2018 World Championship Review
There is no doubt that the World of hockey is getting smaller and the 2018 World Championship proved that this year.
For years the transition has been happening as teams that were never a part of the medal conversation are beginning to make their case for being considered.
This year the tournament saw that throughout each round as teams did not have the easiest time in getting to the medals.
In the round-robin, some of the top teams in international hockey saw some surprising finishes against teams that were never supposed to give them problems.
Some of the top teams in the world had difficulty and it set the tone for the rest of the tournament.
Heading into the playoffs there was still those teams that everyone expected to be there and from the looks of it, they were going to be the ones left at the end.
Those big teams were all going to fight it out to get the gold medal like they do every year because in the end, the top teams are still the top teams.
The gap is still there even if it is closing every year and so the playoffs were expected to pan out much the same way as they had usually panned out.
That wasn’t so much the case though as the theme of the entire tournament seemed to continue into the playoffs.
The Latvians had been great all year and they put a scare into the Swedes in the quarterfinals almost eliminating a favourite.
It wasn’t to be but the tone was set as the rest of the quarterfinals showed that the gap was closing.
The Americans barely got by the Czechs in their quarterfinal while the only game against the big teams ended in overtime as expected with the Canadians coming out on top.
The biggest surprise was when the Finns were eliminated by the Swiss as one of the big teams was no longer in the hunt.
In the semi-finals, it was going to be a good fight between the Americans and Swedes while the Canadians were supposed to beat the Swiss.
Once again that wasn’t the case as the Swedes took care of the USA but the Swiss were able to get by the Canadians thanks to some great goaltending.
It was a shock as the Canadians seemed like they were on their way to another gold medal game but the Swiss proved that this year’s team was too good.
They were able to take the win and move to the gold medal game where they were going to take on the Swedes.
Switzerland was hoping to continue the surprises and try to take the gold medal away from the team that took home the gold a year ago.
They did their best to upset the Swedes pushing the superstar-filled team to a shootout in a game that nobody expected.
In the end, the Swedes came out on top and took their second straight gold medal giving rise to a strange pattern in the World Championship.
For the last two years the Swedes have been on top and the two years before that the Canadians were on top.
That pattern shows that the best teams are still on top and that they are the teams that are most likely to win the medals every year.
These teams are still the best and the gap is still there as they will enter any major tournament as the favourites to win.
The run that the Swiss had is becoming more common though and the upsets are almost always guaranteed somewhere along the way.
It is becoming far more common for a team like the Swiss who have often been seen in the middle of the standings are now silver medalists.
It is a good sign for the stat of hockey as more teams playing well can only mean good things for the game around the world.
That gap clearly still exists as the top teams are still the top teams but there are some smaller teams beginning to be consistent in their ability to surprise.
If that continues these tournaments could get a lot more interesting and more teams might have a better chance.
The path is still a long one until that begins happening consistently but this year’s World Championship shows that more teams are ready to compete.
The Sport Addiction 