The year of 2016 brought a new experience for hockey players, managers and fans. In 1996 and 2004, the World Cup of Hockey was a new addition adding some extra flare for hockey fans during the typically boring months of August and September. For an unknown reason, the tournament was cancelled and was finally brought back this year.

Since there are only 8 teams involved, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) chose to add some X-factors, including the addition of team North America and Team Europe. Team North America consists of the best players from both Canada and the United States that are under 23 years old, while Team Europe consists of players that are from countries in Europe not involved in the tournament already. Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Russia, and the Czech Republic also have teams that will be represented in the World Cup of Hockey.

A lot of questions have been asked surrounding this tournament and it has led to some controversy. The scheduling of the tournament, directly before the start of the NHL regular season, worries fans of all 30 teams that their star players representing their country or continent will get hurt before the season even starts. Multiple players have already gotten hurt and it is scaring many fans.

The action during the tournament was like no other: from Nathan MacKinnon’s absolutely insane overtime game winning goal against Sweden that turned Rangers all star goalie Henrik Lundqvist into a pretzel, to Brad Marchand scoring with only 54 seconds left to win the World Cup against the impressive Team Europe, to Team USA’s absolutely embarrassing performance. It was an entertaining tournament for fans of all ages and from around the world.