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Poll: Should the World Championships go on hiatus during Winter Olympic years?

Russia v Czech Republic - 2010 IIHF World Championship

COLOGNE, GERMANY - MAY 23: of Russia and of Czech Republic battle for the puck during the IIHF World Championship gold medal match between Russia and Czech Republic at Lanxess Arena on May 23, 2010 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Martin Rose

During the weekend, Toronto Maple Leafs GM - also, the man who put together the silver medal winning US team - Brian Burke called for the IIHF World Championships to take the year off during Winter Olympic years. (Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that Burke is also the manager of a U.S. squad that floundered into the relegation round during the summer tournament.) TSN has more on Burke’s stance.

“If you ask 30 GMs, they would tell you this is a tournament that should be played every other year. Not only eliminate the Olympic year but play it every other year,” said Burke. “The minimum solution for me would be to drop it in Olympic years. I’d like someone from the IIHF to explain to me why we do instead of dinging our players for not going.”

My general rule with hockey - and other things in life that are awesome - is “the more, the merrier.” Still, hockey is a violent sport and NHL players already exposed themselves to a full season plus that fantastic, high-pressure Winter Olympics run. Ideally, the World Championships would go on every year but athletes would have very little expectations to show up each year.

So, you have Burke’s stance and my stance. Now let’s hear what you think. We’ll skip over the “every other year” talk and just see if you think the tournament should take place the same year as the Olympics.