The revived World Cup of Hockey could give the NHL leverage over the Olympics – Los Angeles Times

And now, the traditional Team Europe fight song …

That’s one announcement we won’t be hearing during the World Cup of Hockey, which begins Saturday with Team Europe — an amalgam of standouts from countries that lack the depth to ice competitive squads — facing Team USA. Team Europe, led by Kings captain Anze Kopitar, is a new entry and has no tradition. Nor will it have an anthem played before its games because it would take too long to play the national hymn of the more than half-dozen nations represented on its roster.

But Team North America, an intriguing mix of Canadians and Americans 23 years old and under, will hear “O Canada” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” before its games. Those might be the only occasions its speedsters will be seen standing still.

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Assn., in a rare example of cooperation, revived the dormant World Cup but altered the format. Instead of following the models of 1996 and 2004 — when Slovakia and Germany competed against the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia — Team Europe and Team North America were created to encompass many skilled players, including those from Slovakia and Germany.