The Weekly Links post highlights important or interesting writing from the hockey blogosphere and media. Enjoy!
- The NHL-run World Cup of Hockey is underway in Toronto. Despite some half empty arenas, international fans have made their presence known. [Sportsnet]
- Team Europe may not exist at the 2020 World Cup. A look at this hybrid team and its players. [Sportsnet]
- Will the World Cup spell the end of NHL participation at the Olympics? [Spectors Hockey]
- Finally, Travis Yost explains how the NHL is moving towards a more international style of play in terms of physicality, with rapidly declining rates of fighting and boarding penalties. [TSN]
- Two different takes on concussions in hockey: firstly, Travis Waldron takes a look at former NHL enforcers who are struggling with a variety of ailments from their hockey careers and who want to see legislative change to make the sport safer. [Huffington Post]
- Secondly, Mike Murphy offers a critique of the idea that fighting is the major cause of concussions, and a call to look deeply at the other aspects of the game that cause them. [Blueshirt Banter]
- A profile of Gabor Matyas, a 16 year-old from Spain who is pursuing a hockey career in Canada. [HEO Midget AAA Hockey]
- The Chicago Blackhawks are expanding their radio coverage to include 14 games in Spanish, in a move to serve their Hispanic fans. [Second City Hockey]
- More love for the Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi broadcasters, this time from Darpan Magazine:
- Shannon Szabados continues her career in men’s professional hockey, joining the Peoria Rivermen of the Southern Professional Hockey League. [Journal Star]
- The NHL continues to deny that fans are not interested in salary cap websites, despite ample evidence to the contrary. *cough* GeneralFanager *cough* [Puck Daddy]
- While the Ottawa Senators and NHL are interested in holding an outdoor game at Parliament Hill, there are a large number of government protocols – such as prohibitions on charging admission for events at the public space – that make it unlikely to happen. [CBC News]
- Former NHLer Dave Babych helped resue an injured teenage hiker near Vancouver, and is being hailed as a hero. [CTV News]