Tagged: World Hockey Summit

Wrapping up the 2010 Molson Canadian World Hockey Summit, the final day of the event saw an in-depth look at the women’s game and the challenges around junior player recruitment and retention within the sport we all love. Hayley Wickenheiser, who’s been the voice of women’s hockey and one of it’s strongest advocates, teamed up with some big names in women’s hockey to make their case and it was not only well-received but it was probably one of the most necessary discussions that took place this week. Hayley, Ashley Ruggeirro of Team USA (and newly appointed IOC member), Mel Davidson...

One of the main columns of discussion at the World Hockey Summit from start to finish revolves around growing the game outside of North America where it is already well consumed. The primary targets for world development include the likes of Slovakia and other big hockey countries which have seeen the sport struggle since the economic downturn. Slavomir Lener noted yesterday that talent out of Slovakia has almost halved since 2002 and that trend is representative of European hockey struggling a little since many major league sponsors walked away from the game when the going got tough. With those targets...

The big topic of debate in the global hockey world lately has been around whether NHL superstars will be at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. After today’s discussions a few things have come to light: 1. Rene Fasel says he will wait as long as it takes for the NHL to make a decision to participate in the Olympics. 2. Gary Bettman reinforces the fact that his lack of decision to attend the Olympics does not mean he has decided not to attend the 2014 games in Russia 3. Brian Burke going off the wall will never ever get old....

In Vancouver we lay witness to one of the best executed Olympics in the history of the games and in a two weeks that at time seemed as if it was scripted like a fairytale we witnessed what Brian Burke referenced today as, “the perfect storm”. Today’s topic of discussion, conversation and debate revolved around international tournaments, specifically the 2010 Olympics that the world just witnessed in Vancouver and the establishment of a potential world hockey agenda. It was interesting in particular to hear Brian Burke and Ken Holland speak and present both perspectives with little bias considering both have...

Today Bettman had a presser for the first time since the first Kovalchuk contract was revoked and it was interesting to hear his take on the proceedings around the Olympics as well as the few NHL related cap questions he answered. It was also interesting to digest the press conference yourself as opposed to the media angle which chops up the footage and manipulates the context. For that reason I’ve actually posted the entire press conference we had today (albeit a short one) so that you can interpret the answers for yourself. One thing I do have to do is...

Day 2 at the World Hockey Summit was focused on player and skill development and the development of junior hockey internationally. The two sessions were run by Bob McKenzie and Jim Hughson respectively and each were filled with a lot of meaningful content and analysis. While the content was good and insightful the interesting thing will be to see what action is taken on the talks but before I get into that let me recap some of the big things discussed. The morning focused on issues of player retention and safety in junior hockey. The safety stuff we’ve all heard...

One of the ideas tabled during the hot stove discussions yesterday was during an address of the state of the game of hockey globally. An interesting concept that was tabled (which I think is more and more brilliant the longer I think about it) was tabled by Bob McCown and it was the suggestion of an international hockey tournament similar to the UEFA Champions League in European football. It’s the concept of pitting the best teams from hockey leagues around the world in an international tournament with the victor laying claim to one of the more prestigious titles in hockey....

With the first day of the World Hockey Summit wrapped up one thing is certain – there’s sure to be a lot more great discussion about moving the game forward. I knew heading into the summit there was going to be insightful analysis of the game at an global level and there certainly was no shortage of that. With representation from all bodies of hockey the first day’s hot stoves were not only informative but the discussion revolved around finding solutions to the issues raised. Steve Yzerman and Hayley Wickenhesier were amongst the panelists that were driving some very positively...

On Monday the who’s who in the hockey world are coming together to discuss the state of the game at the Molson World Hockey Summit and I’m privileged to be one of the chosen bloggers to represent both the blogging community Molson while covering the event. Now when I say the hockey world, I don’t just mean Bettman and the NHL’s brass. This is an international gathering which will see the heads of national bodies such as Hockey Canada, Hockey USA, and the Swedish Federation (amongst others), come together with the NHL’s brass, the IIHF, ambassadors of womens hockey and...