by Caroline Favret ’18
The World Cup of Hockey is set to take place in Toronto this September, and is a can’t miss for hockey fans around the world. It replaced the Canada Cup in 1996, but this year’s tournament will only be it’s third installment.
In the 2016 edition, Team Europe and Team North America will join the “Big Six” teams, which are Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and USA. Team Europe will consist of a pan-European roster of players from birth countries outside of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden, while Team North America is under-23 players from the US and Canada.
Science teacher Mr. Stern is particularly interested to see how the young Team North America fares.
”Bringing in this group will be fun because there’s some really good youth players”, Stern said, even though most are already NHL players. He’s excited to see how this first time team compares.
Team North America boasts Columbus Blue Jackets Brandon Saad, Seth Jones, and Ryan Murray, in addition to Brandon Dubinsky and Jack Johnson on Team USA.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will be hosting Team USA at Nationwide Arena for their training camp in preparation for this year’s tournament. The camp concludes with a game against rival Team Canada on Sept 9.
Junior Jake Evans, who plans to attend, said, “I would personally take Canada just because of the amount of talent they have and their depth, but USA always knows how to stick with the Canadians”.
Stern agrees on this one.
“I’m hoping for team USA but not holding my breath”, Stern said.