from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

Is Team North America a gimmick? Absolutely. Will money be made on tickets, merchandise and the like? Absolutely. And there's nothing wrong with it. Perhaps only six or seven of the 23 players would have been in the tournament playing for Canada and USA otherwise and so many of these players are worth the price of admission.

And let's not forget the television aspect. ESPN, which hasn't televised hockey since 2004, will spend the entire month of September broadcasting the tournament and talking up the sport in the same month the NFL is kicking off and baseball is heading down the wire of its schedule. That's no small victory for the game.

The last World Cup was in 2004 and there was a pall over the event because it was the final set of games played before the lockout that canceled the season. If this tournament goes well, it could mean another one in 2020 and maybe an exit, stage left from the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. The NHL shutting its season down for three weeks in February -- after football is over -- has always seemed goofy. Playing a tournament like this in September is a tremendous scene-setter for the upcoming season.

Of course, there's going to be money made. And what's wrong with that? We're going to see great hockey. That's what's important.

more on the World Cup plus other hockey topics...