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John Tortorella compares winning the World Cup of Hockey to the Stanley Cup

By David Rouben

Feb 5, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Fans hold a sign of Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella on his bench during the game against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 5, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Fans hold a sign of Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella on his bench during the game against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /
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John Tortorella, head coach of Team USA, believes that winning the World Cup of Hockey would be comparable to his Stanley Cup win.

Even though the World Cup of Hockey is supposed to be a big deal, nobody seems to care. This is the first time they’ve held the competition since 2004, and it’s almost going to coincide with the start of the NHL calendar. It seems even the networks that are broadcasting the World Cup could care less, as there’s hardly been any advertising for it so far.

But if there’s one person who has a vested interest, it’s Team USA coach John Tortorella. Torts has bounced around the NHL in the past couple of years, but is currently settled in with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Known for his short fuse and memorable soundbites, Torts was a Jack Adams winner back in 2004, when he won the Cup with Tampa Bay, and when talking about the upcoming World Cup, he provided another hilarious quote for the press:

"For a U.S. team to go into Toronto, a Canadian city, fantastic hockey city, what that atmosphere is going to be like. And to go in there and do our business and try to do it the right way, at this point in time in my career, it’s going to have to rank as one of the top things because it’s your country and it’s the U.S. in Canada.I was very fortunate to win the Stanley Cup, [but] to do something in this situation and try to come into a situation and win it, man oh man, I’m not sure where you’d rank that."

Tortorella will have to hope that his players care as much about the World Cup as he does. There’s no question the Stanley Cup is the biggest prize in hockey, and the only thing that can compare to it on the international level is winning Olympic Gold. Torts has served as an assistant coach for Team USA in previous Olympics, which makes it even more hilarious that he actually put the World Cup above that.

And if Tortorella really did care that much about winning the World Cup, then he probably should’ve included Phil Kessel on the team who, despite the fact that he just won a Stanley Cup, must still feel like he doesn’t get enough respect. Even though the roster they have is still very talented, it doesn’t look deep enough to beat Canada.

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