AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Pride vs paycheque: why international hockey is so much better than the NHL

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2024 (349 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The strongest argument about the obvious superiority of international hockey compared to NHL hockey used to be the size of the ice. The idea was that because players as players got bigger and bigger there was simply not enough room on the smaller NHL-sized ice for skilled players to work their magic.

Contrast that to the bigger ice size that gives players a split second longer to think about what they are going to do with the puck, and more room to wheel and deal.

That argument is now obsolete, as the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) has decreed that future world championships and Olympics will, sadly, be played on NHL-sized ice surfaces, as was the recent world championships in Prague.

But even on the smaller surface, the international game is vastly superior to NHL hockey for one primary reason. It obliterates the old-school notion that hockey needs to be violent and aggressive to be entertaining, and that the game is itself inherently violent.

NHL hockey can make the game look embarrassingly stupid and violent. International hockey showcases the true beauty of the game.

Watch any playoff game and if you ate a marshmallow every time there was a scrum, face-washing, or pushing and shoving after a whistle, you’d be stuffed before the first period came to an end.

While there are instances of pushing and shoving after the whistle in the international game, it’s rare. Instead, you see the beauty and speed and skill that makes hockey the fastest team sport on earth.

What’s more, you don’t see any of the bone-jarring, dangerous hits that are commonplace in the NHL.

In international hockey, if you make a dangerous or stupid play, you and your team get penalized. It’s the strict enforcement of the rules that makes the international game so superior.

Then there is the passion.

There is no question that NHL playoff hockey is exciting. But you don’t see players – winners and losers – crying after a game.

If you saw Sunday’s gold medal game between Czechia and Switzerland, you saw a fantastic game that was tough and hard hitting, but lightning fast. And when the game was over both teams were crying. The Czechs could not believe they just won a world championship on home ice, while the Swiss were heartbroken that they came up short in winning their country’s first gold medal.

There is something about putting on a jersey of your home country that takes the passion, the intensity to a whole new level.

The shaking of hands at the end of an NHL playoff series is a very cool tradition, but you never see tears. Ever.

Seeing grown men cry tears of joy and tears of sorrow in the same game is a site you simply never see in an NHL playoff game.

And if you want a glimpse of just how big of a deal the world championships are in Europe, go to YouTube and look for the gold medal parade in Prague. It looks like half of Czechia came out to celebrate.

It’s great that the NHL will allow its players to compete in the next Olympics two years from now. The site of seeing Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon finally wearing a maple leaf of their chest will be beautiful to behold.

And as great as it will be to see them work their magic together, just think how much better it would be to see that magic on the bigger ice surface, where they would have that much more room to strike fear in their opponents.

I’ve read some research that the reason why the IIHF – the body that governs international hockey around the world – has landed on playing on smaller ice is purely financial. If the ice is smaller they can sell more seats and make more money.

In the end the actual reason for the IIHF giving up the larger ice – whether because they actually do prefer the frenetic, pin-ball style of NHL hockey or because they want more revenue – doesn’t matter. The dream of the Connor Bedards of the world having more room to showcase their skills is over.

But even on the smaller ice, the international game is vastly superior to NHL hockey.

The evidence is clear — playing for pride is so much more intense than playing for a pay cheque.