Some of the National Hockey League's best players will compete in the Five Nations Cup in West Valley City this November.
Not possible?
It is if you're talking about the top NHL players of, say, 2006, 2007 or 2008.
At the moment, they are under the age of 18. But they are the best in the world, for their age, and will come from Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland to challenge the host U.S. team in the pre-Olympic event Nov. 5-10 at the E Center.
Meanwhile, the world's top women's teams — Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden — will compete in the Four Nations Cup Nov. 7-11 at The Peaks Ice Arena in Provo. And many of those players, perhaps 80 percent, will be back to go for the gold in the 2002 Winter Games.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee has released the schedule for both events, which will put their respective venues and Olympic volunteers to the test.
"With the women, you've got the top four teams in the world — the same countries you're going to see in the Olympics and many of the same players," said Chuck Menke, spokesman for USA Hockey, which is co-sponsoring the two events along with SLOC.
"With the men, these are five of the top six hockey-playing countries in the world. You might not see them in Olympic jerseys in Salt Lake City, but you'll see them in the NHL someday . . . These kids are all going to be drafted. They're the stars of the future."
Each team will play four games in the men's round-robin tournament.
Canada was originally scheduled to compete in the men's Cup, but the Canadians do not participate in many international competitions with players of that age group, Menke said. The Canadians were replaced by the Czech Republic.
In the women's tournament, each team will play three games in the preliminary round. The top two teams will play for the gold medal, and the other two will compete for the bronze.
If the Four Nations Cup goes anything like the International Ice Hockey Federation's Women's World Hockey Championships did in April, Team Canada and Team USA will meet for the title.
The scheduled Nov. 8 preliminary match between Canada and the United States will be the first time the two national teams have met since Canada's 3-2 overtime win over the United States April 9 in Ontario, Canada. That gave the Canadians their sixth consecutive women's hockey world title.
The Americans, however, are the defending Olympic gold medalists.
Liz Ridley, SLOC's manager of ice hockey, said the U.S. women's team that plays here in November could be a bit younger, with some college players on the roster, than the one that lost to Canada in April.
It's difficult to tell which of the five men's teams will be most dominant in November. There is a great deal of parity in those ranks.
The Czech Republic won the most recent IIHF world title for Under 20 teams, but Finland took the Under 18 championship. The United States took eighth place in the Under 18 tournament.
There is still some work to be done at The Peaks Ice Arena before the Four Nations Cup. The flooring for the locker room and skaters' walkways needs to be installed, and the penalty boxes must be enlarged.
"Things are moving along well. Everything will be completed by that time," SLOC spokeswoman Caroline Shaw said.
Menke said USA Hockey is confident The Peaks will be ready.
The E Center, home of the International Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies, is ready for the men's competition. Almost all of the men's games and the women's gold-medal game will be played at the E Center in 2002.