that they can play a full schedule. i see the challenge. it is interesting because we think of the north american league so the canadians and americans will be affected but it is much wider than that, isn't it? this is the epicentre of the best players in the world. players represent the countries when they are allowed to in the olympics. sweden, most of their roster are nhl players. same for the finnish. the same for russia. players right across the men's ice hockey tournament. so the national hockey league pulling its star players out of the beijing games not only impacts the quality of play but it will also impact the amount of interest this tournament gets. first hand i can tell you here in north america the men's international tournament in the olympics where there is russia and germany in the final, you couldn't find a person that cared about that final here in north america. that is just the nature of the beast, isn't it? what about the players?