Hockey

Olympic men's hockey can be divided into two leagues: the teams of NHL members and those teams that aren't.

The NHL teams dominate. And so, as of late, it usually always comes down to Canada and the U.S. (In fact, in women's hockey, it really is a two team tournament, because Canada and the U.S. will cakewalk to the final).

But I wonder if for hockey teams, like Italy (which has no NHL hockey members), if it is a thrill to play teams like Canada (which is made up entirely of NHL players and is coached by the Great One).

I mean who has the chance to play hockey against NHL players? Don't regular Joes pay money to do that while on dream vacations?

Sure, the Italians got walloped, but they got the experience to play against the best of the best. Now surely as a weaker team there is something that can be learned from that.

Of course, one can argue it is unfair to put in teams that are NHL only.