Do you think a province against province hockey tournament would succed in Canada?

Question

we would have to lump the maritimes and the prairies together, and maybe the territories, but imagine the fun.
Games all across canada and national pride in full bloom.
Upset wins from team maritimes against powerhouse ontario, a rocking house in Halifax...
Who would be the coaches, what would their logos be, how often would the tournament be played, would there be professional players. There are at least ten great Nhl'rs from everyprovince, region and even the less talented squads will rise to the occasion.

Lets dream it here, start the buzz and expect it in 2009 as a warm up to the olymipcs. Let's get it cooking.

Anyone have a trophy to donate and that will one day be famous.?

Answer 1

During the 1994 lockout, most Europeans went back home. So, A three-day tournament called 4-on-4 Challenge was staged in Hamilton's Copps Coliseum, Nov. 10-12, with NHL players split into four teams playing three 20-minute games each day.

The 4 teams were Team USA, Team Ontario, Team Quebec (including maritmes) and Team Western Canada.

I went to all the games, it was the only NHL calibre hockey around and the games were a lot of fun.

If there was a penalty, the ref indicated it, but play continued and they added penalty shots at the end of the game for each infraction. Offsides meant a change of posession and so on. The only faceoffs were at the beginning of the periods.

Two-line passes were allowed (they are ok in the NHL now, but not at the time)


Now that Quebec is a "Nation within Canada", Gilles Duceppe has mused about entering a Quebec team in the World Cup, but playing unified at the Olympics. The same way England, Scottland... play together in sports for the Olympics, yet individually for other events such as the world cup. This would weaken Canada at the Cup, without the French-Canadians. I'm not sure that Quebec alone would be good enough to compete.

Answer 2

All parts of Canada have a love of hockey that is not equalled anywhere else in the world. Ignoring the large cities which have NHL teams and the ardour may be skewed by love of a professional team. But in small town Canada, drive by any rink on a Saturday and the parking lot is filled. Drop in to the rink and the stands are crowded with cheering friends and parents. That is the true love of the sport. In small town Canada the social events of the winter are influenced by the junior hockey team. If your town is lucky enough to have a CHL team the town lives and breathes the activity of the Boys. If your town has a tier two team the rink is never large enough to accommodate the demand. The town of Wellington, Ontario for example, home of the Wellington Dukes has a population of 1700 souls and a rink with capacity of 1000 seats. Every Duke home game is sold out. That is 60% of the town is at every home game. This is the same everywhere in this great country. We love our hockey.

Answer 3

That sounds like a great idea actually, but just when is there the time to hold such an event? You would be limited to summerbasically, and it woould come down to Ontario vs Quebec, with Ontario obviously the powerhouse.

Answer 4

Only if the First Nation's could play as well, like they do for the Lacrosse championships. Poor little P.E.I. or the Yukon would get crushed though in every game I'm afraid.

Answer 5

It would be fun, I doubt it would work though as other provinces would get sick of being crushed by Ontario and Quebec

Answer 6

they actually have tournaments once a year like that with Team Ontario, Team Quebec, Team Alberta, and so on. its great to watch.


GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1