By Andrew Haynes, Opinions Editor
The 2018 Winter Olympics are in the near future, and the hockey rosters are going to look very different compared to the past.
Last April, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that players who are under an NHL contract are not allowed to participate in the upcoming Olympics. This means the best hockey players in the world, including Canadian Sidney Crosby, a two-time gold medalist, and American Auston Matthews, who would have participated in his first Olympic games ever, will still be with their teams, watching lesser talent represent their respective countries in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The purpose of this Olympic ban is to promote the World Cup of Hockey, which took place in September 2016 and will take place again in 2020. The NHL is veering in the direction of FIFA, ignoring the Olympics and promoting its own product. Because of this, the Olympic rosters are filled with college kids, former NHL players playing overseas and minor-league no-names.
The USA Olympic hockey team has some names which are recognizable to the hockey world, including former Buffalo Sabres’ captain Brian Gionta, who is the captain of the Olympic team, and Denver University’s Troy Terry, who scored four shootout goals at the IIHF 2017 World Junior Championships, leading USA to a gold medal. However, aside from these two, this American team will show a lot of new faces to casual hockey fans.
Many people are very frustrated about this, including junior RJ Bala.
“It would have been really cool to see Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel play together on the American team,” said Bala, a finance major and member of the club hockey team. “I’d much rather watch NHL stars than a team led by a washed-up Brian Gionta.”
There’s no question that viewers will see a drastic drop in talent from previous Olympics, and people are disappointed about that.
I don’t think people should give up on Olympic hockey just yet, though.
Although the athletes competing aren’t as good as the professionals, the Olympics will still have very high-quality, competitive hockey which will be enjoyable to watch, even without all the stars. People will still tune in to watch USA play Canada, and it still has the chance to influence non-hockey fans to give the sport some interest.
The last time USA won an Olympic gold medal in hockey was in 1980, and that team consisted of the best college players in the country – no professionals. This team battled, beat the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet Union, a team filled with professionals, and brought home the gold. There’s no reason this team can’t do the same in South Korea – and they don’t have to worry about the Russians this time.
Although the talent is a big downfall, the viewership of Olympic hockey will not suffer. Olympic fans will continue to cheer for their countries regardless of who is representing it.
