Do hockey fans really care?

What is the number one men’s soccer event in the world, the Olympic Games or the World Cup? I am not even sure the Olympic Games ranks second. Did you notice that most of the elite PGA golfers skipped the summer games in Rio last year? Winning majors is where it is at for them, not Olympic gold. Besides, these golfers already have the Ryder Cup to play for.

In the 1970s and 1980s the concept of a best-on-best hockey tournament was the Canada Cup. The year 1976 produced Bobby Orr’s dynamic swan song, and 1987 saw three final games of 6- 5 back and forth with the Soviets, and Mario Lemieux scoring the deciding goal with seconds to play after receiving a sublime pass from Wayne Gretzky. This was extremely entertaining hockey, and fans across Canada were riveted to their screens.

Who cares if the NHL goes to Korea next year for games that will be played in the wee hours of the morning like they were for the 1998 Nagano Games? The NHL and its players do not need the Olympics to have a beston-best tournament, and the business case for the NHL going to the Olympics does not even begin to make sense. Trevor Amon, Victoria, B. C.