Is it a crazy idea or a great plan? NHL President Gary Bettman wishes ice hockey would not be played at the Winter Olympics, but at the Summer Games. So the best players in the world can fight for the gold without having to interrupt the NHL season.
After the NHL, in consultation with the NHLPA Players Association, canceled participation in the Beijing Games within a month due to numerous postponements due to the Covid infection, there were critical voices from NHL stars.
Now Bateman was asked in a television interview by former Lugano striker Anson Carter if he had never considered asking the International Olympic Committee if hockey could not be played at the Summer Games. The NHL president replied that he’s already tried it since the mid-1990s.
In 1998, the NHL stars were at the Olympics for the first time
With his demand to be able to participate in the Summer Games, he has long fallen on deaf ears at the International Olympic Committee. why? Pittman thinks the ice hockey tournament is probably too important for the Winter Games.
In 1998, NHL stars participated in the Olympic Games for the first time. The last time they were in Sochi was in 2014. In 2018, the league did not allow its players to go to Pyeongchang.
When the NHL and NHLPA agreed to a new collegiate agreement, the players’ request to attend the Olympics was approved. However, the union had to make way for other negotiating points.
Ice hockey was already an Olympic once in the summer
Summer Olympic hockey will be very interesting for the NHL and also for the European Championships because then you don’t have to let players go in the middle of the season. On the other hand, it would take a lot of getting used to for many people if they played ice hockey while the temperatures were rising outside. This has always been the norm in North America ever since the NHL expanded into sunny areas. Over the past two years, the Stanley Cup has gone to Florida to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Winter Olympic Games have existed since 1924. Before that, ice hockey was already Olympic: in 1920 in Antwerp, Canada won the gold medal at the end of April. Switzerland was one of seven nations participating in the tournament at the time, losing first 0:29 to the United States and then 0:4 to Sweden.
At that time, there was gold for Switzerland in freestyle wrestling (King of Wrestling Robert Roth, heavyweight) and rowing (Willie Broderlin, Max Rudolph, Paul Rudolph, Hans Walter, Paul Staub, four men with helmsman).
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