2016 World Cup of Hockey

2016 World Cup of Hockey
Date	17-29 September 2016
Location	Toronto, Canada
Host Country	Canada
Champions	Canada
Runner up	Team Europe
Gold Medal Game Score	2-1

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey was held in Toronto, Canada from 17-29 September, although the pre-tournament started already on Thursday 8 September. Canada won the tournament, beating Team Europe in 2 games of a best of 3 series, scoring 2-1 in the gold medal game. Sidney Crosby was the captain of Team Canada, and unanimously selected as tournament MVP. Evgeni Malkin was an alternate captain for Team Russia.

Pittsburgh Penguins Players

There were several Penguins players participating in the tournament:

Player	Team	Result	Notable Event
Sidney Crosby	Team Canada	1st	Awarded MVP
Carl Hagelin	Team Sweden	3rd
Patric Hornqvist	Team Sweden	3rd
Evgeni Malkin	Team Russia	4th
Matt Murray	Team North America	5th	Broke his hand in a game vs Russia
Olli Maatta	Team Finland	8th

Phil Kessel Controversy

Phil Kessel was left out of the roster for Team USA (and therefore chose to go through with an off-season hand surgery), which was considered a snub by many and a decision Team USA received heavy criticism for. Other skilled players were also left off the roster, as Hockey USA set forth to build a team specifically designed to beat Canada. USA finished second to last in the tournament.

The night Team USA was eliminated from the tournament, Kessel tweeted out the following:

The tweet, not directed at the players but at Hockey USA for leaving him off the roster, was not received well by the American players on the team or coaching/management staff. Somewhat lost in the outrage over Kessel's tweet, was the fact that Head Coach John Tortorella and GM Dean Lombardi said they had constructed the team they had (big, physical, grinders) because they did not have the skilled players to compete with the talent of Team Canada.

Salary

The NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) will receive just above $20M from the World Cup revenues. It's believed that the split will be 70/30, with the players who participated in the tournament getting $100,000 and the remaining players getting $10,000.

The $100,000 includes a stipend of either $9,500 or $12,000 ($12,000 for players on semifinalists Canada, Europe, Sweden and Russia), but does not include the bonuses of approximately $20,000 and ca $10,000 that players on Team Canada and Team Europe will receive for their appearance in the final, respectively.