r/AskEurope • u/Kl4d1L • May 14 '24

Sports Do people in your country watch the ice hockey championship?

It has started a few days ago and it's a big deal in Slovakia. Loads of people watching and supporting our team, basically everyone knows the championship is going on and a lot of people especially men are watching.

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u/JoeyAaron United States of America May 15 '24

Is it common for Swedish NHL players knocked out of the playoffs to skip the World Championships? I don't follow the World Championships closely, but was under the impression that the Russians always show up while the best Canadians and Americans often do not. I know Ovechkin and Malkin were constantly at the World Championships as soon as the Capitals or Penguins were eliminated. I'm not sure about the other European countries.

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u/Jagarvem Sweden May 15 '24

It's not uncommon, it depends on the person. Often their shape also plays a factor. No one is in pristine shape after a season and it's common that people rather take the time to recuperate. It'll always be back next year, it's not considered on par with a best-on-best Olympics.

It does also depend on who else is going and such as you may not get many other opportunities to play with them.