HELSINKI – The Karjala Cup, a national team event Hockey Canada is employing to fine-tune its roster for the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, has been around since 1992. The Karjala Cup has taken on more importance this fall because it's an Olympic year and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made his foolish decision months ago to stop the game's best from competing. As a result, tournament organizers made a smart decision to expand from its usual foursome of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden to include Canada and Switzerland. Canada rallies for opening winThe latter two countries opened the five-day tournament Wednesday in Biel, Switzerland, with Canada scoring a 3-2 win. But I do know that while a boycott would cost countries like Canada some pretty good hockey players, Russia wouldn't have many players left to play."

Source: CBC News November 09, 2017 18:56 UTC