Inching Closer to Ice Hockey at the Winter Olympic Games
By Colin Newby
Sports fans tuned into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games over the course of the past two weeks. The Flyers won’t drop the puck for almost two months, and the games were a decent novelty in the meantime.
The closing ceremony aired on NBC Sunday night. The traditions are always nice to watch, but the most appealing competition of the Summer Olympics didn’t live up to the hype this time around.
Fans of major professional sports, especially in the United States, will typically fixate on basketball during the Summer Olympics and ice hockey during the Winter Olympics. Men’s basketball underwhelmed in Tokyo. Although Team USA won the gold medal, they hardly impressed against world competition. Many big name NBA stars elected to sit out the Tokyo games for a variety of reasons. Team USA women also took home the gold.
That’s all well and good, but Flyers fans and hockey fans alike will now get set for the real highlight of Olympic competition.
The pride shown during the men’s ice hockey tournament is unparalleled by professional athletes representing their home countries, and the NHL will once again allow their players to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
The decision made by the NHL is in the best interest of hockey fans after the lackluster showing in men’s ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang (South Korea) in which the best players in the world didn’t participate.
The games will run from February 4-20, 2022. The Flyers will likely have several representatives in Beijing. Defenseman Ivan Provorov is expected to play an integral role for the Russian team. Sean Couturier and Carter Hart will be in consideration to play for Team Canada, and Joel Farabee and Kevin Hayes have outside chances to land roster spots for Team USA.
The women’s ice hockey tournament has also grown considerably in popularity over the course of the past few Winter Olympic Games.
Olympic hockey will undoubtedly be a topic of conversation leading up to the month of February. Get your Miracle quotes in order. We’re only six months away.