Are you aware...

[mtnlion]

Sorry for a bad title, but it's to add people's curiosity.

So at the moment Ice Hockey World Championships are under way in Finland. Ice hockey is easily the most popular sport in Finland and I've always felt that the Championships are overrated and hyped here. I also feel that Finnish people don't realize that ice hockey is only big in Canada and Finland (maybe in Sweden and Czech Republic as well ). So because this is multi-cultural forum I'm interested about different people's thoughts and knowledge about ice hockey.

[alexgv1]

Watched two ice hockey games in my life, at a stadium in a town called Milton Keynes, not too far from me. I enjoyed it, but there is zero awareness/availability/interest in the UK. I would be interested to see it more, I spend a lot of time praying for a fight (like most other sports   ) but I'd be rubbish at playing because I can't skate.

[JumboShrimp]

While I am aware of it, here in New York City, we are in middle of Chris-sanity,  Rangers brought Chris Kreider from Boston College to New York Rangers, straight into Stanly Cup play-offs.  Kreider turns out to be one of the best (if not the best) forwards for the Rangers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kreider

[JumboShrimp]

But I certainly don't mind Slovakia knocking out Canada 

[RushmoreAir]

I'm not a huge fan of Ice Hockey, but the only (semi) professional sports team we have in our region is the "Rapid City Rush" ice hockey team (Part of the CHL, not the NHL) so I attend a few games per season.

[swiftus27]

Me:

I still play adult hockey.

[mtnlion]

As a thread opener I forgot to add about my own relationship with hockey. 

I played for almost 10 years in relatively high level and I played the goalkeeper's position. I quit hockey when I was 19 because lack of interest and ambition. I've always been big fan of HIFK (Helsinki) and still go to their games.

But like I said, the World Championships hype is too much even for me. They call it the World Championships even though there is maybe 5 countries that could realistically win the trophy. Of those few countries only European countries follow the games as NHL has playoffs going on and they are more interesting for Canadians and American hockey fans. Oh, guess what the best players are still in the NHL and the World Championships is played every year. What's the value?

[JumboShrimp]

Any opinions on the sem-finals?

Now that the Sweden is out, I would go with Czech Republic over Slovakia
and in the other semis, Russia over Finland.  I bet it will be a huge game, with the home crowd for Finland...

[ArcherII]

I WISH I could watch some ice hockey from down here...

[JumboShrimp]

I found several live streams online.  One from some Russian TV station, another one from Czech TV station.  And these were just first 2 links I clicked on...

Any prediction for the medal games?  I am betting Finland over Czech Republic.

In the finals, Russia has almost as may stars as the Milky Way, but I wonder if they will be aligned for the final game.  Slovakia has the best defenseman in the world IMO (Chara), hot golie and Satan on their side...  It could be an upset in favor of Slovakia...

[ArcherII]

I found several live streams online.  One from some Russian TV station, another one from Czech TV station.  And these were just first 2 links I clicked on...

Any prediction for the medal games?  I am betting Finland over Czech Republic.

In the finals, Russia has almost as may stars as the Milky Way, but I wonder if they will be aligned for the final game.  Slovakia has the best defenseman in the world IMO (Chara), hot golie and Satan on their side...  It could be an upset in favor of Slovakia...

I have Sopcast, but my poor old system won't comply. I really enjoyed the 2010 Winter Games, as I could watch almost every game. Rooted for Canada on that one and Russia underperformed badly specially an "over-defeneded" Ovechkin.

[ICEcoldair881]

But I certainly don't mind Slovakia knocking out Canada 

Keep dreaming...