NHL officially announces withdrawal from 2022 Beijing Olympics

[George II]

Source: Yahoo.com

Wed, December 22, 2021, 10:57 AM·3 min read

The dream of seeing the best hockey players on the planet play with and against each other is dead once again.

After NHL insider Chris Johnston reported on Tuesday that the league and players officially agreed to withdraw from the 2022 Beijing Olympics — confirming what ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and others reported the previous two days — the news became officially official on Wednesday.

Link to tweet

Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl-participation-in-beijing-olympics-highly-unlikely-after-covid-case-surge-151122170.html

[OnlinePoker]

1. The Olympics should just be cancelled altogether. n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

2. It should be moved until next year like the Summer Olympics did.

No guarantee it will be over by then, but much better chance.

Damn, I was looking forward to kicking your yankee butts again in hockey.

[OnlinePoker]

6. I'm Canadian...lol. n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Ha ha. There's probably a few us on here.

Dang it, eh?
McDavid, MacKinnon, Marner, Stone, Scheifele, Crosby, Barzal, maybe Price.......

[George II]

9. You sound like my Cousin in the 1960s when the Rangers sucked while the Maple Leafs....

....were winning four Stanley Cups.

Every time we went up there for our annual visit he just loved to rub it in. It wasn't easy as a teenaged Rangers fan up there.

We did share a mutual hate for the Canadiens.

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. How do you like Boston?

Being on the west coast, in Vancouver, we probably don't share too many rivalries. Must have been fun for you in '94, if you were watching then. Sad for my Canucks.

And we loathe Boston still from our loss to them in 2011 SCF. All the after whistle shenanigans, uncalled plays, and the league disciplinary dept. run by ex Bruins, add to that all our injuries to key players, did us in. Marchand is still enemy #1.

Our biggest rivalry is Calgary and Edmonton. And soon Seattle I imagine.

[George II]

11. I've HATED the Bruins since I was a teenager way back in 1959. The Rangers and Bruins were....

....mortal enemies back then, mostly because they were the two worst teams in the 6-team league fighting to stay out of last place.

That old Quebec/Montreal rivalry was one of the toughest in any sport. That video shows how it was back then.

Over the years we've had Rangers/Bruins and Islanders/Flyers. The Devils just never fit in anywhere in the mix.

The only reason I even went to Bruins games (one a year for about 10 years) is my best friend is a Bruins fan and a drinker. So he'd buy the ticket (premium location), pay for parking and the first round of beers, and I did the driving. A great arrangement! I had to quietly root against the Bruins, though.

Funny story about Vancouver. I made one trip out there when I was working. We went down to the bar, which had three televisions maybe 2 feet apart. One had the Canucks' game, the other news, and a third some other sport. The only other guy at the bar with us INSISTED that the bartender put the Canucks' game on a second television!

[LiberalLovinLug]

12. That guy who insisted to switch to Canucks was maybe me

Ha.
Yes I've been a fan since about '92. When Pavel Bure came to the team.
Here's hoping things get back to somewhat normal one day for sporting events, teams, players.
Happy New year

[totodeinhere]

3. I agree but there's too much money to be made.

So the Olympics will continue and the health of the participants and spectators be damned.

[CloudWatcher]

4. Amateur

Am I the only one wishing the Olympics were still for amateurs?

Disclaimer: I've not been able to watch or enjoy them for decades now. Just too much hype and nonsense for this grumpy old man.

[George II]

5. No, you're not. Ever since they allowed NHL player into the Olympics it hasn't been nearly....

....as exciting. More like ho hum.

When the US won in 1980 it was exciting, and meant so much more than when Canada won a few times with almost all professional NHL players.

Anecdotally, in the 1980 I belonged to a ski club that scheduled about 3 ski trips to upstate NY. One of our trips was to Lake Placid about a month after the Olympics. It was freaking cold and the snow had turned to ice, so we couldn't ski on Saturday. BUT, the organizers arranged to have us rent skates and skate on the rink where the US team won the Gold Medal! That was the thrill of a lifetime.

[LiberalLovinLug]

8. Gotta disagree on this George

Ho Hum describes the Olympics in 2018, with no NHL players.

USA went out in the quarter finals, and Canada in the semi finals. So playing amateurs didn't help us out from NA. And the product on the ice was pretty bad IMO.

The Miracle on Ice was just that. Because you were playing the best of Russia. Which is why they won so many Olympic golds before the NHL were allowed to send players. It was unfair, Russia would send in Red Army players, because they insisted that it was an amateur league. When in fact it was where the top Russian players played. They weren't allowed to defect of course.

So when the NHL was allowed, all it meant was the best finally played the best. Imagine the World Cup of Soccer (Football) if only leagues that were called "amateur leagues" were allowed? Would you think it would be more exciting? Same with amateur hockey in the Olympics. Sure it would be full of players excited and pumped to represent. Might still be a fun fast game, but you would not see plays by the very best in the game. It would not be the best one country has in one sport, against other countries best. Like...water polo, or ping pong, and every other sport.

The USA has a much better shot at winning as well, with using NHL players. Mathews is tearing up the league. You may have the best goaltenders of any country playing right now. Hellebuyck, Campbell, and my team's goalie, Demko.

I just feel sorry for those top players in their prime right now, that missed out last time, and will again, and may never be able to represent their countries. Like McDavid, or Mathews.