Dominic Hasek - Olympics or The Cup?

[RadioGaGa 162]

Hasek was on Off the Record on TSN today. Landsberg asked him if European players care more about Olympic Gold than winning a Stanley Cup.

He answered (quite quickly)..."You have to be in North America for 5 years before you care more about The Cup".

I thought it was an honest answer...What do you guys think? Do European players care more about winning Gold for their country or a Cup for their "club team..."

...and, at what point do you think that focus changes (IF it changes)?

[Datsyukiandeek 0]

Olympic gold > Stanley Cup. Representing a team in a foriegn country with which you have no ties to takes a back seat to leading your country to a gold medal. Plus you only really get the chance ever four years and potentially pros may not even get to play in the near future. Most of the kids who can make an olympic squad now are most likely drafted or in the NHL.

[Vapor 0]

Cup > Gold. You play with a team for 82 games every year. You then trek through the stantley cup playoffs hoping to amass 16 W's. At best you play 5, 10 games in the olympics along with a handfull of practices. THESE DAYS the cup is worth more, no doubt.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Cup < Gold. You play with a team for 82 games every year. You then trek through the stantley cup playoffs hoping to amass 16 W's. At best you play 5, 10 games in the olympics along with a handfull of practices. THESE DAYS the cup is worth more, no doubt.

Isn't your greater than/less than backwards? I always though the great value (in this case, the Cup) was at the open end of the arrow? Mind you, I was never really a Math guy.

[Vapor 0]

lol, yes it was, thank you.

[RadioGaGa 162]

lol, yes it was, thank you.

No problem...

[hockeymom 2]

Gold. If anyone has been fortunate enough to be at an Olympics they know how emotional it is for all participants. Ex-pats get even more emotional about their home country. This would be especially true for new transplants who really are strangers in a strange land.

[mack 44]

Cup, only because I have no team that I could play for. That said, if I did have one I'd take the Gold because I would be the most lickable stamp evar.

[D aka speck 0]

I would say that the Cup has prestige in the U.S. and Canada. Olympic gold has prestige EVERYWHERE. The circle that I hang out with all have the general opinion that the Olympics are a recreational sort of thing. I guess, simply stated, North Americans might prefer Sir. Walter Stanley's Cup while the rest of the world is looking for Olympic gold. I will never win either of them. :)

[Patrick67 1]

To even try to win Gold you have the make the roster of one of the top nations, which is immensely hard.

Just look at all the great players that couldn't make the cut for the Canadien team, any NHL team would have had them, and yet Canada didn't even finish in the top4.

+ it's only every 4th year compared to the yearly Stanley Cup.

I'll say it right know; you have a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup than Olympic gold.

[Wayne 0]

Clearly, depending on what country/ dressing room a player is in at the time will change his answer to this question.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Cup, only because I have no team that I could play for. That said, if I did have one I'd take the Gold because I would be the most lickable stamp evar.

Well, you could play in the World Championships (division 3)

Being hosted in Ireland this April, was have contemplating going home for a long weekend, take in a game or 2.

Featuring such Ice Hockey powerhouses like Irelan, Mongolia, South Africa, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Armenia.

To the topic at hand, Olympic Gold, any day of the week. There is more of an entitlement attitude to olympic sports by the pros over here.

I don't understand how anyone would not WANT to represent their country, but then you see the NBA players turning it down.

Over here team seems to win out over country, as evidenced by the people they showed on the local news broadcasts here during the olympics, where people in DC were asked who they were rooting for, and they were saying Russia, because of Ovechkin.

I don't care what the sport is, from tiddlywinks to kneecapping, I will choose Ireland over any other country in the world, every time, don't even need to ask the question, and these people were rooting for Russia over the US and Canada because of a player. Mindboggling

[mack 44]

We're in. Get your gear, we're showing Mongols how it's done.

[hockeymom 2]

AllSmoke... "over here" refers to the US. In Canada, it is overwhelmingly country first. So much so that if Team Canada (both men's and women's teams) win anything less than Gold the entire country gets into an uproar. It might be viewed as a bit extreme, but part of our identity is interwoven with hockey.

[hockeyherb 1]

AllSmoke... "over here" refers to the US. In Canada, it is overwhelmingly country first. So much so that if Team Canada (both men's and women's teams) win anything less than Gold the entire country gets into an uproar. It might be viewed as a bit extreme, but part of our identity is interwoven with hockey.

We're no Swedes though. If Canada doesn't win Gold we don't publish a picture of their mugshots on the newspapers under the headline 'Traitors!'

Now that's a bit extreme!

[mack 44]

You also allow dual citizens too, so Sweden can be a little feverish if they want to.

[hockeyherb 1]

I guess the strategy works anyway since SWE won it the next time.