Russia, Slovakia a pre-tournament qualifier and the United States will make up one group at the 2014 Winter Olympics is Sochi.

The US has drawn a tough group that could be made tougher based on the teams that qualify for the final spots in each of the three pools. The other pools consist of Canada, Finland, Norway and a qualifier; and Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland and another qualifier.

An average showing at the World Championships put the US and Canada at the mercy of the selection committee after another showing without a medal for the two powerhouses. Russia captured another World Championship title with the Slovaks and Finland each enjoying a deep run. Many reports point to the Norwegians as the biggest winners from this year’s World Championship.

Now teams like Belarus, Latvia, Germany, France, Denmark, Kazakhstan and Italy will battle for one of the final three spots in the Olympic tournament. These participants will be affected by their play in international tournaments (both at the elite and Division I level) before those final spots are determined.

What is unfortunate is that so much weight regarding Olympic seeding is based on a tournament that few care about. While the World Championship is a big deal for European players and fans, tournament barely registers on an annual basis in North America. Perhaps if the tournament wasn’t played right after the regular season, or during the playoffs, or exclusively in Europe it would carry more weight with fans over here.

Ken Holland was quoted, on NHL Home Ice, saying that upwards of 80% of the players approached by Hockey Canada refused to play this tournament. I can only imagine that USA Hockey has the same hurdles to clear when forming their team. After all, there were players from the Finnish Elite League wearing the stars and stripes this year. This fact alone illustrates the little respect that this tournament receives in North America.

Now, the US beat Canada during the preliminary round, and that was awesome. Missing out on a medal wasn’t even a big deal since we were able to beat our neighbors to the north. However, there needs to be a few changes made to at least make the World Championship a respected event down the line. Continue reading →