Why you should really be paying attention to Worlds

[jedusaur]

So yes, it's the playoffs and that's super exciting and all (and it has been exciting so far, hasn't it? Josh Harding! Ohhhh poor Quickie! OT OT OT!) but it is not the only hockey happening! The IIHF Men's World Championships preliminaries begin Friday, and fandom would do well to take a close look at Team Canada's current roster. I personally am psyched about this team because Mike Smith is on the roster and Dave Tippett is an assistant coach, so it's kind of like the Coyotes leveled up on the front end and hopped right over the NHL postseason to take on the world, because who even wants a Cup in a shortened season anyway. (Sour grapes? Me? I have no idea what you mean.)

But you probably care more because of these fellows:

Justin Schultz
Jordan Eberle
Claude Giroux
Taylor Hall
Jeff Skinner
Eric Staal
Jordan Staal

Mmmmmmhm. You know you want to watch that shit.

Bryz is on the preliminary roster for Russia--paxpinnae is probably the only one who cares about that and she probably already knows, but I wanted to use this icon, so I thought I'd mention it. The US roster is much less fandom-oriented so far, although they do have Jeff Petry, and those of you who followed juniors a few months ago may want to tune in for John Gibson and Jacob Trouba.

The full schedule for all teams is here. Team Canada's schedule for the prelims is as follows, translated to Pacific time:

7:15am Saturday 5/4 v. Denmark
7:15am Sunday 5/5 v. Switzerland
11:15am Tuesday 5/7 v. Norway
11:15am Thursday 5/9 v. Sweden
11:15am Friday 5/10 v. Belarus
7:15am Sunday 5/12 v. Czech Republic
11:15 Monday 5/13 v. Slovenia

The quarterfinals are Thursday 5/16, the semifinals are Saturday 5/18, and the final game is Sunday 5/19. I think I'm going to be able to catch all the games except Sweden, Slovenia, and maybe the quarterfinals--if anyone's interested in setting up some kind of fandom-centric chat or something for any of the rest, let me know!

Comments

[paxpinnae]

Bryz is on the roster for Russia! The best part? Bobrovsky's his backup. Because that's not going to be awkward at all.

[jedusaur]

Really? Bob's not listed in the article I linked, and that was posted today. Where'd you hear that?

[paxpinnae]

Broad Street Hockey had it from Sports Express, but in googling for the link, I found out that that information's old. Apparently Varlamov's taking the backup job. Bobrovsky was slated to take it, but changed his mind in favor of... I dunno, golfing or sticking needles in a little effigy of Zach Parise or something.

[jedusaur]

Aw, now I'm sad. I would have loved to see Bob go up against Smitty.

[bestliar]

I would love to read stories about various combinations of Canada's roster boning. Hopefully this is an inspiring tournament.