GANGNEUNG, South Korea-Olympic hockey has survived without the NHL, it just hasn't thrived.
Empty seats in the stands and a lack of big names on the ice have left the men's tournament struggling to generate much buzz, especially when compared to the thrilling best-on-best final in the women's competition.
Rene Fasel, the head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, said Saturday he was "disappointed" the NHL didn't come to the Pyeongchang Games and wants the pros back for 2022, but he played down the importance of their absence.
"You don't need caviar every day. You can also live with leberkaese and weisswurst," he said, referring to traditional German meatloaf and sausage.
Germany's 4-3 semifinal win over Canada showed how the non-NHL format can deliver surprise results, but also highlighted players who wouldn't have come near an Olympic team in previous years. Canada's goaltender for that game was Kevin Poulin, who spent part of last season in a semi-pro league in Quebec.
Germany coach Marco Sturm, who played 15 seasons in the NHL, wants the league back.
"All the NHL guys should be in the Olympics," Sturm said Friday. "That's just what the event is for and hopefully in the future they will be back on Olympic ice."
Fasel portrayed Germany's run to the gold-medal game as a commercial triumph for the IIHF, a way to finally crack a market dominated by soccer, all made possible by the NHL's absence.
"Not having the NHL is still a disappointment, but actually with the result yesterday ... in Germany nobody cares if the NHL is here or not," he said.
Pyeongchang Olympic organizers say they have sold 80 percent of all available hockey tickets, but many matches have been far from 80 percent full.