Another Worlds, Another Semifinal Loss

The IIHF World Championships concluded over the weekend with Finland defeating Canada for the gold.  The United States finished fourth, losing to the Czech Republic (sorry..."Czechia") in the bronze medal game after falling to Finland in the semis.  It was a remarkable 11th consecutive semifinal loss at the World Championships for the Americans, who haven't finished better than bronze since 1950.  (Their last World Championship was in 1933.)

On the surface, it's hard to believe that the U.S. hasn't even been to the final at a World Championships in more than 70 years.  The Olympic gold medals in 1960 and 1980 are the only global championships the U.S. has won in that time.  And, what's even more unbelievable is that the Olympic silver medals in 2002 and 2010 represent the only times the United States has made a global final since the fall of the Soviet Union.

There are several reasons for this, of course.  The biggest of which is the timing of the World Championships.  Every year, they're held in mid-May, which is right in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  As a result, players from teams that are still active in the playoffs are not available for Worlds.  Which impacts the U.S. and Canada more than anybody else.

Canada, however, has a much larger pool to choose from than the United States does.  So, even though many top Canadian players are unavailable due to the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year, there are still more than enough guys for them to field a team of entirely NHL players.  They also always seem to get reinforcements midway through the tournament when players from playoff teams that are eliminated in the first round join.

Team USA usually ends up with a fair amount of NHL players at the World Championships, but it's not an all-NHL roster.  Because of the availability issues, there's usually several minor leaguers and a handful of college players.  This year's World Championships squad featured a number of players who were on the Olympic team, which obviously had no NHL guys.

It actually goes to show how deep the talent pool in the United States is.  It's nowhere near the best team the country could field.  That one would feature Auston Matthews, Chris Kreider, Jack Eichel, Adam Fox, Connor Hellebuyck in goal, etc.  (Seth Jones did play at the World Championships and had 30-plus minutes of ice time in some games.)  But a team that clearly wasn't all the best players in the U.S. still made it the semifinals.

Then there's the fact that the World Championships aren't nearly as important in the United States as they are in the other participating countries.  The tournament is played in Europe every year, partially because of the Stanley Cup Playoffs taking place in North America, partially because the tournament matters much more to the Europeans.  The U.S. and Canada focus more on Olympic gold.  The Europeans want to win the World Championship.

All of the European leagues finish their season before the World Championships start.  So, the players in those leagues are all available for the tournament.  The only ones missing are the handful that play in the NHL.  That's obviously the best players in those countries.  I'm sure Germany wouldn't mind having Leon Draisaitl and Sweden would obviously want Mika Zibanejad and Gabriel Landeskog on the roster.  (Russia was barred from the tournament, so Tampa Bay's Russians wouldn't have been able to play at Worlds regardless.)  But those countries don't have all of their top players playing in the NHL, so they're still able to field a team with some of the best players the country has to offer.

More importantly, they're able to put their team together much earlier and actually practice together.  That chemistry can make a major difference.  Especially when the U.S. and Canada have guys flying in mid-tournament who they not only have to work in with everyone who's already there, they have to do it while throwing those players immediately into game situations.

While not as significant as some of the other factors, I think the fact that Worlds are always in Europe makes a difference, too.  The Europeans don't have to adjust to the time difference.  The North Americans do.  And that's made even more difficult for the guys who are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, then immediately head to Worlds.  I'm not saying they're all jetlagged.  But would it really be a surprise if they were?

This is also hockey we're talking about here.  Hockey and soccer are probably the only two sports where you can go into a World Cup or World Championships or Olympic tournament and honestly have no idea who's gonna win.  That's because there isn't much separation between the top teams.  So, if everyone's healthy and at full strength, anybody can beat anybody.

When you consider all those things, then, it shouldn't really be completely surprising that the United States isn't a regular medalist at the IIHF World Championships.  At the five Olympics that featured NHL players (1998-2014), the U.S. won two silver medals, but also lost a bronze medal game and was eliminated in the quarterfinals twice.  So, even a team of NHL players isn't guaranteed victory (or a medal at all).

But still, 11 straight semifinal losses is a crazy stat.  It shows that the team the United States is sending to the World Championships is clearly good enough to be competitive.  Just not as good as whoever they run into in the semifinals.  And there probably isn't one specific reason why they can't get over the semifinal hump.  It's probably a combination of all those things.

Although, frankly, even winning the World Championship probably wouldn't resonate that much with American hockey fans who are preoccupied with the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Hopefully I'm wrong about that one and we'll eventually find out.  Because the U.S. has to win a semifinal eventually.  Right?