Hockey Night in Poznań?

The Brits living here don't have much problem finding football to watch on TV. However, it's a different story if you're a Canadian sports fan. While most people here do know what hockey is, and some even know who Mariusz Czerkawski and the Edmonton Oilers are, it's not an easy task to find a good game to watch. So imagine my joy when I turned on the TV the other day (something I rarely do, most of the channels seem to be in Polish, imagine that) and flipped around the channels and found myself watching Canadian jerseys skating up and down the rink! Yes, it's the World Hockey Championships, being broadcast live in Poland on Polsat Sport until May 18th.

Without getting into too much detail, here's what the tournament is all about. While it's not as prestigious as the Olympics, internationally it's the next biggest thing. Sixteen countries are represented at the tournament, split into four groups. The top two teams from each group move to the quarter final round, of course followed by the semi-final and finally the championship game will be played on the 18th. The strange thing though is that this is happening at the same time as the NHL (National Hockey League) playoffs are going on in North America. So, many of the best players in the world, from all countries, are busy playing for their team and therefore can't play for their countries. Not to worry, many teams didn't make the playoffs, or have already been eliminated from the playoffs and so those players are available making the talent pool more than big enough.

Sweden, Switzerland, Belarus and France are in one group; Canada, USA, Latvia, Slovenia in another; Finland, Slovakia, Germany, Norway in the third; Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark, Italy in the last. So, if you need a break from football and want to watch a fast paced, physical game, turn on the tube, Polsat Sport, in the next couple of weeks and maybe in a few years we'll get to watch Poland take part!