At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, IOC president Jacques Rogge went on record saying that if women’s hockey wanted to continue as an Olympic sport, the quality of competition would have to improve. Sorry, Canada and the United States, but you can’t win every game 10-0 anymore.
Winter Olympics 2014: IIHF doesn’t fear elimination of women’s hockey
Despite concerns over the quality of competition at the international level, the IIHF isn’t concerned about the IOC’s threats to eliminate women’s hockey from the Olympic program.
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“There must be at a certain stage an improvement. We cannot continue without improvement,” Rogge said. “There is an improvement in the number of nations -- and we want to see this wider.”
International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said Tuesday, according to Associated Press, that he does not fear the removal of women’s hockey from the Olympic program. The AP reports that the IIHF has poured resources into the women’s game in the three years since Rogge’s comments and that there’s an ultimate goal of making the game more competitive by the 2018 Olympics in Seoul.
But there are still clear issues with lopsided scores at the international level. The United States and Canada have won their non-head-to-head games at the 2013 Women’s World Championships by a combined score of 41-3, and the tournament will conclude Tuesday in Ottawa the same as it has in all of the 14 years it’s been contested: With a Canada vs. USA gold medal game.
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