Thursday, February 17, 2011

Canada vs USA in ... New Zealand?

A rumour on the International Hockey Forums that has been circulating for awhile was that Team Canada and Team USA were heading to New Zealand to play a few games showcasing the North American style of hockey to the masses down under.

The event is being put on by the Douglas Webber Group and will take place in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin at the end of July and beginning of August. 

Schremp when he played for Edmonton
Until today, there was a lot of skeptics as to how can the DW Group could say they will be bringing NHL talent to New Zealand without any proof. Well, today there was an article announcing that Rob Schremp from the New York Islanders and Kyle Quincy from the Colorado Avalanche will be the captains of their respective countries.

With this announcement in New Zealand brings a lot of questions from the hockey minds around the world. No mention of this has been made by Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, or the International Ice Hockey Federation begging the question who will pay for the insurance for these players? If Schremp, Quincy or the other NHL players that still have yet be announced were to get hurt during these games, their NHL teams would not cover medical expenses and would not pay their NHL salaries. Seems like a big risk for some NHL players who could be risking some big contracts, like Quincy who is making $3,000,000 USD this season. However, Quincy has only played 21 games this season because he had a season ending shoulder injury and needs surgery. So would it be a smart idea for him to travel to New Zealand in the off season to play in a tournament and risk being injured again? I am sure the Avalanche would not like that!


Another interesting part of the article stated that games will be played on a 26m x 56m mobile hockey rink. Just a reminder that a NHL sized rink is 25.91m x 60.96m. Why the smaller playing surface? Possibly to allow more room to sell tickets?

Full information can be found here on the event webpage., and it will be interesting to see who else will make the trip to New Zealand. 
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3 comments:

  1. Azzy77February 17, 2011 at 7:41:00 PM AST

    From emails I have seen, Hockey Canada and Hockey USA have no involvement in this. They are aware of this happening but it has nothing to do with them.

    Also I have heard a rumour that the NZIHF have been told not to support this event, as it will not be sanctioned by IIHF. Douglas and Webber have a link to NZIHF on their website which they have been instructed to remove, but so far haven't complied

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2011 at 8:04:00 AM AST

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  3. tylerbiltonMarch 8, 2011 at 9:56:00 AM AST

    thanks for the insurance info, and i think the hockey event is turning into a scam.

    ReplyDelete

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