Russia’s 3-0 victory over Finland at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre Thursday shouldn’t have felt like a punch to the solar plexus of non-Russian hockey fans everywhere, but because of the astonishing talent of Team North America, that’s precisely the impression it created. The result of the Russia/Finland contest meant the under-23 team of Canadians and Americans – the most entertaining part of a very entertaining 2016 World Cup of Hockey – had no chance to win the tournament, and it felt like all of our jaws were robbed of more chances to drop out of sheer joy and affection for what the sport can be.
If you love fast and thrilling hockey, the only way you couldn’t fall for Team North America was if you were actively lying to yourself. If you adore on-ice genius and constant improvising and the near-total-abandonment of hyper-coached hockey, you were instantly won over by this collection of young men/puck warlocks who came together in short order and played as if their careers depended on the outcome. The North Americans weren’t just competitive – they were bar-raisers of the first order, and more often than not, their opponents looked in need of oxygen tanks and photo radar to keep track of the circles the youngsters ran around them.
And though it fell short of its ultimate goal, Team North America – the Skillennials, as I called them on Twitter – did something absolutely extraordinary: It made an airtight case the NHL and NHL Players’ Association need to change its plans and ensure a squad of players under 23 years of age plays in every World Cup that follows this one.
Before the tournament began, there was no shortage of cynics and critics who squawked that the league and NHLPA did something unforgivably wrong in creating a team based on birthdays rather than homelands. Forget that the World Cup doesn’t have the most idealistic lineage, they essentially argued: why not give one of the spots to a developing hockey country? Why not do things as we always have?
Well, Team North America just showed why not: because the World Cup is an entertainment product first and foremost – and, with due respect to the Swiss, Germans and other nations who didn’t have their own anthem to play in Toronto, the under-23 team delivered entertainment on a level no developing hockey power could hope to. Whether it was Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews, Penguins goalie Matt Murray or Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, North America’s players proved themselves up for the challenge and then some. They weren’t intimidated by the big names and impressive resumes they were going up against. They took it to their opponents as best they could, earned the respect of the hockey world, and made memories for fans of all ages.
Most importantly, they took the stuffiness and systems out of the professional game and replaced it with fun. You remember fun in hockey, right? Sometimes it seems fun has been legislated out of the sport, eschewed in favor of Serious Hockey Minds and Serious Hockey Attitudes. But as Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and the rest of their teammates dazzled fans with their efforts, Team North America reminded us of the exhilaration the game is capable of creating in our hearts and our stomachs and our souls.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: Manufacturing joy as a product is as important to growing the game as participation levels in Europe and Asia. Delivering that giddy feeling of awe and sense of unpredictability is as crucial to convincing new generations to pick up a hockey stick as building parity for the next Olympics or IIHF World Championship. If you can’t pry young minds and wallets away from video games and other, cheaper entertainment options and persuade them that hockey is the best choice for their disposable income, sooner or later the bottom is going to fall out of the whole operation and we’ll be left with a niche group of aging fans and a shrinking sphere of influence and interest.
To be sure, the NHL and NHLPA ought to be congratulated for taking a chance on a “gimmick… like a Team North America and a Team Europe (another squad that has turned out to be better than many expected). The originality McDavid and Matthews have demonstrated as teammates on the ice wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the creativity and chance-taking we’ve seen from the organizers of the tournament.
But now, it’s just as important those powers-that-be recognize the success of their experiment, and build on it.
You do that by saying, “Yeah, we’d originally planned on reverting to a qualification play-in tournament for the final berths in the 2020 World Cup, but you know what? We've changed our minds. Team North America changed our minds. We’re going to stick with this format instead…. And why shouldn't they say exactly that? Consumers have made clear their opinions. They love what they’re seeing and want more. Why on earth would you turn away from that?
Nothing personal against those developing hockey countries – or against anyone who grumbles a team like the United States couldn’t put their very best lineup on the ice because Team North America was employing a number of their elite players – but the World Cup isn’t about the purest distillation of international competition. It's about entertainment and fun. And you don’t do anyone in the sport any favors by capping a geyser of entertainment and fun simply because it doesn’t resemble somebody’s longtime way of thinking.
Future generations of hockey fans are created by phenomenons like Team North America. And preventing the lightning it created from striking every four years would be just about the dumbest thing the game’s gatekeepers could do.