Quick blog prior to heading to the arena, from where I will be doing the podcast today.
Nothing against Team Russian, but unless you know a Toronto Russian, you would be very hard pressed to find a someone not pulling for a Finnish victory today in this city. A Russian win means we will see Canada vs. Russia in the Semis, and that will be an awesome game, but the saddest thing about a Russian win would mean we will NEVER get to see this Team North America play again. A win by the Russians would mean an encore against Canada in what will be the craziest game of all.
And is there anything more fun to watch than this team North America? They should go on tour and play all the NHL teams. In my life, the closest thing I can remember to the feeling I get when I watch North America is that feeling I got in the early 80's watching the Oilers.
It's a whole new game.
That is the only way to put it really. Together these players bring a game that they will only be able to hint at once they are dispersed throughout the NHL a week from now, and in a way I don't want to accept that reality. We got almost a decade of joy out of the Gretzky led Oilers. We are only getting a week out of Team N. America?
I know the NHL All-Star game as a 3 v 3 is great and all, but if you asked me if we should switch to an under 25 vs over 25 straight up format I would vote for it. At least today I would.
And yes, maybe four years from now we will see this format again, but honestly....it won't ever be the same. We have a special group of players under 24 right now, and I am not convinced that the NHL would have done this with any other group. I could really see a play-in tournament for the countries that now compose Team Europe.
So if Finland wins today we get another look. Maybe seeing NAT get beaten by Canada will help with the mourning period, because if the last we see is Nathan MacKinnon's insane move and goal....this team WILL go down as legend. I really believe that.
The Buzzcast will be live at 1:15 today...
Listen to the HockeyBuzzCast on #iTunes w/ @eklund @mikeinbuffalo @sportsology @DanDanNoodles78 @fisherjillian https://t.co/4Vc8NnpljX #NHL
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) April 26, 2016