The World Cup Of Hockey Is Officially Coming Back In 2024
Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.Okay so first off, there's a good chance this news was already out there. The thing is that the Philadelphia Flyers men's professional ice hockey team have completely ruined this hockey season for me so I haven't been as locked into NHL news as usual. Regardless, this is the first time I'm seeing any real updates about a real World Cup of Hockey that is really being scheduled for 2024. And even though that update might stink (no North America U23 team and no Team Europe), I'll take any best-on-best international hockey tournament right now over nothing.
The 2022 Beijing winter olympics wrapped up just over a month ago. It was literally just 37 days ago and already I don't remember a single moment of the men's hockey tournament. You could put a gun to my head right now and ask me to recount a single goal scored in that tournament and I wouldn't be able to do it. Because it's impossible to care about that tournament when NHL players aren't competing. No offense to the guys who played in the Olympics this year. I'm sure it was an amazing experience for those guys and I'm glad they got to do it. But there's just no way to fake enthusiasm for it. Especially since we were already robbed of the NHL in the Olympics for 2022.
So that little rat bastard Gary Bettman owes us. He owes us big time. Just think about it. We've never had a chance to watch an Auston Matthews led Team USA take on a Connor McDavid led Team Canada. Maybe in an IIHF World Championship but I don't think anybody outside of Canada watches or really cares about that tournament every year. Two of the biggest names in the game and Gary Bettman has robbed us of watching them play for their countries. If American fans had to watch Sidney Crosby come back to Pittsburgh after ripping out our hearts in the 2010 Olympic gold medal game, then Canadian fans should have to watch Auston Matthews return back to Toronto after snatching their souls in the 2024 World Cup of Hockey gold medal game. It's only fair.
And as great as the Team North America and Team Europe additions were to the 2016 tournament, returning to a traditional format is the best way to go about this next tournament. Because it was impossible to not find yourself rooting for the North America U23 team. But in a World Cup environment, you want to be as patriotic as possible. You want to cheer on your nation and not give a single shit about any other country. Team North America blurred the lines there. So give me all the chaos, anarchy, and pure hatred that a true World Cup tournament is all about.