7-10 years. Every game(especially this year for Blackhawks fans) will feature someone who will be on your favorite team in the next 18 months or so. And finally…patriotism. It’ll never go out of style. Buckle up, check it out, it’s a great time. U-S-A!