Just wanted to throw a few things out for discussion on the topic of the
World University Tournament.
 
First, I have no problem with Canadian born players not playing for the US
(NCAA) team.  I don't mean to sound conceited but we already know that
US-NCAA teams with US and Canadian born players are better than the CIAU
teams.  That isn't even a question.  It might also be unfair to ask
Canadian players to quasi-represent the US against fellow Canadians.
 
So while CIAU vs. NCAA isn't true in the sense that it isn't the full NCAA
all-stars, it also isn't truly Canada vs. USA either.  Imagine if they had
a tournament where you simply played on a collegiate national team.  So
Canadian-born NCAA players would be on Team Canada, etc.  That would be the
only true way to have it be Canada vs. USA.  I would be interested in
seeing such a game, but I'd also suggest that the USA would be clear
underdogs as well.
 
This was a great win for the CIAU, who had some good performances against
NCAA teams this season.  If they choose to continue this tournament, looks
like it will be a competitive series at least.  It would be a great to see
the canadian born players get to play for Canada, and play against US born
players.  Imagine the stories within the stories there, like this year
perhaps it could have been Chris Drury (BU forward, Hobey runner-up) having
to go one-on-one with Michel Larocque (BU goalie).
 
For NCAA fans, I would think that having a true US-born collegiates vs.
Canadian-born collegiates (no matter NCAA, or CIAU) would be more exciting.
 For starters, you'd get to see more of the players, most schools would get
to see players from their team(s) playing against each other, and it would
be quite a game in my opinion.  Most importantly, it would mean more to the
winning group.  Sure, the CIAU fans feel great after their victory.  And
I'm not taking anything away from that or from the CIAU, but what if the US
wins next year?  Are we (as NCAA fans) really going to care?
 
I suggest most NCAA fans won't because many "expected" to win this year,
and will likely continue to "expect" to win.  Also, I would think more
media outlets would be interested in covering US vs. Canada rather than
NCAA (sans Candians) vs. CIAU.
 
 
 
 
 
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Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])
 
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