Mike Smith didn't play, but the Coyotes goalie is on the roster for Team Canada at the World Championships and they beat Germany 10-0.

OEL may or may not have scored the winner in a shootout for (presumably) Team Sweden but I did not care enough to look it up and confirm the Tweet.

A guy from the team I like is playing for a team I don't care about.

If OEL plays in a darts tournament over the summer, should I cover that too?

I may be in the minority, but I don't care about international hockey. Team Canada either wins or it's a disappointment when they don't - they are so heavily favored that it isn't even really fun when they do, or they lose and are a terrible international embarrassment. Either way, whether it's Olympics or anything else, you can count me out.

I am into team building and trades and interesting competition, none of which are featured in any international tournament. Players are assigned to the team of the country they are born in - it's the hockey version of a Monarchy.

It doesn't inspire me to see poor old Anze Kopitar represent his country with 20 AHL/KHL players as they attempt to take on an all-star team from Russia - it bores the hell out of me.

And the World Championships are just the worst example of all international tournaments because played concurrently with the NHL Playoffs, and the contrast is not flattering at all.

Like Mothers and Fathers Day, like Valentines Day........well, pretty much any day where you capitalize the "D," international hockey exists to make money off of people who don't really think about what those things mean.

Here's an example or two of why it's sort of bizarre to care about sports along national lines:

I don't know anyone from Russia. I have never been there. If Canada beats or loses to Russia at hockey, it doesn't matter at all to me, as I have nothing against them.

I live in Toronto. I am Canadian. To the east is the Province of Quebec, and to the west, Manitoba. Despite being "Canadian," as the 4th largest city in North America, people from Toronto clearly have more in common with the people of Buffalo,Detroit, Chicago, New York, New Jersey or Boston that you do with the rest of the country.

Did you know that 19 of the NHL's 29 can be driven to from Toronto in less time than it takes to drive from Toronto to Winnipeg?

So why should I cheer for Winnipeg because they're Canadian and not, say, Buffalo, since they're like two hours away? How do borders (imaginary by the way) magically imply more distance than actual distance?

Why should I cheer for a player more if he was born in Alberta than if he was born in Michigan? It literally makes no sense to me.

Anyways, there's nothing wrong if you personally are into international hockey, but it's not for me.

So, like if you come up to me and try to talk to me about the British Royals having a baby, or who Pitbull is dating, or anything about the Oscars, or what happened on Facebook, or if you show me a picture of your food, or if you mention reality TV, what socks you wore yesterday, boxing, the NFL, the Grammy awards, modern video games, what any poll says, what sign you are, your views on advanced stats, if an assistant coach calls you a bad name, why you'd seriously, for reals, take Eichel over McDavid and etc.

then I will give you a disturbing vacant look and hopefully not get sucked into a conversation I don't ever really want to have. Because the World Championships are lame and I would rather discuss virtually anything else you can think of.

Thanks for reading.

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